Salceda orders suspension of Camarines dam project

LEGAZPI CITY , Philippines  – Albay Gov. Joey Salceda, Regional Development Council chair for Bicol, has put on hold the ongoing work on the Libma­nan-Cabusao dam project in Camarines Sur pending an investigation.

Salceda has also created a special committee composed of Gilbert Gonzales, regional technical director of the Environment Management Bureau (EMB), National Irrigation Administration regional director William Ragodon and an RDC representative to conduct a probe on the P700 million dam. Some 15 percent has already been completed like the completion of the access road while construction of the cofferdam is going-on.

“We affirm our affirmative stand on this project,” said Salceda during a full council meeting at the NEDA 5 office in Barangay Arimbay here Wednesday morning, citing the role of the RDC to approve, endorse and oversee government projects.

Critics on the project from the different affected localities which are affected by the project said they were not consulted as they fear the dam threatens their property and livelihood. Reports also said that the project has been awarded to A.M. Oreta and Co., Inc. even though the project has not been presented to the Infrastructure Coordinating Committee.

It has been noted during the various consultation meetings conducted in the affected local government units that the NIA did not conduct a topographic survey of the area upstream of the dam before the preparation of the feasibility study to determine the area that would be inundated after the construction of the dam.

However, Chito Monson, Bicol River Basin Watershed Management Project head, who is coordinating the formulation of the action plans for the relocation of affected families on the areas which would be inundated, said earlier that the Libmanan-Cabu­sao dam (LCD) is not like the big reservoir dams of Angat in Bulacan, Pantaba­ngan in Nueva Ecija and Magat in Isabela because it is not capable of storing large amount of water.