ANOTHER LOOMING DISASTER - LAIBAN DAM
By Pol Derilo
Like a dark gathering clouds of a heavy rain or an ominous funnel of a
tornado touchdown, the people INREGNA (Infanta, Real, Gen. Nakar) is
gripped again by fear from adverse consequences of a pending
construction of Laiban Dam in Tanay, Rizal.
A $1B project of Metropolitan Water & Sewerage System (MWSS), a
hydroelectric dam will be built starting sometime in 2008, pending
NEDAs final green signal. Adjacent to this Rizal province location is
barangay Lumutan, Gen. Nakar wherein the left branch of the well-known
Agos River is located. Harnessing the million liters of water flowing
from this river everyday, the project will generate electricity as well
as supplement potable drinking water needs in Metro Manila. This will be
in addition to the existing project already in operation that tapped the
right branch of the same river, also in Gen. Nakar.
With the watershed area located in the municipality of Gen. Nakar, the
overall affected area of the project covers 28,000 hectares, 70% of
which (19,000 Ha.) is in Rizal and the remaining 30% (9,000 Ha,) in
Quezon. A few barangays’ land in Tanay, Rizal will be utilized as the
reservoir of the diverted water from Agos River left branch. Existing
infrastructures will be turned down and hundreds of settler families
will be relocated. Based on geophysical survey and analysis, the area is
known to be within the earthquake fault line zone. The dam to be built
is 113 meters high, approximately 7 times higher than Mt. Carmel High
School in Infanta.
This project idea has been in the planning board since the 1980s. Off
and on implementation have been pursued towards its realization among
private and/or public institutions, the latest being MWSS. In spite of
this time period, the INREGNA municipalities were totally unaware. It
was during Bishop Tirona’s meeting with his priests in the prelature
last February that news about Laiban Dam caught the attention of this
particular local group for the first time. Their invited staff from
Miriam College of Manila discussed and provided them documented
information about the project. Miriam’s environmental study group
station in the project site made them adequately aware of developments
on Laiban Dam plan. (Send your reaction to: himpilanko@yahoo.com.ph.)
A symposium attended by representatives from INREGNA was held last
Saturday, March 10, 2007 about Laiban Dam. Representatives from Miriam
College were also present and presented to the general public the
documented information on the latest development about the project.
Public discussions, questions and answers session as well as adoption of
a resolution ensued. It was resolved that signed petition opposing the
project will be generated from INREGNA municipalities. Based on several
factual rationales, the underlying reasons mainly boil down to
protecting the lives of INREGNA population as well as preserving its
natural environment. The attendees were fully aware that much need to be
done soon and urge everybody to be involved in this big endeavor.