David trumps Goliath
By J. A. Zaide
Editor's note: Below is a copy of the column (Manila Bulletin, April 16, 2010) of Amb. Rudy Arizala's friend and former colleague in the Philippine foreign service, Amb. Jose Zaide, plugging for, among other things, that it is better to avail of waters from Wawa Dam to quench the thirst of Manilans instead of constructing a dam at Laiban. Amb. Arizala thought it's worth publishing.
Sometimes the local boy wins.
Nebraska District Court Judge Gary B. Randall ordered MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co., one of the holding companies of billionaire Warren Buffet, to pay $32 million to the Filipino partner it tried to cut out of an irrigation project in Nueva Ecija in a fiscal sleight of hand.
The court ordered the firm to pay Oscar Violago�s San Lorenzo Ruiz Builders & Developers Group (SLRB) �$32,288,198.22 plus 9% until fully paid and to perform the balance of its obligations to SLRB under the shareholders agreement, including but not limited to the delivery of 115,000 shares of common stock in the project company.�
The Casecnan waters in Nueva Vizcaya was like the Manekin Pis�flushing to the Babuyan channel into the Pacific. A World Bank study recommended the construction of the Casecnan dam to tunnel the waters to the Pantabangan in Nueva Ecija, which dried up in summer. But the project could never take off because of its $2 billion bill which required constructing a 200 meter high dam.
It took Violago and his partner La Prarie of Canada to come up with a solution out of the box in 1993� shaving the project cost down to $680 million and resolving a major environmental concern about submerging the Bungkalot tribe by replacing the 200 meter high dam with two smaller dams of 30 and 20 meters.
The multipurpose project collects water from the Casecnan and Taan Rivers, transporting it through a 16-mile tunnel to the Pantabangan Reservoir. It provides about 150 megawatts of electricity and irrigates a total of 350,000 hectares of of Nueva Ecijia farmland.
Because of the Casecnan, while the major dams of Angat, Magat, Ambuklao, Benga and other dams are drying up, the Pantabangan has year-round water and claims to be �10% bountiful� �making Nueva Ecija the only green province throughout entire country.
In the initial congressional committee deliberations on the prospects of the Casecnan dam, Senator Serge Osmena asked Mr Violago if he was an engineer, and the latter cheekily replied, �No Mr. Senator. I am an economics graduate. But if I took engineering, I would have graduated magna cum laude.�
In recognition of his enterprise, Governor Umali conferred on Violago the Natatanging Novo Ecijano Gawad Dangal ng Nueva Ecija� award, the first to be enrolled in the province�s Hall of Fame. Violago was also invited to be this year�s commencement speaker of the Nueva Ecija University of Science & Technology (NEUST) where, a man of few words, he delivered the theme, �Just Do It�With God, through Mama Mary and St. Joseph, Nothing is Impossible�
Violago is also in contest with another Goliath. His SLRB company is the proponent of the Wawa Dam against San Miguel-Manila Water�s Laiban Dam. D�j� vu, the Wawa waters now just flush into the Marikina and Pasig rivers, and our local David would like to channel it to slake the thirst of Metro Manila.
Wawa offers the same lower cost solution by using seven mini dams (with flood control facility for Metro Manila). Its advantage is proximity to Manila (4 kms. to Montalban and 11 kms. to La Mesa Dam vs. 75 kms. from Laiban) and needs less infrastructure and resettlement of informal settlers. Moreover, the project can be operated in one year (against minimum of 10 years by competition). It also offers ancillary by-product: potable water and irrigation for Bulacan, 500MW to 1,000 MW hydropower, and flood control system.
If El Nido can�t wait, where would you bet your thirst?
STATISTICS. BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. reported that RP�s outstanding external debt reached $53.3 billion or 33.1 %t of GDP in 2009, down by $601 million from $53.9 billion or 32.1 % of GDP registered in 2008. Meaning, each of our nearly 90 million inhabitants owes at birth about $607.
Filipinos are the only people born in original sin and in original debt. Feedback: jaz@mb.com.ph