Councilor Christopher Jacinto's privilege speech

October 12, 2009
Sanggunian Bayan Regular Session
Legislative Bldg., LGU-Lupi Camarines Sur

To the Presiding Officer and members of the Sanggunian Bayan, good morning.

I am very much concerned with what is happening in our town—listening to the voices of Lupi folks about the fact that the place I where lived in and grew up, the place I love, will soon be swallowed by the back water of a dam that will reach as far as the railroad tracks in Barangays Poblacion, Bulawan Jr., Tapi and San Rafael Sur in the occurrence of typhoons or flash-floods cause by the on-going Libmanan-Cabusao or Cabusao-Sipocot-Lupi-Libmanan (CASILLI) dam project in Barangay Malaguico, Sipocot Camarines Sur.

This is in connection with the statement I have read in local newspapers that the Lupi Local Government is not opposed neither to the project nor the planned relocation of the affected residents in its five villages of Tapi, San Pedro, San Isidro, Barrera Jr. and the seat of government and religious affairs, the Poblacion. In fact, we are asking that they be given good relocation site, just compensation for the value of their houses, lands, crops, and other encumbrances. Barangays San Rafael Sur, Bulawan Jr. and Colacling should be included in the list too for they will also be directly by the inundation in case the dam is finally constructed and put to operation. For me, this is a big discourtesy! Why? Because, in the first place, I AM NOT IN FAVOR AND I AM STRONGLY OPPOSING THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE DAM and also because I HADN’T SIGNED ANY LEGISLATIVE MEASURE as a member of Sangguniang Bayan, that we are in favor of the flood mitigation measure which is relocation or any form of resettlement action plan for all affected families. Therefore I had not been a part of or that I do not belong to a certain party whose statement was that LGU-Lupi is in favor of relocation of all families that will be permanently submerged underwater be and directly affected by the project. I am not in favor for the construction or on-going construction of the dam because of the following reasons:

1. No proper consultative meeting or any assembly where the members of our sanggunian bayan, not even during the Stakeholders’ public consultation in Libmanan last October 7, 2008, were invited and enlightened on the status of the project which is said to have neen intended to address the irrigation needs of neighboring municipalities of Libmanan and Cabusao. We really do not know what will be our participation, role and responsibilities relative to the protection of our locality.
2. Majority of families living in the lowlands of Lupi were not given priority so that the proponents of the project would hear their voices in the light of the truth that their places will be abandoned after all these years of peaceful life.
3. The majority of Poblacion, the seat of of government and religious affairs of the municipality, will be permanently submerged and will be made more prone to flooding, landslide and other forms of soil erosion.
4. No feasible replacement or restoration of public structures that will permanently submerged, specially the total cost, millions at that, of Poblacion-Barrera Jr. and Poblacion-San Pedro spill ways.
5. The Lupi old church ruins, located at San Pedro, as one of the significant historic landmark of the municipality will be submerged too.
6. The Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) submitted to DENR-EMB (Environmental Management Bureau) last March 2009 in Quezon City, prioritized mostly the dam’s downstream areas and not the upstream areas where impacts on community health, welfare and the environment are adverse. And personally speaking, the cost benefit ration of dam project is BAGSAK!

I am not in favor of relocation of the directly affected areas and families because of the following reasons:

1. Before the start of dam construction the proposed and approved flood mitigation is Diversion Channel to be implemented by DPWH under the Flood Hazard Mitigation component of the BRBWMP (Bicol River Basin and Watershed Management Project) which will divert excess water in Colacling River to prevent flooding at upstream settlement based on the Project Description under the submitted EIS. Therefore, there is a clear violation on the project description submitted to the DENR-EMB. But now, side by side, the Technical Working Group of BRBWMP are very eager to pursue the Relocation because of lame parameters including timeliness, technicalities, and it being low-cost, or maybe, just because they want to release at the soonest possible time the BILLION PESO worth of money for the dam project, so that everybody will be happy. Napakasakit, Kuya Eddie.
2. No community consultations were undertaken and thre were very poor social preparation activities.
3. The approval/acceptance of the affected families are still uncertain.
4. To date, the data on affected villages, properties and assets to be relocated & compensated are still inaccurate because of the delayed release of P7 million fund for the supposed topographical survey in the upstream areas of the dam project.
5. To date, formal resettlement sites are not yet identified.

My dear Sanggunian Bayan members, I personally visited the DENR Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) in Quezon City, on October 6, 2009, to secure a copy of the more or less 400-page Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Libmanan-Cabusao Dam project. This provided me the overview, essential information and all technicalities on the dam project, its damages as well as its supposed benefits to the municipalities of Libmanan and Cabusao. The EIS, as a guide for monitoring and evaluating of the implementation of the dam project, must help us identify more and more the irregularities and violations that this dam project have incurred. Bicol Region, especially Camarines Sur, is considered as an area prone to natural disaster, we are in the typhoon belt area. In the last few weeks, we have witnessed heavy flooding and massive destruction of lives and properties triggered by the tropical storms Ondoy and Pepeng. The damages caused by heavy rains were worsened by the uneventful discharge of excess water from a number of dams that were already overflowing. These events isolated the large part of Metro Manila and the vast planes of Northern Luzon. My dear municipal legislators, this is a very possible scenario in our municipality and neighboring localities, a very tragic scenario wherein this dam project is putting the lives and hope of every Lupinian. Let us find alternative ways and all possibilities that may reduce the tremendous negative effects of this dam project.

Huwag na nating hintaying magsisi tayo sa huli. Let us have time to reflect and to decide.

God Speed, Lupi.

CHRISTOPHER V. JACINTO
Municipal Councilor
Mobile Number 09088845273/09228826229