Asin hydros

Just to recall December 2006, the residents of Tuba’s Tadiangan and Nangalisan threatened to close the intake valves of the Asin hydro plants unless the Baguio  city government makes repairs on the leaking pipelines. We had o close the intake valves to prevent further damages to our farms by flooding caused by the leaking pipes. A letter signed by the residents was sent to the city council presided then by acting vice mayor Leandro Yangot Jr., the latter hammering out the need to first address the landowners’ concerns before the city decides on operating the hydros. Hedcor’s operating contract expired on the 26th of that month and it sent word to city officials that it was preparing to abandon the plants in the absence of a new contract with the city.

Prior to the take-over of the city to manage the hydros, we had been seeking mediation from the NCIP, feeling hopeless and left out because of the non-action by the city government of our interests. We signed a formal letter sent to the NCIP for claims and payment of properties occupied and traversed by the hydro plant’s facilities. In that letter we wrote: “May we seek the assistance of your office as our last diplomatic resort or hope to hammer ouit the city government of our claims. We of Ibaloi and Bago tribes of Tuba have been asking for the payments of rentals of our properties that are affected by the city government…” So on the 26th of December, three hours right after the turn-over of the hydro plants from the Hedcor to the city, residents diverted the water from the intake to the river. The hydro plant shut off and there was no electric power in the area for three days.

The affected landowners composed of around 50 members gathered to elect their set of officers of which I was chosen as president and Ms. Olga Dangwa becoming vice president. The group was later called Tadiangan-Nangalisan Hydro Ancestral Land Association (TNHALA). Our group trooped to the municipal and provincial civil registrars and found that the city government did not have papers to prove it owned the lands traversed and occupied by the plants’ facilities. October 2007, the group continued sending letters to the city asking the latter to respond but the letters were ignored. So we had to consult a lawyer in the person of Eugene Balitang, the youngest governor Ifugao ever had, to help us come up with possible solutions to our problems. Soon we motored down to the Energy Regulatory Commission in Manila and were told that any public or private entity must have a Certificate of Conveyance (COC) before doing business. Before that, an EIC or Environmental Impact Certificate and an ECC or Environment Compliance Certificate be applied for at the DENR.

Aside from the EIC and ECC, the applicant must undergo the FPIC or Free Prior and Informed Consent process with the NCIP and must get the approval of the affected communities before it is given a clean certificate to operate. Also, the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (EPIRA) states that “no person or entity may engage in the generation of electricity unless such person or entity received a COC from the ERC.”

In May 2009, the Benguet Provincial Prosecutor dismissed for lack of probable cause the grave coercion and violation of the water code filed by the city government against me, Ms. Dangwa and some members of the TNHALA. But the Fiscal in his decision said, “grave coercion must be directed against a natural person who can personally experience fear, the consequences of violence and who has a free will that can be controlled.”

In fact, prior to diverting the water that feeds the hydro plants, we asked for the consent of the hydro plant employees. To present a brief history of the Asin hydro plants from the book of EJ Halsema as written by his son James, the facilities were built during the American regime for a common good. The electric plants were the earliest source of power supply for Baguio and Benguet before the construction of the Ambuclao and Binga dams. Since Engr. Halsema was the first and last American mayor of Baguio, what was ceded by the Americans to the city government were the machineries of the hydro plants and operation of the same, not the lands where these were located.       

In 2010, Mayor Domogan ended a long court battle with the residents by signing a compromise agreement for the compensation of lands affected by the pipelines and other facilities. We thought of this as the “win-win” solution to a problematice situation. We accepted the mayor’s offer with the city compensating the landowners by way of rentals amounting to three per cent (3%) of the net surplus from the operation of the hydro plants subject to conditions that the rentals will be retroactive to year 2007, the year the city assumed management of the power plants. The rentals that will also be subject to an increase after three years will be received by the TNHALA that will assume the task of distributing the amounts to the affected landowners. The other terms stipulated in the Agreement are that the TNHALA will have representation in the Bids and Awards Committee to witness the bidding process (when the management of the hydro plants’ operations will be bided out); be entitled to privileges and priority projects; have priority in employment in the plants; have scholarship grants for landowners’ heirs; and subsidy in electric bills.

I remember Judge Pamintuan who received a copy of the compromise agreement said, “kayong mga taga Tuba, huwag niyo na i-divert of tubig kasi babayaran na kayo… at kayo naman na taga city hall, huwag niyo na patagalin ang bayad. The more this gets longer, the more problems you are going to solve.” He said this in front of his bench in our dialogue with city lawyers and city administrators. This is a little light at the end of the tunnel. I hope the light becomes brighter as many of the landowners are slowly leaving this earthly plain. Happy trails to all.