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San Roque Dam affected farmers assert compensation

DAGUPAN CITY (Apr. 7) — Compensation woes continue to hound the proponents of San Roque Multi-Purpose Dam as the affected farmers in San Manuel and San Nicolas town and concerned non-government organizations assert their demands to the owners of the $1.2 billion power firm.

Reacting in defense, an official of San Roque Power Corporation (SRPC) chided non-government organizations who renewed their opposition to the dam in a protest action here last month.

Laurencio Cornel, SRPC’s Social Development Assistance manager, called the militant Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) a ‘broker’ by claiming compensation of income loss amounting to P171,000 to each of the affected farmers that were “unwarily exploited for advancement of interests of said NGO”.

But CPA chair Joan Carling said her group has no vested interest in the compensation package as what Cornel was implying in his statement. The figure, she said, was derived from a participatory research done by Pangasinan-based peasant group Tignay dagiti Mannalon a Mangwaya-waya iti Agno (TIMMAWA) who also arrived at a unity that the compensation could reach certain amount.

Cornel also chided CPA for exaggerating the number of displaced gold panners who are yet to receive compensation packages. He said there are only 319 gold panners validated by a joint team of government surveyors and not 10,000 as claimed.

Carling said the National Power Corporation (NPC) and the SRPC refuse to admit the extent of the economic dislocation to avoid accountability to all the displaced gold panners. She said the two proponents are the ones who deny transparency as to where compensation and livelihood funds for the affected families are spent.

Jose Doton, TIMMAWA chair said the figure could increase as the ones who have undergone validation conducted by NPC and SRPC to determine actual gold panners, were mainly heads of families. Apparently the figure does not include other family members who also engaged in small scale mineral production along the Agno River.

About 1,700 gold panners have undergone a validation process and those who will pass NPC and SRPC’s screening are entitled for a P30,000 loan. This was earlier decried by Doton saying that the amount would only sink the farmers into deeper indebtedness.

Meanwhile, Friends of the Earth-Japan (FOEJ) Campaigner Hozue Hatae said her group has urged Japan’s Finance Ministry in a consultation in February to press the NPC and SRPC to hand out back compensation and that it should ensure sustainable livelihoods to affected families.

Carling said there is no need for the 85 megawatts power generated at present by San Roque dam and that a stoppage in operation would not hurt the power needs of the country.Even with the average generated electricity, she said, NPC has been paying SRPC nearly $10 million a month as agreed upon in the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).The dam’s power component is a peaking power plant operating during the time of the day when all other power producers could not meet the demands for electricity, Cornel explained.

“We could produce as much as 400 mw as may be dispatched by NPC which monitors the demands in the power grid,” he added. # Jhong dela Cruz for NORDIS

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