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Stop San Roque Dam operations — peasant groups

Pangasinan, Benguet farmers renew fight against large dams

DAGUPAN CITY (Mar. 14) — The idea of decommissioning of the infamous San Roque Multipurpose Dam in Brgy. San Roque in San Manuel, Pangasinan continue to challenge hundreds of peasants from Itogon in Benguet and San Manuel and San Nicolas towns in Pangasinan as they gathered here for the third congress of the Tignay dagiti Mannalon a Mangwaya-waya ti Agno (TIMMAWA). The occasion fell on the observance of the International Day of Action against Dams (IDAAD), which is on its eightth year of apposing large dams all over the world.

Lulu Gimenez of the Cordillera peasant alliance Alyansa dagiti Pesante iti Taeng Kordilyera (APIT TAKO) stirred discussions on the TIMMAWA call to decommission the $1.2 billion mega-dam. She urged dam operators to at least continuously open the gates of the three dams, Ambuclao and Binga in Benguet and the SRD in Pangasinan.

“Responsiblidad ng gobyerno and kaligtasan ng mga mamamayan. Responsibilidad nating suriing mabuti ang pagpapa-dekomisyon dito,” (It is the government’s responsibility to maintain the people’s safety. It is our responsibility to study and analyze the call to decommission the dam) Gimenez told the peasants saying the dam is heavily silted and that a large quantity of water has remained stagnant behind the 295 m.a.s.l. (meters above sea level) dam.

She said, there is no need for the 85 mega-watts energy generated at present by the SRD, reminding the peasant-delegates that there is an existing unused energy produced by other independent power producers and dams, insinuating that a stoppage in SRD’s operations will not hurt the power needs of the Philippines.

According to Agham, or the Samahan ng mga Nagtataguyod ng Siyensya at Teknolohiya, the installed capacity of power generated daily in the country in 2003 was 15,123 megawatts while its dependable capacity was 13,262 megawatts. The peak demand was only 8,509 megawatts daily.

TIMMAWA’s call for decommissioning stemmed from problems now confronted by lowland towns because of the large dam. From August to September last year 38 towns in Pangasinan, Tarlac and Nueva Ecija were flooded due to floodwaters from SRD. In the earlier years’ typhoons filled dam leaving low-lying areas flooded. Billions worth of properties and crops were destroyed while several hectares of agricultural lands were silted.

Gimenez said possible silt build-up caused by erosion upstream during strong typhoons occurs at the dam reservoir. The build-up is even made worse because SRD is being fed by similarly heavily silted Ambuklao and Binga dams in Bokod and Itogon in Benguet.

Citing reports by the World Commission on Dams (WCD), Rivers Watch East and Southeast Asia (RWESA) Coordinator Joan Carling said that “the era of large dam-building in developed countries is now coming to an end and de-commissioning of dams has started in the US and Europe to restore damaged rivers.”

WCD is an independent multi-stakeholders commission formed in 1998 through World Bank assistance. It noted staggering impacts of large dams on 60% of the world’s rivers fragmented by some 45,000 large dams causing the flooding of unique wildlife and agricultural lands.

The SRD has inundated a large portion of pristine forests and gold-rich panning coves along the Agno River. It has displaced 660 families with at least 87 families in its Bolangit reservoir alone, and threatens to flood more rice fields in Dalupirip and Ampucao in Itogon town upstream of the reservoir.

In Pangasinan, Timmawa Chairperson Jose Doton reported that more than 10,000 small scale miners in many towns have yet to see promised compensation packages. Farmers and gold-panners displaced by the dam now eke out a living fishing in the reservoir.

Carling said that the building of large dams in developing countries such as the Philippines continues because of World Bank promotion. The expected huge amount of foreign investments has been proven to be a major source of government corruption, while investors and dam builders are guaranteed return of investments and super profits.

The peasants and small-scale miners knew ever since that the SRD is 100% Japanese-owned due to loans from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC). They are aware that the National Power Corporation (NPC) is paying the dam-builder and operator San Roque Power Corporation US$10 million dollars monthly as contained in the SRD’s power purchase agreement with the NPC.

Little did they know that the entire energy-consuming Filipino households pay these loans.

“Lahat ng Pilipino ay apektado rito. Hindi lang mga magsasaka ng Itogon, San Nicolas at San Manuel ang pinahihirapan ng dambuhalang dam, kundi lahat tayo,” (All Filipinos are affected here. Not only peasants of Itogon, San Nicolas and San Manuel are hard up because of the giant dam, but all of us) declared Gimenez.

A new set of officers was elected and inducted into office. A march from the Lyceum Northwestern University campus in Tapuac District to the downtown area along Perez Boulevard and Avenida Rizal capped the congress.

A renewed commitment to fight the dam rung throughout the downtown loop before sundown on March 14, the International Day of Action Against large Dams. # Lyn V. Ramo for NORDIS with a report from Jhong dela Cruz

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