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Friday, January 6, 2017
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SAN JOSE, Antique – Barangay captains in Sibalom are against a proposed dam project at the Mau-it River for fear that it would submerge some villages in the town.
The planned Small Reservoir Irrigation Project of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) costs an estimated P600 million.
Yesterday the barangay captains submitted to the Sangguniang Panlalawigan a joint resolution opposing the project.
Pis-anan barangay captain Andrea Odango, acting secretary of the Liga ng mga Barangay, told the Provincial Board they worry the project would submerge some barangays.
They were also alarmed by a proposed Board resolution endorsing the project, said Odango.
Fernando Corvera, who was presiding the session at the time, said the resolution — sponsored by Pio Sumande — was not yet approved.
Mau-it River is a “source of pride of Sibalomnons due to the presence of various semiprecious stones (gemstones), which are considered a natural heritage,” part of the barangay captains’ resolution read.
They claimed the proposed project site is a protected area and part of the municipal/barangay ecotourism site.
The [project] “will endanger the biodiversity of the Sibalom Natural Park (SNP); destroy the major livelihood of the nearby barangays; and create imminent danger to the lives of thousands of Sibalomnons in more than 20 barangays along the Mau-it-Tipuluan-Sibalom Rivers due to possible landslide,” they said.
Upon hearing the barangay captains’ apprehensions, Sumande sought to “hold in abeyance” the proposed resolution.
Other Board members sought to hear the side of the NIA and be briefed about the project in their next session on Jan. 12.
Citing the Mines and Geosciences Bureau, the village chiefs said the area “is considered highly susceptible to landslide.”
The project, they said, “will result in the cutting/losing of more than one thousand trees in the reforested area of the SNP, which is against the program of the national government to combat climate change.” (PNA)
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