Cordillera RDC probes P4.37-B Chico project

BAGUIO CITY — The Cordillera Regional Development Council in the Cordillera is set to probe the Chico River Pump Irrigation Project in Kalinga and issues hounding it.

The RDC made a fact-finding committee on Monday to look into the P4.37-billion irrigation project, timeline, loan conditions and need for another Environmental Compliance Certificate.

The committee will also look into whether the process for getting Free, Prior and Informed Consent was followed. 

The irrigation project is the first flagship infrastructure project financed by China under President Rodrigo Duterte’s "Build, Build, Build" program and covers Kalinga and Cagayan. 

Towns covered by the CRPIP are Tuao (7,150 hectares) and Piat in Cagayan (380 hectares), and Pinukpuk in Kalinga (1,170 hectares) for a total of 8,700 hectares.

The main proponent of the project is the National Irrigation Administration in Region 2.

There are 56 Chinese workers and licensed engineers working on the project, around 16% percent of the total workforce where 347 are Filipinos.

Earlier, DOLE-Cordillera confirmed the contractor of the project had failed to acquire necessary government labor sanctions and permits.

NEDA-CAR Director Milagros Rimando, vice chairman of the council, said the committee will have to meet again to look into issues other than the constitutionality of the project.

Among questions hounding the project is the Environmental Compliance Certificate, which the Environmental Management Bureau in the Cordillera was not required to issue because the project will affect a smaller area of Kalinga than it will Cagayan.    

"They should also require ECC of not only the main region that is proposing the project but even from the region that is affected like CAR. Finally, the FPIC should not only be in the main region that proposed the project but it should also be done in the regions that are affected," Rimando said.

The RDC agreed not to look into the project's constitutionality and viability of the terms of the loan from China as it is now with the Supreme Court.

The Makabayan bloc earlier urged the Supreme Court to halt the implementation of the $62-million Chico River loan deal with China over alleged violation in our Constitution.

The petitioners, led by senatorial candidate and Makabayan chairman Neri Colmenares, filed a petition for prohibition with urgent prayer for temporary restraining order before the SC on April.

They asked the court to issue a halt order against the Chico River Pump Irrigation Project, and a separate order to direct government agencies to produce certified true copies, upon request, of all loan agreements between the Philippine government and China.

They said the loan agreement “contains express waiver by the [Government of the Republic of the Philippines] of its sovereign immunity from execution against its patrimonial assets.”

The petitioners said that a reading of the provision of the loan agreement showed that the Philippine government “has allowed its patrimonial assets to stand as security for unpaid obligations under this Loan Agreement.”

“’Collateralization’ of patrimonial property for unpaid obligations under a foreign loan contract or as an award in an arbitral proceeding is unconstitutional and illegal,” the petition read.

According to the Civil Code, patrimonial assets are properties that are not “intended for some public use, and are intended for some public service or for the development of the national wealth.”

Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio has earlier raised that the Chico River pump irrigation project has a provision that said China can seize gas from Reed Bank—classified as patrimonial asset, said the senior justice—if the government fails to pay the loan.

The Palace, however, has assured that it would default on the loan.

“Since the Chinese Government, being a foreign entity, is not qualified to acquire or hold lands in the Philippines, then the provisions on the collateralization of patrimonial property therefore runs counter to the Constitution,” the petitioners argued.

They asked the SC to declare the Preferential Buyer's Credit Loan Agreement on the Chico River Pump Irrigation Project and itsimplementation as unconstitutional, illegal and void.

Colmenares was joined by the following petitioners: Reps. Carlos Zarate (Bayan Muna party-list),Ariel Casilao (Anakpawis party-list), Emerenciana De Jesus (Gabriela Women's party-list), Arlene Brosas (Gabriela Women's party-list), Rep. Antonio Tinio (ACT Teachers' party-list), Francisca Castro (ACT Teachers' party-list), Sarah Jane Elago (Kabataan party-list) Danilo Ramos and Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas chairperson Elma Tuazon.