Kalinga tribe opposes Tabuk hydro dam

 By Gina Dizon

TABUK CITY, Kalinga -- Tribal leaders and  members  of the Naneng Ancestral Domain comprising  barangays Lucong,  Bagumbayan, and  Dupag  petitioned  the  National Commission on Indigenous Peoples , the Department of  Environment and   Natural Resources and the  Department of Energy to cancel  a water  rights  permit and a compliance  certificate   process  obtaining free prior and  informed  consent  issued  to  the Minanga sub tribe of barangay Dupag.

Around 150 petitioners said they  were not consulted as per  provisions  of  the Indigenous  Peoples Rights  Act endowing  the rights and process  of  FPIC of  the affected community to  the proposed building of  the Upper  Tabuk Hydro power  Electric Dam  or Dupag Dam project.

Said   compliance certificate  to the FPIC  process was issued  May 14, 2009 by  NCIP Officer in Charge  and  Commissioner for southern and  eastern Mindanao  FelecitoMasagnay following  a resolution  issued by the  NCIP en banc  May 12, 2009.

Petitioners  in their  April 25 , 2012  resolution further asked  Secretary Ramon Paje of the  DENR  to cancel the water rights permit  issued in favor  of the  project proponent  Kalinga  Hydropower Incorporated.  

In same resolution, the petitioners  asked  Secretary Jose Almendras to  cancel the  hydro power service contract  given to the  Kalinga Hydro Power  Inc or the Minanga sub tribe.

Petitioners claimed that  the  indigenous cultural communities of  Naneng  and Minanga  are homogenous societies and thus the Minanga sub tribe  is not a  distinct  sub tribe, being  part of  the  Naneng ancestral domain.

The proposed  Upper  Tabuk Hydro Power Electric  Dam or Dupag dam  project  along the Tanudan river reaches 35.4 meters in height to  collect  a million  cubic meters  of  water  at the back of the dam and  release  waters  at  a frequency of  40  to 60 meters per  second. 

Two turbines are designed to let  the flowing waters  produce a  10 to 17 megawatt  hydroelectric current.

The International Commission on  Large Dams  and the World Commission on  Dams classify a large dam as that which restricts  the natural flow  of  water  in a river and  where  the  height of the dam  reaches 15 meters and above.

“The  building of the  dam shall  lead to  flooding  and siltation thus  damaging  farming systems  upstream and  downstream, ”  tribal leader Faustino Gupaal  said. 

Siltation is a common occurrence in large dams  as that found in the Agno river  in AmbuklaoBenguet , manifested by  the  cementing of  sediments including  gravel,  soil, and other materials which collect at the backside  of  the dam and  downstream. Siltation gives way to the increase of the river’s width eating up soil at the sides of the river. 

Some 156 families were displaced when  the  Ambuklao Dam found  along the  Agno river was  built in 1956.