Displaced tribes urge Napocor execs: Fulfill promises 51 years ago

By Dexter A. See

ITOGON, Benguet — Ancestral land claimants in this town and nearby Bokod town, who were displaced by the construction of the Ambuclao and Binga dams more than 50 years ago, urged executives of the National Power Corp. to show to them the same compassion they had shown to the people in Magat, Isabela, and San Roque, San Manuel, Pangasinan.

The displaced residents, members of big clans, said they have suffered too long from the humiliation caused by Napocor to them when their properties were taken by the government to pave the way for the construction of the two dams 51 years ago. Several big properties owned by the tribal elders were used as ricefields and livestock-raising area in the 1950s, and people were then living with honest means.

The properties were later bulldozed when Napocor established its presence the two towns in 1954. Former Napocor executives had promised the displaced landowners that they will be relocated and given jobs but the promises have not been fulfilled. Many of the displaced landowners who were relocated to Palawan in 1982 came back to Benguet because the government had failed to provide them adequate assistance.

On the promise to give them employment, clan leaders said that they knew of only two of the displaced residents who were actually employed at the power facilities. The landowners complained that they still remain displaced and humiliated because of Napocor’s unfulfilled promises.

They said Napocor was more compassionate in the case of the communities affected by the construction of the Angat Dam in Bulacan, the Magat Dam in Isabela and Ifugao, and the San Roque Dam in San Manuel, Pangasinan. They said that after 51 years of suffering, it is about time for Napocor to show compassion to them.

While Napocor continues to argue that it has already paid compensation to the legitimate land claimants, representatives of the different Ibaloi clans came out in the open and disputed the claim, saying that they were just given false promises and their appeal for the fulfillment of the commitments fell on deaf ears.