Press Release
26 January 2022
Environmental activist group Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment (Kalikasan PNE) today called for an immediate investigation into the recent moves by the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) and National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) to push through the construction of the Kaliwa Dam by organizing a mass gathering of Dumagat leaders and community members.
“This last-minute railroading of the Kaliwa Dam Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for community consent is a hallmark of the Duterte regime’s pro-China, pro-big business fiesta while we have been suffering the COVID pandemic,” said Leon Dulce, National Coordinator of Kalikasan PNE.
Quezon Province is currently under Alert Level 3, which prohibits mass gatherings like the planned MOA validation process and the week-long workshop from Jan 24-29 with tribe members in General Nakar.
“We challenge all opposition and independent electoral candidates to speak out and commit to stopping this patently illegal and onerous Kaliwa Dam project as one of their priority actions should they win in the elections,” Dulce furthered.
Last year, the House Committee on Indigenous Cultural Communities and Indigenous Peoples unanimously agreed to issue a cease and desist resolution to the MWSS and China-based contractor China Energy Engineering Corporation Limited (CEECL).
“The voting public must demand our future leaders to respect the indigenous Dumagat’s rights and protect the Kaliwa Watershed to avert disasters downstream,” Dulce ended.#
