Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2001 10:50:00 -0700 (PDT)
From: owner-irn-sanroque@netvista.net
subject: LS: Opposition to intensify drive vs San Roque dam
Sender: owner-irn-sanroque@netvista.net
To: undisclosed-recipients: ;
http://www.sunstar.com.ph/baguio/09-24-2001/topstories5.html
Monday,
September 24, 2001
Opposition to intensify drive vs San Roque dam
By Harley Palangchao
BAGUIO -- THE opposition to the ongoing construction of the $1.15 billion
San Roque Multipurpose Project says it will intensify its campaign in a last
ditch bid to stop the foreign-funded government flagship project that is
reported to be more than 50 per cent finished.
This developed as the Itogon Inter-Barangay Alliance (IIBA) Sunday revealed
that the Office of the Presidential Assistant on Indigenous People's Affair
(Opa-ipa) reported that the people in Itogon are one in saying that they
should never have consented to the dam because of the destruction of their
ancestral land and loss of their ethnic communities.
The IIBA added that the Opa-ipa reported that "there were no consultations
conducted among the indigenous people and indigenous cultural communities of
Itogon before the project started."
Instead, the Opa-ipa noted that consultations were conducted only after the
project have already begun and were mainly on the 17 conditions set by the
Itogon municipal council when it endorsed the project.
"Those who have been reported to have agreed to the project now claim that
they believed they were powerless against the government and therefore, must
acquiesce to the project, subject to the 17 conditions agreed upon by the
local government of Itogon and the dam proponent," the Opa-ipa reported
further.
Last June this year, representatives from the Opa-ipa headed by lawyer
Evelyn Dunuan, who is now one of the commissioners of the National
Commission on Indigenous People, conducted a consultation with the Itogon
folks with regard the SRMP construction.
The Opa-ipa was tasked to come out with a report, which will be the basis of
the Arroyo administration in whatever move it will take in relation to the
project.
After the release of the Opa-ipa report, the IIBA in its fourth congress
passed a resolution reiterating its opposition to the project and the
inclusion of Itogon in the Lower Agno Integrated Watershed Reservation
(LAIWMP).
Citing grounds for its opposition, the IIBA stressed that the dam reservoir
will displace not only 61 families but also some 2,000 families upstream of
the reservoir. The alliance also condemned the LAIWMP because it is now
being peddled to the people of Itogon as an alternative source of
livelihood.
"Because of the LAIWMP, Itogon is now a protected area under the National
Integrated Protected Area System. This will further displace the people from
their indigenous way of life," the IIBA statement reads.
As this developed, the IIBA has urged President Arroyo to take cognizance of
the report of the Opa-ipa even as it claimed its continuing opposition is
not moot and academic as claimed by SRMP officials.
Date: Fri, 21 Sep 2001 12:57:40 -0700 (PDT)
From: owner-irn-sanroque@netvista.net
subject: LS: Gold panners assert right to livelihood
Sender: owner-irn-sanroque@netvista.net
To: undisclosed-recipients: ;
Press Release
Gold Panners Assert Right to Livelihood Along Agno River
More than 1000 gold panners of Barangay San Felipe East, San Nicolas have
petitioned the National Power Corporation (NPC) and the San Roque Power
Corporation (SRPC) to allow them to continue their gold panning activity
along the Agno River.
On July 18, 2001, the NPC and SRPC disallowed gold panning activity along
the lower stream of Agno River saying that gold panners may fall victim to
dam construction related accidents. According to residents of San Felipe
East, the SRPC claims that the river has been acquired by them and warned
that if the gold panners will continue with their activity, the SRPC will
confiscate their gold panning tools.
In their petition, the gold panners stated that the NPC and SRPC has no
basis and has no right to prevent them from gold panning along the river .
They asserted that the river belongs to the Filipino people, specially to
those who have lived and nurtured its surroundings.
The gold panners further claimed that the San Roque Dam construction has
caused massive livelihood dislocation among residents of San Manuel and San
Nicolas. It has deprived about 3,000 families in the two municipalities of
their livelihood since gold panning has been their major source of income
during the rainy season.
Gold panners can earn as much as P1,740 a day for six grams of
gold. During good seasons, a family can earn as much as P17,000 in ten
days. "This is a great help in augmenting our income. The NPC and SRPC do
not pay us this amount after the dam construction caused our dislocation,"
the gold panners claimed.
Before the dam construction, residents of San Felipe reported that about
15,000 families from the various municipalities of Pangasinan occasionally
flock to the Agno River to pan the specks of gold carried by waters from
the mountains of Itogon where big mining corporations operate.
In a related development, 25 families of sitio Bolangit, San Felipe East
continue to stay in their village despite orders from NPC and SRPC to
transfer to the Lagpan resettlement site. Of the 81 families living in
sitio Bolangit, 20 families opted for self relocation while 39 families
have already moved to the Lagpan resettlement site located in the same
barangay.
Families who have transferred to the resettlement site goes back to sitio
Bolangit every now and then to continue their means of livelihood. " We
have to pay electricity at P140/ month and water for P40 per month and have
to buy a tank of gas for cooking. Where will we get money to pay all of
these? In sitio Bolangit, we have enough means from gold panning and
farming. Here in the resettlement site, we have no source of livelihood and
yet we have to pay monthly bills," the resettled families complained.
The NPC and SRPC offered P5,000 for every family as assistance for the
transfer to the resettlement site. They also offered to pay to pay the
trees, cash crops and structures that will be left behind by the residents.
However, NPC will only pay cash crops on titled lands.
Sitio Bolangit will be the first village to be inundated this year when
the SRPC starts impounding waters for the dam. Clearing the mountainsides
of this village has started in May of this year.#
September 18, 2001
TIMMAWA
(Tignay dagiti Mannalon a Mangwayawaya iti Agno/Peasant Movement to Free
the Agno)
Reference:
Lyn Ramo
e-mail: agnovalley@yahoo.com
Tel: (074)304-1340
Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2001 13:04:53 -0700 (PDT)
From: owner-irn-sanroque@netvista.net
subject: LS: SRMP claims to be paid within three months
Sender: owner-irn-sanroque@netvista.net
To: undisclosed-recipients: ;
http://www.sunstar.com.ph/baguio/09-01-2001/topstories1.html
Saturday,
September 01, 2001
SRMP claims to be paid within three months - NPC
THE National Power Corporation Friday reiterated its commitment to pay
within three months the identified land claimants in the Itogon side of the
San Roque Multipurpose Dam project once the lot plans will be approved.
This developed even as Department of Environment and Natural Resources
Secretary Heherson Alvarez has already directed the environment bureau in
the region to process and approve within a month the individual lot plans of
the claimants within the 290-m dam elevation who are to be directly affected
by the $1.15 billion San Roque project.
Meanwhile, the NPC has already paid a total of P87,444,251.50 to some 158
claims for adversely affected improvements as of August 30, 2001.
In Friday's Inter-agency Sub-Task Force meeting at the Hotel Supreme,
SRMP-Itogon Office Project in-charge Celedonio Varlez told Sun.Star that
once the DENR approves the lot plans of the claimants, "the NPC is willing
to pay them in three months" as reiterated earlier by NPC president Jesus
Alcordo during a meeting on the matter.
The estimated amount was pegged at P150 million, he added. Varlez also said
that as of yesterday, August 31, some 100 land claimants have already been
identified by the NPC and certified by the barangay captains of Ampucao and
Dalupirip in Itogon, as well as the National Commission on Indigenous
Peoples.
These claimants have a total staked area of 44,358,186 square meters,
4,722,084 square meters (472.20 has) of which are to be submerged.
During a meeting between Alvarez and Alcordo in Manila two weeks ago, the
DENR secretary instructed the regional office to facilitate the approval of
the lot plan after the NPC vowed to immediately pay the land claimants as
its commitment to the people of Itogon, particularly those affected by the
dam construction.
Sub-Task Force chair and Itogon vice-mayor Aloysious Kato earlier stressed
that concerned agencies and personalities "should no longer prolong the
agony of Project Affected Peoples (PAPs) since they've been waiting long
enough" for the delivery of the commitment and assurances of the national
government and agencies with regards compensation and just payment of their
lands and properties.
It was also reported that the NPC board has already approved the memorandum
on the assignment of rights which will be used to pay the land claimants
even as another supplemental memorandum will be drawn up detailing the
computation and the classification of lands to be paid as suggested by the
NPC Finance Department.
"We're hoping that by next week, the supplemental MOA will already be
approved," Varlez said.
Meanwhile, the Provincial Assessor's Office has also encouraged the PAPs to
immediately complete the submission of requirements needed for the issuance
of Classified Tax Declaration.
The CTD is needed to determine the amount that the claimants will be paid
based on the use of their lands, either irrigated, planted with
fruit-bearing trees or pasture lands.
Varlez said the NPC is paying claimants based on the present or actual use
of the lands concerned. The Assessor's Office, on the other hand, uses as
basis the spot maps provided by the NPC in issuing the CTD, which is one
requirement of the DENR in the approval of the lot plan.
He said the NPC has already submitted 80 individual spot maps while solving
land conflicts that occurred within the 20 remaining spot maps. The
Provincial Assessor's Office, on the other hand, has already issued 15 CTDs,
with one already given payment.
Date: Wed, 12 Sep 2001 16:06:13 -0700 (PDT)
From: owner-irn-sanroque@netvista.net
subject: IRN Statement on Yesterday's Tragedy
Sender: owner-irn-sanroque@netvista.net
To: undisclosed-recipients: ;
Yesterday our world changed. With the unspeakable events in New York City,
Virginia, and Pennsylvania - events whose origins we do not yet fully
comprehend - we at IRN join all other people of good will in expressing
compassion and solidarity with the victims of these tragic and senseless
acts. Our hearts are open to all those who have been affected, especially
those who have lost loved ones.
We encourage all people to support nonviolence rather than retaliation as
the appropriate response to these acts. Similarly, we urge our leaders in
Washington to refrain from responding to this tragedy in a manner that
visits more pain and suffering on an already sorrowed world. We also join
in urging everyone to resist assigning responsibility to any particular group.
In responding to the changed environment, we have made the following decisions:
· The Three Gorges Campaign is suspending the nationwide campus protest
against Morgan Stanley, originally planned to take place during the week of
September 17. We extend our sincere condolences to the Morgan Stanley
organization for the personal losses sustained at the World Trade Center.
· Out of respect for the victims of this disaster, with understanding of
the strategic difficulties in conveying to a shocked media and public our
messages regarding the World Bank and IMF, with concern for the integrity
of security systems in Washington, DC, and for the safety of all, we will
refrain from participating in activities surrounding the planned World Bank
IMF meetings this month. We are also sharing our concerns with the leading
organizations responsible for planning and coordinating these activities.
We are acutely aware that we are in a context that we do not and cannot
fully understand. As we have reflected on the events of September 11 and
the full range of violence and injustice we see and experience daily, we
are aware that we must respond to the challenge of viewing the changed
world and our work through new lenses. We are striving for clearer
understanding of how we may most effectively achieve the vision of a world
in which environmental integrity and human rights are inextricably bound.
We believe that the cycle of violence in which so many nations have long
participated must be broken. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. reminded us that
“peace is not the absence of conflict, but the presence of justice.” We
invite you to join us in envisioning new ways to break the cycle of
violence against all living beings and the Earth, so that the peace that is
justice may flourish for all.
