‘The river will bleed red’: Indigenous Filipinos face down dam projects
by Karlston Lapniten on 26 February 2021
For more than five decades, Indigenous communities in the northern Philippines have pushed back against the planned construction of hydropower dams on the Chico River system.
The river is of great importance to Indigenous communities in the provinces of Kalinga and Mountain Province, who call it their “river of life” and have depended on it for generations.
The Upper Tabuk and Karayan dams have been proposed in some form or another since the 1970s, but are now backed by corporations created by Indigenous groups, causing divisions among communities.
Published February 3, 2021, 6:42 PM
The chairman of the House Committee on Metro Manila Development has sought a congressional inquiry into the alleged questionable grant of water rights to a private firm over Wawa river in Rodriguez, Rizal.
Manila Rep. Manuel Luis T. Lopez warned that this could impede the development of Wawa dam as an alternative water source for Metro Manila.
Wawa dam, together with the Laguna Lake, is among the possible sources of potable water that government will tap in case water shortage hits Metro Manila.
With a private firm reportedly benefitting from the grant of rights over the water supply in Wawa, there is a strong likelihood that Metro Manila will face a bigger problem sourcing water in the future.