Laiban Ethnocide

On November 4, 2009, Seven Days of Action Against Laiban Dam will begin. Indigenous peoples, women, farmers, rural workers, urban poor, church workers and youth will march from General Nakar, Quezon to Malacañang, a distance of about 148 kilometers, to protest against the construction of the Laiban Dam.

In early July of this year, there were news reports of a pending deal between the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage Services (MWSS) and San Miguel Bulk Water Inc. for the implementation of the Laiban Dam Project through a joint venture agreement. Apart from allegations of non-transparency in the entire negotiation process between MWSS and San Miguel, concerns about the disastrous impact on the lives of the families residing in the project area were also raised.

Standing 113 meters high, the proposed dam project will be built on the Kaliwa Watershed in Tanay, Rizal. Diversion tunnels and other infrastructure will take all the water from the entire watershed area, directing the catchment to the dam reservoir for the purpose of addressing an alleged water shortage in Metro Manila's potable water supply. 

Based on previous studies conducted on the Laiban Dam Project, an estimated 5,000 families, largely from the indigenous peoples of the Dumagats and Remontados, will be dislocated. Eight barangays are to be inundated, resulting in the destruction of residential and community structures such as school buildings and barangay centers, as well as tilled lands.

According to Haribon, an environmental NGO, the Kaliwa Watershed is an important biodiversity area. The construction of Laiban Dam puts at risk already endangered species found in the watershed. The watershed covers 12,147 hectares of residual forests which hosts the rare rafflesia manillana, the jade vine and the critically endangered Philippine Eagle, the Philippine Hawk-eagle, the Philippine brown deer, the Philippine warty pig and the Luzon bearded wild pig.

In its position paper, the Freedom from Debt Coalition points out that an examination into the actual water needs of Metro Manila's population shows that there is more than enough available supply for actual basic needs. With a current population of 12 million people, our basic water needs require only about 600 MLD or 600,000 cubic meters per day. Even if our population grows by 50% come 2015, we would only require 900 MLD, much less than the 1900 MLD that the Laiban Dam will provide.

 I am saddened that it is so easy for this government to sacrifice the lives of indigenous peoples and to destroy what remaining forests we have on the basis of unfounded fears of a water crisis. When the government expropriates private land for public use, the owner is paid and life goes on for him or her. It may be inconvenient at first but it is not impossible. 

When land is taken from indigenous peoples, it is effectively ethnocide. The Dumagats and Remontados may be moved to resettlement areas and go on breathing, eating and sleeping but their way of life, which is intertwined with and dependent on the forest, will be gone forever. Future generations will never experience their culture. If the Aetas in Subic are any indication of what kind of life awaits displaced indigenous peoples, they could end up being made attractions in a theme park. Last year, I saw an "Aeta Village" where the men were made to wear royal blue g-strings and where they demonstrated, desultorily, what life was like when they lived in the forest.