Manobo chieftains OK hydro plant in Bukidnon

Business Mirror 

SUNDAY, 06 FEBRUARY 2011 17:20 BUTCH ENERIO

KIBAWE, Bukidnon—Chieftains and elders of the different tribal Manobo clans have affirmed their approval for the construction of a hydropower plant in the southern part of this province, saying that such development would benefit not only the areas and the people affected by the project, but the whole island of Mindanao as well.

The tribesmen, during the stakeholders’ forum here on Friday, also assailed nongovernment organizations (NGOs) that for so long have interfered into their lives, bringing nothing except hindering the development of their domain and people.

The Pulangi V Hydroelectric Power Plant project, which was conceptualized in the late 1990s, would address the dwindling power supply in the country’s second-largest island.

Datu Feliciano Angga-an of Damulog town said despite the objection of some of their tribal members, he is optimistic that the project would bring in positive development for the tribal peoples for they have already agreed in principle with the First Bukidnon Electric Power Cooperative (Fibeco) and Greenenergy Development Corp., the project proponents, that their resettlement areas would be provided with school buildings, hospital, tribal halls, among others, notwithstanding that many of their people would find employment and incidental livelihood endeavors, and that they will be properly compensated once the project commence.

He said the project seemingly caused division among them, “but in reality the rift among the tribal people was caused by the coming of nongovernment organizations, in particular the meddling of the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center-Kasama sa Kalikasan/Friends of the Earth [LRC-KsK/FoE], which insinuated that we will be the big losers once we accept the hydropower plant project and even presented grim scenarios that have poisoned the minds of some of the tribal members,” Angga-an said in the dialect.

He said the insinuations of the LRC concerning their  ancestral domain to be submerged once the dam will be constructed was without basis since the NGO did not present credible study or assessment in the areas to be affected, contrary to the years of study conducted by the Fibeco and their technical people, of which they were informed in detail.

“Tanan nga gisulti sa LRC walay basihan ug pulos lang pang hinadlok ug naka hatag ug pagduda sa pipila sa among tribo. [All that was said and presented to us by the LRC were without basis and only sowed apprehensions and doubts among some of our tribal members],” Angga-an said.

“Since in 2004 when LRC was introduced to us and presented their objection to the hydro plant project, nothing has ever come out positive for our people, instead we have become divided, that even some who opposed have threatened us harm if we continue to listen to the project management,” said Nelda Saliling, 51, of Dunggo-an Manobo tribe, great-granddaughter of Datu Pedro Ampalid who once ruled Kimaadsil in North Cotabato.    

Saliling said she kept her distance from the LRC in 2009 after more than four unproductive years with the nongovernment organization, “who only used us just so to oppose the project, but could not even propose development alternatives for the indigenous people. We cannot oppose to opportunities all our lives, we have to take some risks if we, the IPs, have to develop as a people.” 

Oppositions to the Pulangi V Hydroelectric Power Plant have contended, among others, that the dam would submerge 78,000 hectares, including five barangays; the affected people will not be paid of their lands as what happened to the IPs during the construction of the Pulangi IV power plant; tribesmen would be displaced from their land and main source of livelihood that will result in the demise of the Manobo tribal communities.

Carl Cesar Rebuta, project development officer of LRC-KsK/FoE, when asked for comment, maintained that their opposition to the Pulangi V project is based on the equitable returns for the tribesmen, whether they would be resettled in a place the same as to the ancestral domain where they are presently inhabiting, and would the indigenous way of life of the tribes affected be preserved once they are displaced.     

“This project has to be realized while I’m still alive and see the development  and progress that it would bring to my people,” said Apo Caid Lansawan, 96, father of Arakan Valley, Cotabato.