ESP carries on fight vs San Roque dam project

"Let the Agno River flow freely!

With this battle cry, the Ibaloi folk and their supporters carry on their fight against the completion of the San Roque dam, said to be the largest in Asia and the 12th largest in the world.

Ibaloi tribesmen have expressed fears that the P40-billion project will have a negative impact on the Agno River and the environment.

Antonio Claparols, president of the Ecological Society of the Philippines (ESP) and regional councilor of the IUCN, strongly believes that the country will never attain food security unless there is environmental security.

In a letter to Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Heherson Alvarez, Claparols wrote: "Gone are the days of large dams. If these dams will be allowed to operate, it will create more havoc and only destroy the biodiversity in the last pristine headwaters in the Cordillera Mountains."

Claparols asked the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to make public the environmental impact assessment (EIA) and environmental clearance certificate (ECC) of the San Roque dam and that of the Erap dam in Arayat, Pampanga.

At the moment, Claparols said more than 1,000 farmers have been displaced by an order of the Erap dam developers to stop planting rice in their fields.

"There is no purpose for this dam. We have enough water in Arayat and a rich, healthy environment," Claparols pointed out.