Gov’t gets loan to resuscitate Chico River

THIS is the open dump of Bontoc, Mountain Province, which has been blamed for the pollution in the Chico River by neighboring Kalinga province. EV ESPIRITU/ INQUIRER NORTHERN LUZON

BAGUIO CITY—The Aquino administration has secured a loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to rehabilitate the Chico River in the Cordillera, which a group seeks to protect through a writ of kalikasan from continuing pollution from neighboring Mountain Province.

Clarence Baguilat, head of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in the Cordillera, said Chico River is part of next year’s integrated natural resources and environment management project (Project Inremp), which the ADB would fund.

Baguilat, however, said the DENR doesn’t know yet how much the loan will be.

The writ petition was filed on Oct. 3 by  Kalinga Anti-Pollution Action Group (Kapag) in the Court of Appeals. It seeks an order to prevent the capital town of Bontoc in Mountain Province from dumping wastes on the Chico’s banks.

Baguilat and Environment Secretary Ramon Paje were among the respondents in the petition.

“The environmental damage caused by the municipal government of Bontoc is of such magnitude that it prejudices the life, health, property and livelihood of inhabitants of Mountain Province and the inhabitants of the downstream provinces of Kalinga, Cagayan and Isabela,” Kapag said in its petition.

It said indiscriminate dumping of garbage hurts agriculture in Kalinga and Mallig Plains in Isabela and tourism in Kalinga because the Chico River is a white water rafting site.

Chico River, which also traverses Abra, Ifugao and Apayao, traces its headwaters to Mount Data in Mountain Province. It empties into the Cagayan River.

Mountain Province Gov. Leonard Mayaen and Bontoc Mayor Pascual Sacgaca were also named respondents in the petition.

In 2005, Kalinga and Mountain Province took part in a program to clean up and manage the 404,685-hectare Chico River watershed, the DENR said.

A master plan that guides the program pointed to Mountain Province towns as the source of pollution in Chico River and its tributaries.

Prior to the lawsuit, towns along the Chico River were negotiating for a shared ecological landfill to end dumping near the waterways.

In an earlier interview, Bontoc Vice Mayor William Aspilan said his town was discussing a proposal to buy land in Sadanga, Mountain Province, for a joint landfill for Bontoc and Sadanga and the Kalinga town of Tinglayan.

Bontoc continues to use an open dump near the river, where garbage is burned. A concrete wall prevents trash from spilling into the Chico River.

Aspilan said the town government has allocated P3 million to buy the land for the landfill. Vincent Cabreza and Villamor Visaya Jr., Inquirer Northern Luzon