SC stops mega dam project in Iloilo

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

The Supreme Court has issued a writ of kalikasan on the government’s construction of  Jalaur Mega Dam in Iloilo, which former Rep. Augusto Syjuco, who is facing a plunder complaint for misuse of government funds, claimed will displace thousands of residents and worsen flooding.

In a ruling issued yesterday and signed by Clerk of Court Enriqueta Vidal, the court en banc ordered the respondents in Syjuco’s petition to comment on the case in 10 days.

The respondents are Agrarian Reform Secretary Virgilio de los Reyes, Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson, Environmental Management Bureau regional director Jonathan Bulos, National Irrigation Administration chief Claro Maranan, National Economic Development Authority Director General Arsenio Balisacan.

Also sued by Syjuco was Senate President Franklin Drilon, a proponent of the dam project.

In his petition for continuing mandamus and writ of kalikasan with prayer for temporary environmental protection order, Syjuco claimed that the construction of Jalaur River Multipurpose Project Phase II (JRMP II) will displace 17,000 indigenous people (IPs) or at least 600 IP households living in the affected areas.

His petition, Syjuco said, “seeks to deter the impending horrendous and inconceivable peril that will not only trample on the right of Filipinos to a balanced and healthful ecology, but will also subject them to unimaginable danger.”

Syjuco, who had been charged with plunder as then head of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, said he filed the petition to oppose the continued implementation JRMP II, saying the benefits offered by the project “will be miniscule when compared to the disastrous effects it will inevitably cause.”

He said that the area where  Jalaur Mega Dam was to be constructed is very susceptible to landslide, having a “high” MGB Rapid Geohazard Assessment rating coupled with a finding of an active fault line.

“The project is literally a killer dam,” Syjuco said.

He claimed that requirements for free prior and informed consent conducted by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples and the NIA “were false, incomplete and misleading.”

The petitioner claimed that the IPs were “presented with a promise of a better future and possible benefits,” despite the findings of expert Dr. Ricarte Salgado Javelosa Sr., the MGB Rapid Geohazard Assessment unit, and the Advocate of Science and Technology for the People (Agham) that the project will have a “horrendous environmental impact.”

According to Syjuco, the IPs living in the three affected villages in Calinog that will be submerged are holders of certificate of ancestral domain titles. “As such, under the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Acts they cannot be dislocated from their homes because their concept of ownership sustains the view that ancestral domain and all resources found therein shall serve as the material bases of their cultural integrity,” said the petition.