Uphold IP rights and welfare for sustainable environment & development!
9Wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish, once these waters reach there…
(Ezekiel 47: 9, 12)
12On the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food.
Their leaves will not wither nor their fruit fail,
but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary.
Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.”
“We irrevocably reject, once and for all, the proposed construction of hydroelectric power projects along the Apayao-Abulug River by Pan Pacific Renewable Power Corporation (PPRPC).” This is the resolution emphatically expressed and signed by more than 250 Isnags, consisting of tribal elders, leaders, and members of the Indigenous Peoples of Kabugao, Apayao on April 28, 2021.
Because the Isnags have safeguarded their ancestral territories, the province of Apayao remains a key biodiversity area and is home to one of the last remaining original forests of the Philippines. There are about 105 plant species, 91 bird species including the endangered Philippine eagle, 22 species of amphibians and reptiles, 13 species of bats and 19 mammal species that abounds in Apayao. The Isnags and the whole ecosystem of the province will be brought to naught when such hydroelectric power projects would push through.
If the Gened 1 and 2 dam projects would push through, not only the municipalities of the province of Apayao, particularly the towns of Calanasan, Kabugao, Pudtol, Flora, Sta. Marcela and Luna, would be affected but also the downstream four (4) municipalities of the province of Cagayan: Abulug, Pamplona, Ballesteros and Allacapan.
The PPRPC benefitted from the $3 billion loan between the Philippines and China in October 2016 during Pres. Duterte’s state visit to China. The Bank of China, one of the largest state-run financial institutions, funded the deal. PPRPC is one of firms that will implement the Build, Build, Build projects of the present regime.
Besides the Gened 1 and Gened 2 Hydroelectric Power Projects, there are 3 other hydroelectric projects, intended by the Dept. of Energy (DoE) to be erected along the same Apayao-Abulug river. Pudtol 1 dam with 300 MW and Pudtol 2 dam with 10 MW have been applied by Strategic Power-San
Miguel Corporation; and Apayao 7 (Calanasan) with 35 MW has been applied by State of Norway Aboitiz Power. Moreover, there are two (2) other hydroelectric dam projects of the DoE, located in the municipality of Conner also in the province of Apayao: Nabuangan dam with 10 MW and Cupis dam with 10 MW. Both have been applied by Strategic Power-San Miguel Corporation.
The Isnags and the migrants in Apayao have protected their province by stopping the logging firms of big landlords, foreign companies, big local business and politicians that entered the province in the late 1970s to 1980s.
As indigenous peoples, the Isnags are entitled to Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) process in any project that affects them. Premium is given for cultural and social institutions such as sacred areas within the ancestral domain, including the burial grounds and should be excluded in any development project.
Strong opposition of the Isnag indigenous people is due to the fact that their national minority rights to life, their ancestral lands and indigenous socio-political systems have been violated by acts of national oppression shown particularly in the non-compliance of the free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) processes by the DoE, the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples-Cordillera Administrative Region (NCIP-CAR) and the PPRPC Management.
Contrary to the claim of Indigenous Peoples Mandatory Representative (IPMR) of Kabugao, John Anthony S. Amid, who thinks that these dam projects “would benefit the people, boost their development and uplift their living conditions,” the majority Isnags strongly resist the construction of the dam projects in their municipalities because these would totally dislocate and entirely separate them from their ancestral territories, and from their rich and diverse resources and livelihood. They oppose the dam projects as these would lead their communities to misery and suffering, like what had happened to the Ibaloi families who were displaced by the Ambuklao, Binga and San Roque Dams.
Recent experiences of massive flooding in the lowland areas when dams in the Cordilleras release impounded water during monsoon and typhoon seasons causing frequent economic dislocations and disasters in Cagayan, Isabela and Pangasinan are what the people of Apayao and lowland Cagayan fear.
As the Isnag opposition grows in asserting their indigenous people’s rights and defend their ancestral lands, livelihood and resources, tensions also develop daily due to the continuing presence of AFP-PNP forces in Isnag towns, especially in the municipalities of Calanasan, Kabugao, Pudtol and Conner. One particular incidence of tension among the Isnag elders and leaders was when in the early morning of April 7, 2021 the NCIP-CAR and PPRPC Management suddenly changed the venue of negotiation. Apprehension increased and were aggravated by the presence of 12 military vehicles with combat-ready and fully armed AFP-PNP forces. In fact, Isnag elders and leaders and their legitimate organizations, who are opposed to the destructive hydroelectric power projects, are now being red-tagged under the auspices of the National Task Force to End the Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTFELCAC) and the Anti-Terrorism Law (ATL). Such acts of militarization concretely manifest the violation of the human rights of national minorities.
In view of the foregoing, we in the One Faith, One Nation, One Voice-Cordillera Chapter, stand in solidarity with the Isnags of Apayao opposing the dam.
Inspired by Sr. Rowena Pineda, MMS, who noted during the virtual meeting of the OFONOV Cordillera Chapter on June 21, 2021 that “the issue of dams can be well connected with the IP issues that could possibly be taken up in relation to the World IP Day since it is the IP communities that are always affected by dam projects,” let us bring up the Isnag struggle against Gened 1 and 2.
We join and fully support the Isnag indigenous people to assert their IP rights, defend their ancestral lands, livelihood and resources, and struggle against all forms of militarization. We urge our church members and members of our faith communities to continuously assist the Cordillera indigenous people in their struggle against destructive projects and all forms of national oppression.
Done and approved unanimously during the Webinar on Rivers and Dams held at Episcopal
Diocese of North Central Philippines Diocesan Hall, Magsaysay Avenue, Baguio City on August 12, 2021.
Sincerely yours in Jesus’ name,
