Chico irrigation project stalemate

BEHIND THE SCENES

Alfred P. Dizon

Construction of the $4.3-billion Chico River Pump Irrigation Project on the border of Pinukpuk, Kalinga and Tuao, Cagayan is on a stalemate as it has been temporarily stopped.

The suspension will continue until a certificate of precondition (CP) is acquired by the project’s proponents, according to National Commission on Indigenous Peoples Commissioner for Region 1 and CAR Gaspar Cayat.

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Last April 30, the NCIP en banc suspended the project and directed its Cordillera offices to issue a cease-and-desist Order because the project lacked the free and prior informed consent (FPIC) from affected indigenous peoples in Kalinga.

A suspension order was issued by the NCIP-Cordillera against the National Irrigation Administration on May 3.

This, as the militant Cordillera Peoples Alliance said the project will mean more burden to the Filipino people due to high interest rate of the project which is funded by China.  

Even as the project was supposedly stopped, the National Irrigation Administration said the presence of Chinese workers in the project was necessary for its completion.

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The NIA said the 66 Chinese workers hired for the project are “highly-technical and highly-skilled.”

“Once completed before the end of the year, the services of most of these Chinese workers will be terminated,” the NIA said.

With the NCIP move to temporarily stop the project, the deadline to finish it won’t be done by the end of the year.

“The Chinese workers specialize in tunneling and construction of a pumping station with their state-of-the-art equipment and technology,” a NIA press statement said saying 347 Filipino workers have been hired for the project.

“Filipino workers maybe capable of doing this, but the collaboration with Chinese workers makes the work faster, shortening the construction period,” the agency said.

The NIA was reacting to criticisms after a video showing Chinese workers at the site went viral.

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The CPA claimed the Chinese workers receive better pay than their Filipino counterparts.

The agency also clarified that the project would irrigate elevated rice fields through a pumping station and not a diversion dam or a reservoir contrary to the claim of critics that it would pose danger to villagers.

“Displaced families are supportive of the project and were fairly compensated. Local government units and other stakeholders are well-informed on the development of the project,” the NIA said.

At least 4,350 farmers, the NIA said, will benefit from the project, which is projected to provide 14,784 jobs during its implementation and 8,700 permanent jobs in the next three years.

The project, which is being built under an official development assistance from China, started last year. It covers the towns of Tuao and Piat in Cagayan and Pinukpuk in Kalinga.

The acceleration of infrastructure and development of industries yielding growth is part of the government’s 10-­point socioeconomic agenda, which is aimed at reducing poverty from 21.6 percent in 2015 to 13 to 15 percent in 2022.

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The CPA said the loan agreement for the Chico River Pump Irrigation Project by the Philippine and Chinese governments was a sell-out of natural resources and ancestral lands to foreign investors, without consent from affected communities.

The Chico River PIP is a flagship infrastructure project under the Duterte administration’s “Build, Build, Build” program.

Top officials from the National Irrigation Administration have earlier signed the contract with China CAMC Engineering Co., Ltd for the Chico River PIP in March 8, 2018.

According to the CPA, the project seeks to create canals diverting the water from the Chico River into different areas in Tuao and Piat Cagayan and Pinukpuk in Kalinga.

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According to the Department of Finance, the interest rate on the US Dollar denominated loan is 2% per annum with a maturity period of 20 years including a seven-year grace period.

“Under the guise of advancing socio-economic agenda, the hand of foreign investors in the implementation of this project will result in the privatization of agricultural services and will force us to succumb to unfair conditions set by these corporations in exchange to access to our very own resources. This is one of the regime's means to fast-track the entry of foreign corporations to make profit from our deprivation while exploiting our natural resources,” the CPA said in a statement.

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During the Marcos regime, the people of Kalinga and Mountain Province successfully opposed the US$ 50 million World Bank-funded Chico River Irrigation Project, also known as the Chico Dams Project, from 1976-1985.

The Chico River PIP and the series of hydropower projects along the Chico River and its tributaries will raise a spectre of the Chico Dam struggle, the CPA said.

“What the peasants in Kalinga and the other Cordillera provinces have long been demanding from the government is free irrigation and appropriate irrigation systems that do not trample on our rights to our ancestral lands and that truly service the poor people. Kalinga communities affected by hydropower projects have already registered their opposition to these projects, including the Karayan Dams project.”

So far, at this time, it seems Kalinga folks are not resisting the project even as it is on hold due to the NCIP order to temporarily stop it for lack of FPIC.