Damages

THE PROPONENTS of the Libmanan -Cabusao Dam Project (now Cabusao-Sipocot-Lupi-Libmanan or Casilli Dam Project) must have learned out of the tragedies plaguing the northern parts of the country today. Pangasinan is still deep in flood waters. Residents of Botolan, Zambales had seen their cemetery demolished by raging waters that disinterred coffins and corpses. Until now, residents of Marikina, Pasig, Cainta, and other low-lying portions of Metro Manila are still inundated—now in ink-black murk—and skin and stomach diseases are now being feared. Aside from the typhoons, garbage, lack of contingency plans, weather bureau problems and other fatal factors, one significant circumstance matters: the dams in the upstream of these places.

They should recall the anger of the people after learning that after water was released form the major dams in Bulacan and other nearby provinces, flood water in Metro Manila, Rizal and Laguna rose to an unimaginable level. Billions worth of properties and many lives were taken. They should recall that Ipo, Angat, Pantabangan, Lamesa, and other major dams were opened for fear spill over. In Pangasinan, as of press time, San Roque dam is at risk of disintegrading. It has been a major cause of unprecedented depth of floodwater in that part of northern Luzon. Damn the dams!

And yet our honorable leaders here in the first district of Camarines Sur together with line agencies are proposing— or rather already implementing—another dam project. Scientist and environmental activist Dr. Emelina Regis of Ateneo de Naga University’s Institute for Environmental Conservation and Research could only utter with a sigh, “never in these times of climate change.”

Perhaps, the honorable proponents of the Casilli dam are still skeptic about the issue of climate change. Perhaps, they are still skeptic despite unpredictable weather patterns and unprecedented flood volumes. Perhaps, they are still skeptic despite Typhoon Rosing that brought the towns of Lupi and Sipocot underwater in a raging flood that passed through the very river channel they now want to alter by constructing a dam. Even if they insist on a diversionary channel at the far end of the dam’s basin, still it will not assure safety in the downstream areas, including the beneficiaries. One should only remember what Ondoy did in Metro Manila. It will only worsen the flood problems of the lower levels of the district.

In a copy of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) I was able to acquire from the central office of the Environmental Management Bureau, there was an obvious lack of detailed examination of biodiversity in the area. Not even the kasili (freshwater eel), namesake of the dam itself, or the palayugín (flying lizards) was mentioned in the EIS.