Police, MWSS Blocked Entry to Kaliwa Dam,but Indigenous People, Hundreds of Supporters Not Stopping for Sierra Madre

Infanta, Quezon – Police officers at the Kaliwa Dam Access Road blocked about 700 supporters from across Rizal, Quezon, and Metro Manila, led by Dumagat-Remontado Indigenous Peoples (IPs), as they were about to conduct a tree planting activity to celebrate Save Sierra Madre Day on September 26, 2024. This prevented the tree planting at the access road, but the motorcade, signing of declaration of support, cultural dance and ceremony successfully ensued.

Riding dozens of motor vehicles, IPs with 700 supporters from local communities and governments, students, faith-based groups, civil society organizations, youth groups, climate change advocates, and human and environmental rights defenders celebrated Save Sierra Madre Day starting with a motorcade held across Rizal and Quezon. This ended at the Kaliwa Dam Access Road gate at Sitio Kiborosa, Brgy. Magsaysay, Infanta, Quezon. The celebration was about to continue with a tree planting activity inside the Kaliwa Dam Access Road after the MWSS acknowledged a permission letter from the event’s organizing committee on September 18.

Police surveilled the activity at the gate via drone, making them aware of the number of people arriving. Officers at the gate asked for the names and IDs of supporters and initially allowed entry to the vehicles. However, police (some armed), blocked and barricaded two (2) middle sections of the road and eventually denied entry to the supporters riding their vehicles. Indigenous leaders, supporters, and organizers had a discussion with police, led by Police Lt. Halili, who confirmed that there was no permission to enter the premises.

In a powerful display of solidarity, IPs and their supporters marched and braved the 12-km trail under the heat of the sun for hours hoping to meet about another 150 people from indigenous communities waiting with planting tools at Ground Zero, the other entrance blocked by police and proceed with the tree planting activity. However, with the kilometers-long trail would taking most of the day, supporters decided to return to the gate to continue the rest of the program. Police-owned vehicles helped supporters scaettered along the trail to return to their vehicles near the blocked entrance. A truck from China Energy Engineering Corporation Limited took the IP communities waiting at Ground Zero to the Access Road gate at Sitio Kiborosa to join the other supporters.

Organizations and groups shared messages of support and expressed frustration for the day’s developments, but overall, everyone, especially indigenous people were grateful and empowered to find that many individuals still supported the call to stop the Kaliwa Dam project. The day ended with a cultural dance performed by children from the IP communities, a dramatization of a significant community ritual, and ceremonial signing of people’s declaration of support to protect Sierra Madre. The community ritual, held originally at the river near Ground Zero, called Katutubong Batas (KABTAS), is a declaration of the Yokyok, Baykuran and Makid indigenous communities officially prohibiting the MWSS from entering their ancestral domains/ territories.

Entrance to the dam’s construction site remain difficult due the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) and the Chinese contractor China Energy Engineering Corporation Limited’s tight prohibitions. In 2022, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) suspended the construction of the Kaliwa Dam, but as of March 2024, MWSS Administrator Leonor C. Cleofas announced that the construction progress already hit a milestone of 30% and is on track for completion by 2027. On September 16, 2024, DENR Undersecretary Carlos David and his team, together with the MWSS, held a dialogue with the ALMA! DAM, who was led to believe that they had gained access to the site for this event. The DENR and MWSS also directed the group to the local government office of Region IV-A for a permit to stop the Kaliwa Dam construction.

The Kaliwa Dam is one of the destructive projects in Sierra Madre which will affect the Dumagat-Remontado IPs and the towns of Infanta, Real, General Nakar in Quezon Province; and the towns of Tanay, Morong, Baras and Teresa in Rizal. It has and will continue to destroy biodiversity, as well as the livelihoods of forest-dependent indigenous peoples and local communities, will add further risk of landslides and flooding to low-lying communities and Metro Manila, and will make communities more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. The drilling of the tunnels, construction of the access road, distribution of 160 million pesos by the National Commission of Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), and payment to Kiborosa households are currently ongoing despite the MWSS’ lack of relevant permits as required by the Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) that the DENR issued.

Indigenous leaders are calling on the government, particularly the DENR and MWSS and demanding an immediate stop to the Kaliwa Dam Project. The public is also called to join the Indigenous and local communities in this movement.

As of this writing, the ALMA! DAM is awaiting a final dialogue with Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo office to discuss the ECC cancellation.