Opposition to Dato’s Dam Project Mounts

LUPI, CAMARINES SUR (14 October) - OPPOSITION TO THE CURRENT CONSTRUCTION of the P1.9-Billion, Malaguico Dam Project in Barangay Malaguico in Sipocot, Camarines Sur has gathered momentum with local residents in the affected towns of Lupi and Sipocot now expressing deep concern over the displacement of more than 300 families along the riverbanks of the Pulantuna River in Lupi town, even as local government estimates claimed that affected families could reach 500 or an estimated 20,000 individuals.

The dam project is sponsored by First District Representative and Presidential Son, Diosdado "Dato" Arroyo, as part of a promise to farmer-constituents.

Sources at the Sangguniang Bayan of Lupi revealed that currently there is a pending Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between National Irrigation Administration (NIA) Bicol director William Ragodon and Lupi Mayor Raul Matamorosa to conduct a topographical survey at the cost of some P6- Million, to determine low-lying areas, properties, and residences that will be affected by the possible rise in water-level at the up-stream of the dam.

Earlier, NEDA source in Legazpi City said that cost of the topo-survey will be provided by NIA and will be disbursed by the Lupi-LGU to the contracted surveyor.

However, sources here said that local villagers have become jittery that thousands of residents will be displaced and that they are uncertain how much the government will be compensating them for their affected lands once they are displaced.

Meanwhile, an LGU source here said that earlier estimates by NIA of 300 affected families could actually reach 500 with the inclusion of villagers from the Poblacion, Colacling, San Rafael Sur, San Pedro, San Isidro, Barrera Jr. and Tapi, all in Lupi town.

An official here said that during super typhoon "Rosing" in 1995, when the Manangle Railway Bridge collapsed blocking the flow of the Pulantuna River, floods reached the commercial site of Lupi in Colacling, Belcross and the Poblacion.

A government employee here also said that sentiments on the dam construction are now revealed in the website: www.lupicontradam.tk and the www.lupimunicipalityning.com.

Meanwhile in Sipocot, Camarines Sur, Vice-Mayor Rogenor R. Astor bared that concerned sectors had asked the Sangguniang Bayan to conduct a public consultation on October 15 concerning their sentiments on the Malaguico Dam Project.

Reportedly, residents were apprehensive that recent floods in Metro Manila and suburbs will also be a reality in this locality.

Astor said that since limited public hearing were conducted by NIA and BRBWMP on the dam-project, even public officials in Sipocot were kept in the dark on the consequences of the up-stream and down-stream flow of the dam during calamities.

Astor also revealed that engineers of the NIA and BRB are unaware that the water level in the artery-rivers of Bigaan, the Bicol River, and the Pulantuna River, where the dam is being constructed had risen in previous years. Debris from the structures of the old Tara bridge, bombed by rebels in 1987, and of the collapsed Manangle Railway Bridge are still in the river channels, Astor said.

These debris add to the flooding at the river bank localities, Astor explained.

He added that the down-stream flow of the dam will threaten villages of Malubago, South and North Centro, Azucena, and Awayan both in Sipocot and Libmanan towns during typhoons, as was the case during the  1995 flash floods.

Astor also reported that a local rally protesting the dam construction is seeking a Mayor's permit in Sipocot on October 17.(SONNY SALES)