Dumagats’ protest against Chinese-funded Kaliwa-Kanan-Laiban dam

KATRIBU PRESS RELEASE
www.nordis.net

MAKATI CITY — The steps of the Chinese Embassy were made red by the placards, traditional attire and mamá (betel nut) of Dumagat leaders representing villages to be submerged by the New Centennial Water Source Project (NCWS) as they protest against the building of a series of mega dams in the Sierra Madre Mountain Ranges.

“For four decades, we have struggled against this dam, a project started by the fascist US-Marcos regime but frustrated by the Filipino people. We have shed blood to defend our territories. The puppet US-Marcos regime and succeeding regimes have targeted the timbers, minerals and even the water resources. Now, with loans from China, the project will encroach more than 20,000 hectares of our ancestral lands in the Sierra Madre Mountain Ranges. This will destroy our sacred lands and our environment – a damnation of our lives and of the future generations,” said Wilma Quirrez, spokesperson of the Network Opposed to (NCWS) Kaliwa-Kanan-Laiban Dam.

The NCWS is a mega project under Duterte’s Build Build Build, which will push through with the Marcos-era Kanan, Kaliwa and Laiban mega dams. The dam project is to displace at least 31,000 people, mostly indigenous communities of the Dumagat and Remontado in 9 villages of Rizal and Quezon provinces.

The Dumagat leaders and advocates for indigenous peoples’ rights chew betel nut to express their unity against the Duterte-China NCWS dams. “The leaves represent the forests, the lime represents our fervor struggle. Chewing betel nut in front of this embassy symbolizes our solidarity with the Filipino people, and our unity to continue the defense of our ancestral lands and the wealth of the Filipino people,” explained Quirrez.

“This project will deplete our water source, and would kill our livelihood. We will stand for what our ancestors have developed and sacrificed their lives for. No amount of money is worth the value of our lands. Red is the color of our decades of committed struggle and defense of ancestral lands from the greedy and big destructive projects such as the Laiban dam. If it was not of our ancestors, we would have nothing now, and so as the next and future generations,” said Itik delos Santos, a leader of the Dumagat-Rizal and son of the martyred Kano delos Santos opposing the construction of the Laiban dam under the US-Arroyo regime.

“Xi Jinping is not welcome to the Philippines, especially in our sacred lands!” the Dumagat leaders exclaimed in response to the upcoming visit to the Philippines of the Chinese President in November which would also feature the signing of China’s Official Development Aid (ODA) loan for the Kaliwa Dam.

“The Filipino people, especially the indigenous communities, will not benefit from this project. We call on the Chinese government for the pullout of committed loans and project that would destroy our lands and the environment. Learning from the bitter and golden lessons in past decades, we call on the people to continuously defend our national patrimony and sovereignty,” said Pya Macliing Malayao, Katribu secretary general.

The group led by the Network Opposed to Kaliwa-Kanan-Laiban Dam also picketed in front of the DENR office in Quezon City to warn the agency of more protests to come if they will approve of the Duterte-China NCWS dam project.

“The project is socially unacceptable, environmentally unacceptable because it will inundate environmental critical watershed and protected areas, and economically unviable and disastrous as it will sacrifice the lives of generations only to serve the interest of a few. The only way to mitigate the negative impacts this project will bring is to heed the people’s demand and for this agency to not allow this project to start,” ended Petty Enriquez, coordinator of the Kalikasan Timog Katagalugan. # nordis.net