Tribe leaders oppose Agusan hydro power project

Manila Standard Today
By Alvin T. Guanzon | Jul. 14, 2014 at 12:01am

BUTUAN CITY, Agusan del Norte --- Tribal leaders and barangay officials said on Sunday residents in the upland areas opposed construction of a P900-million hydro power project along the Asiga River in the remote town of Santiago.

Municipal councilor Teodoro Cosinas said residents complained they were never consulted and came to know about the project when the Asiga Green Energy Corp started building roads in the area.

“People were alarmed that they will be building a huge dam to impound the water cascading down from the mountains,” Cosinas said.

When the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) conducted a public hearing on the issue last July 10, Datu Ebanta, head of the Mamanwa-Manobo tribes, which has ancestral domain claim over the area, opposed the project. He said the project came as a surprise to them.

Several residents raised environmental issues and the danger it pose to people living in the area. The company did not even bothered to explain the repercussions and benefits to the residents.

Rogelio Antioco, who drives a Habal-habal (a passenger motorcycle), a mode of transport in the area, said residents sneer at the poor quality of the road built by the company.

“Stones roll down from the hilly areas to the lowland, posing a danger to the community,” Antioco said.

He said the boulders and stones can be a problem during the rainy weather because of the danger of landslides. source