Sagada elder urges ecological conservation amid mining applications

BAGUIO CITY — Communal watershed forests in Mountain Province, which serve as the water sources of main rivers, are threatened by various mine applications allegedly due to the government’s active campaign to revitalize the mining industry.

A member of the Sangguniang Bayan of Sagada, Mountain Province, Jaime Dugao revealed there are at least three exploration applications (EXPA), four applications for production sharing agreement (APSA), and five applications for financial and technical assistance agreement (AFTA).

Now pending at the regional office of the Mines and Geo-sciences Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (MGB-DENR-CAR), the applications cover the communal forests in Mount Sispisitan, which is sharing the provincial boundaries with Abra and Kalinga.

“These applications threaten our communal forests, rivers and the sustainable environment in the province which we had nurtured through their indigenous systems,” added Dugao.

Popularly known as Tigan-o, Dugao attended a Manila forum last week with a theme: “Church leaders-indigenous people’s dialog on traditional knowledge, food security and indigenous people’s rights.”

The forum participated by mostly church personalities was held at the Balay Kalinaw, University of the Philippines in Quezon City and was sponsored by the Task Force on Indigenous People’s Rights, a national network of non-government organizations, church-based and academic institutions advocating for indigenous peoples’ rights.

Based on MGB-CAR documents, the three EXPA cover 8,745 hectares; four APSA cover 11,376 hectares; while the five AFTA cover 222,482 hectares.

One EXPA and APSA applications included areas in Kalinga and Ilocos Sur, respectively. The two provinces are neighbors of Mountain province.

The AFTA applications also cover areas not only in Mountain Province but included areas in the neighboring provinces of Ilocos Sur, Benguet, Ifugao and Nueva Vizcaya, MGB documents revealed.

Dugao said the applications are part of mine applications in the region which totals to nearly 70% of the Cordillera’s 1.8 million hectares land area.

“Watershed and forest reservations”

Dugao claimed Sagada and the neighboring towns in Mountain Province and Abra are actually nourishing the headwaters of main rivers flowing down the lowlands.

“Sagada is the watershed of the Chico River which flows down to Kalinga and Cagayan. It irrigates thousands of agricultural lands,” Dugao pointed out. The “Bumud-ok Falls” in Fidelisan of Northern Sagada flows down to Amlusong creek to join the Chico River, he added.

Dugao pointed out the same case with Sagada’s Lake Danum where fresh water flows down the Balas-iyan River – with headwaters in nearby Besao town, also in Mountain Province, which feeds thousand of hectares of rice fields in Quirino, Ilocos Sur.

Water from the Balas-iyan River is so fresh until it reaches the Abra River in Quirino, now polluted by corporate mine wastes from Mankayan, Benguet, he added.

Dugao said the sustainable agricultural practices since time immemorial were the people’s secret in environmental conservation.

Indigenous resource use

“Our sustainable practices in the communities of Sagada are exercised through the dap-ay, an indigenous socio-political institution where elders, like me, play an important role,” said Dugao pointing that such indigenous practices for resource utilization and conservation are passed from generation to generation through the dap-ay.

Dugao shared among their sustainable practice that is notable up to the present is forest conservation.

“The Batangan or Saguday system is an inter-generational task where our forest conservation or utilizations are collective obligation of community members,” he said adding, any violation by a community member means a sanction from the elders after a careful deliberation.

This is the main reason on why forests in the province are abundant especially in Sagada.

Government data show that Mountain Province is among the Cordillera provinces with higher forest cover and 13 rivers flowing to the nearby regions traced the Cordillera as their water sources.

Opposing large scale-mining

The nature of the province, and the entire region, as forest and watershed areas even without the state laws would be destroyed if mining would be allowed, he said.

Dugao pointed out these mine applications are lopsided more for the benefit of corporate interests.

“We might be giving up our resources in exchange of these mining companies’ small taxes that they give to the government,” said Dugao.

Citing a research, Dugao added, Sagada folk are not against development.

“An eye opener for us however is the experience of our brothers in Benguet, where large-scale mining has been destroying the environment since the third quarter of the 19th century when corporate mining supplanted traditional copper mining sites in Mankayan and logged the forests of northern Benguet for mine timber and smelter fuel.”

He also cited the causes of forest denudation as large-scale mining, like the open pit mining in Itogon that had stripped the mountains of their forest covers.

He appealed to the participants to support Cordillera people’s struggle against large scale mining in Sagada in the Cordillera and for the repeal of the Philippine Mining Act of 1995 or RA 7942. # Arthur L. Allad-iw

Corruption in Water Costs Billions of Dollars, Hits Poor the Hardest – Global Report

To compensate for the losses caused by corruption, Transparency International reports that an additional $45 billion would have to be invested over the next decade in order to reach the Millenium Development Goals, particularly increasing the access to safe water.

BY RONALYN OLEA
Bulatlat

The Transparency International’s “Global Corruption Report (GCR) 2008: Corruption in the Water Sector” reveals corruption costs billions of dollars and hits poor the hardest.

Organized by IBON Foundation and Water Integrity Network (WIN), the East Asia forum launch of the TI report was held October 24 in Makati City. The GCR was previously launched in New York City, USA and in the Netherlands.

Priya Shah, assistant programme coordinator of the WIN, shared the highlights of the GCR 2008.

WIN is a network of individuals and organizations that are able and willing to support the cause of increasing Water Integrity. It has over 650 members in more than 50 countries.

Shah said corruption manifests in all of the areas of the water sector – water resources management, water and sanitation, water for food, and water for energy.

The GCR contains over 30 country reports.

According to the report, corruption jacks up the cost of water services between 10 to 30 percent globally each year.

Shah said that illegal payoffs increase the cost and lower the quality of public works projects by between 30 to 50 percent. Government monopolies inflate the prices for goods by as much as 15 to 20 percent as a result of illicit gains. Governments can pay prices inflated anywhere from 20 to 100 percent for expensive goods and services due to over-billing of procurement contracts.

Renaud Meyer, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) country director, said that more than US$1 trillion (US $1,000 billion) are paid in bribes every year, just over three percent of world income in 2002.

More than 70 percent of small and medium enterprises in transition economies perceive corruption as an impediment to their business, he added.

In Africa, $148 billion leaves the continent every year because of corruption.

Shah cited unchecked water pollution and overuse in China and Spain; embezzlement and bid-rigging in large infrastructure development projects in India, Lesotho; embezzlement of water budgets in Paraguay, distorted distribution of water points in Malawi, inflated costs of infrastructure in India; local water mafias control supply in Ecuador and Bangladesh; water jobs awarded through patronage or bribery in Mauritania; bribery and extortion in bill collection, repair works in Kenya and Zimbabwe.

She said that corruption in irrigation contracts makes up to 25 percent of the contract volume in India and there are distorted subsidies where largest farmers collect disproportionate share of earnings in Mexico and US.

Hydropower, said Shah, attracts US $50 to 60 billion annual investments. The report reveals distorted environmental impact assessments in India; embezzlement, bribery, bid-rigging in construction in Argentina and Paraguay; fraud and manipulation in resettlement and compensation programmes in China, Indonesia and Zambia.

To compensate for the losses caused by corruption, TI reports that an additional $45 billion would have to be invested over the next decade in order to reach the Millenium Development Goals, particularly increasing the access to safe water.

Shah identified the fundamental characteristics of corruption in the water sector. These are: public officials have wide discretion and little accountability; lack of checks and balances; weak enforcement mechanisms; the benefits of corruption are greater than the consequences of being caught and disciplined; and, demand for accountability for services is usually missing.

Meyer, of the UNDP, cited the human cost of the water crisis. He said that some 1.8 million children die each year as a result of diarrhea—which is 4,900 deaths a day. This is equivalent to the under-five population in London and New York combined. Deaths for diarrhea in 2004 were about six times greater than the average annual deaths in armed conflict for the 1990s.

He added that 443 million school days each year are lost to water-related illnesses.

Millions of women spend up to four hours a day collecting water. Almost 50 percent of all people in developing countries are suffering at any given time from a health problem caused by water and sanitation deficits, he said.

Meyer said anti-corruption strategies can help guarantee the right to water, ensure access to affordable and safe water services by the poor, help reduce the risks on the environment and provide energy security and help reduce the impacts of climate change and impending food crises.

Shah said there is a need to forge actor alliances as the stakes are high and to empower local communities. (Bulatlat.com)

Filipino scientist warns of diminishing groundwater supply

MANILA, August 5, 2008—A Filipino scientist warned of diminishing groundwater supply in some parts of the country.

Dr. Fernando Siringan of the University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute said excessive groundwater extraction or diminishing groundwater supply results in land subsidence, which in turn causes floods in coastal areas.

In the case of the Italian city of Venice (known as the “Sinking City”), he said it sank rapidly during the mid-20 century as a result of the over-abundance of wells pumping out large amounts of water to supply the needs of the entire region.

He was speaking during the Coffeehouse Environmental Forum held at the Communication Foundation for Asia (CFA) on July 25.

“Have you ever wondered why some areas in Bulacan and other parts of the Philippines are like Venice, becoming permanently submerged in water?” he asked.

We should pay attention to warning signs in our own country, where we see many towns experiencing floodwaters for weeks even without rain. These are indications of subsidence in places where artesian wells appear to rise up from the ground,” Siringan said.

The UP professor also pointed out that demand for groundwater rises as population increases. A large part of uncontrolled groundwater extraction is made by households and industries. He mentioned the Camanava area in Metro Manila, where land subsidence has deteriorated and floods have worsened.

Siringan offered some suggestions to limit land subsidence—1) limit the use of artesian wells. In this connection, people should encourage water companies to expand their pipe-laying projects to service more areas; 2) properly implement the rules under the Philippine Water Code; and 3) study and implement actions that would trap and store rain water for other use.

Over a hundred participants attended the Coffeehouse Forum from schools, government agencies, press, non-government organizations, church and development groups, according to a communiqué from CFA. (Santosh Digal)(CBCPNews)

Privatization of Water Districts Bring High Water Prices, Massive Layoffs

Privatization is to blame for skyrocketing water prices and the inefficient water service in the country. Not to mention its ill effects on the livelihood of water district employees due to massive layoffs.

BY NOEL SALES BARCELONA
Contributed to Bulatlat
Vol. VIII, No. 25, July 27-August 2, 2008

Privatization is to blame for skyrocketing water prices and the inefficient water service in the country. Not to mention its ill effects on the livelihood of water district employees due to massive layoffs.

In the recently concluded Action-Learning and International Conference Against Water Privatization, a two-day seminar-workshop held at the University of the Philippines-Diliman’s (UPD) Balay Kalinaw, poor water condition, inefficient yet costly water servicing, among others, were identified as primary problems that have arisen from privatization of water utilities.

“The promises of privatization, like lowering water costs and improved services, have been proven untrue. It has also resulted in massive layoffs among employees,” said Ferdinand Gaite, national president of the Confederation for Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees (COURAGE), in a protest held in front of the former Metropolitan Water and Sewerage System (MWSS) office in Katipunan, Quezon City, as the culmination of the said conference.

In the MWSS’s experience in 1999, more than half of the 7,000 employees had been laid off, or voluntarily resigned from their jobs because of the uncertainty of their status in their work due to privatization.

According to Gaite, the government has plans of selling other water districts in the country as part of its privatization scheme.

However, members of the Water Systems Employees’ Response (WATER), the federation of employees’ unions and organizations in different water districts all over the country, said that they would continuously fight the privatization scheme of the government, not only to safeguard their jobs but to ensure that the Filipino people will have the best water services.

According to Rodrigo Aranjuez, national president of WATER, they cannot afford to see safe, affordable and accessible water for the people being sacrificed because of excessive profiteering by the government and private corporations.

He also said that privatization only breeds corruption due to kickbacks and payoffs, just to ensure the smooth delivery of public water utilities, to private and profit-oriented corporations. Contributed to Bulatlat

Exploration project overwhelmingly rejected in referendum

Danny Fajardo

CEBU CITY — There seems to be no letting up on oil exploration in Cebu waters as an Australian-based company will start exploratory oil and gas drilling in Argao in August.

Department of Energy (DoE) resource division chief Eduardo Amante said NorAsian Energy Limited will conduct its oil drilling after confirming, through a seismic survey in 2007, that Argao has potential for petroleum resources.

Amante said the oil drilling will be conducted outside the protected marine sanctuaries of Argao waters.

Meanwhile, Cebu Provincial Board Member Victor Maambong insisted that public hearings must be conducted first before proceeding with the oil explorations activities.

Maambong also criticized the firm for not presenting any comprehensive insurance fund for residents whose livelihoods might be affected by the drilling.

He said NorAsian had not yet secured an environmental compliance certificate (ECC) from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and from other local government units.

Earlier, Japan Petroleum Exploration Co., Ltd (JAPEX) has aborted its oil exploration activities after announcing that there is no sufficient deposit of commercial oil deposited in Tañon Straits, a protected seascape between Cebu and Negros islands.

According to Amante, NorAsian assured the people it would provide assistance for any disturbance that might affect the residents’ livelihood.

He also said NorAsian Energy is establishing measures to protect marine environment, fish catch study and marine mammal observation.(MB)

City water treatment facility starts August

NON-FUNCTIONAL. This P5 million drainage project in front of the Central Market seems not to function as flooding and foul odor are noticed in the area up to the road fronting the Island City Mall. Can City Hall explain well why flooding continues. Foto DANNY REYES

The much awaited water treatment facility which is needed to save the seawaters at the City Port from turning into like the dirty waters at Manila port will start construction not later than August this year. This was the pronouncement made yesterday by City Mayor Dan Lim in the wake of mounting public clamor to address the drainage problem in the city. The project is estimated to cost P100 million which will be funded by a loan with the Development Bank of the Phils (DBP).

The mayor said he will await the formal authority from the Sangguniang Panlungsod regarding the DBP loan to finance the water treatment facility to be constructed near the Shell depot along Graham Ave. this city, where the water outfall is situated.

The construction of the facility will be completed between 9 to 12 months, Lim said after consultation with Engr. Cecil Corloncito, city environmental consultant.

The city government will still determine the scheme in funding the project, he continued.

Meantime, the inspection of septic tanks of houses and business firms along CPG Ave did not materialize last Wednesday as earlier mentioned by the mayor. However, he said the team from the City Health Office under Dr. Antonio Porticos will field this week to conduct said inspection.

Earlier, the mayor said that those found without septic tanks will “suffer the consequence under the law…”

WATER LAB RESULTS OUT

Laboratory results of water samples taken from the city’s drainage shows it is more dangerous to keep the outfall closed than having it opened.

City environmental consultant Engr. Cecil Corloncito confirmed his initial pronouncement that while a water treatment plant has yet to be constructed, opening the drainage outfall has lesser consequences than keeping household and commercial waste water stagnant in the drainage system.

Corloncito bared that water samples taken from the drainage show the pollution level during rainy days at 10 parts per million (PPM) which is below the environmentally acceptable standard of 50 parts per million (PPM).

However, when it is not raining, the laboratory results show that concentration of pollutants in the drainage is 84 PPM.

At this level of pollution, Corloncito explained, if the waste water is discharged into the sea, it can easily be diluted.

According to Corloncito, exposing waste water to oxygen can further dilute the concentration of pollutants.

He said that keeping the wastes inside the drainage could exponentially increase its pollution content to over 1,000 PPM.

“This is the reason why I have been recommending for the opening of the outfall,” Corloncito said.

“It should be understood by the public that if waste is not exposed to air, the bio-chemical oxygen demand (BOD) or the strength of pollution increases exponentially,” he said.

Corloncito stressed that while the pollution is still within manageable levels, the best thing to do would be to establish a water treatment plant at the outfall.

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“Eventually, the increasing population of the city will have a greater impact in the years to come,” he explained. According to Corloncito, the water sampling and analysis should have long been done by the DENR. The result of the tests would be the basis for the design of the water treatment, the city consultant said. The results of the water tests will be presented by Corloncito on Tuesday during a meeting with city officials at the Sangguniang Panlungsod session hall.

JOINT SP COMMITTEE
FIND 3 CULPRITS

A joint Sangguniang Panlalawigan committee meeting with highways, engineering and environment officials identified three culprits for the drainage mess in Tagbilaran City, feared to become a “City in Decay.”

These are the contractor’s tolerance to the illegal connections to the drainage system, failure of the city government to cut them, and absence of a wastewater treatment facility.

Provincial Board Member Cesar Tomas Lopez, chairman of the SP health committee, said contractor Hanjin and city hall should “work hand in hand” to cut illegal tappings that flush wastewater into the storm-rainwater drainage channel.

The discharge of wastewater into the new drainage system is prohibited based on City Ordinance C-205, according to Provincial Board Member Alfonso Damalerio II, chairman of the environment and natural resources committee.

Lopez said that based on the existing measure, the city government, thru the City Engineering Office (CEO), should be “very active” in this mandate.

The meeting held at capitol Friday was jointly called by the committees on environment, health and public works.

Others in attendance were Board Members Jose Veloso and Bienvenido Molina, District Engr. Celestino Adlaon of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH-I), Acting Chief Rosalina Gaterin of the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB-Bohol), Engr. Greta Mende of the Provincial Engineering Office (PEO) and representative of the capitol-created Bohol Enviornment Management Office (BEMO).

The EMB and its mother agency, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), are firm against the drainage outfall opening unless the illegal connections are cut and wastewater treatment plant built.

Lawyer Raul Barbarona of the Enviornmental Legal Action Center (ELAC), Liza Flores of PROCESS Foundation, and Executive Director Jovenal Edquilag of the Maribojoc Bay Executive Management Office (MBEMO) also came.

Edquilag said a wastewater treatment facility should be constructed because not just the coastal waters of Tagbilaran City are adversely affected by the toxic discharges through the drainage outfall.

Adlaon said the list of illegal connections to the new drainage system was long provided to city hall, including the City Health Office (CHO), for appropriate action.

All agreed in the meeting to “pressure” the contractor into cutting the illegal connections which it allowed and tolerated right in the construction phase of the new drainage.

This recommendation will be relayed to the Philippine Japan Highways Loan (PJHL) – Project management Office (PMO).

The points for action will also be raised by Damalerio, as authorized in the joint committee meeting, during the conference of the city council called by Vice Mayor Jose Antonio Veloso with invited highways, environment and other technical persons on May 23.

The city ordinance prohibiting the waste discharge into the drainage system says: “All persons, establishments, entities and other stakeholders affected by the provisions of this Ordinance are hereby given a period of six months after the effectivity of this Ordinance to comply to its provisions.”

It says further that the “Office of the City Mayor is hereby authorized to issue Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) necessary for the proper implementation of this Ordinance”

The measure was enacted by the Sangguniang Panlungsod presided by then Vice Mayor Nuevas Tirol-Montes and approved by Mayor Dan Lim in June last year.

In October of the same year, Gov. Erico Aumentado issued Executive Order 15 “strengthening the initiatives to prevent water pollution by enforcing the installation of wastewater treatment facilities for hotels, resorts, and restaurants, and such other industries which require usage of water volume in commercial quantities.”

In March this year, a technical conference with the DENR-EMB people would have been attended by DPWH-I and city officials and Hanjin people. Only a DPWH-I representative came.

Commitments were made in that meeting, namely, the disconnection of all existing sewerage tappings within 30 days, prevention of further connections to ensure that the drainage system is free from pollution and domestic wastes, and submission of compliance report after the cutting of all existing sewer connections after one month period.

It was reiterated in the joint SP committee meeting Friday that cutting the illegal connections is a collaborative job of the contractor and city government.

The drainage project cannot alone be turned over from the contractor to the government because it is just a component of the Bohol Circumferential Road Improvement Project-Phase II.

Adlaon said the project to be accepted, therefore, is not solely the drainage system but wholly the circumferential road.

LIM TWITS DAMALERIO

Tagbilaran Mayor Dan Lim lashed out at “the ugly head of politics” as he got back at Board Member Alfonso Damalerio II after the latter delivered criticizing the city government’s proposed solutions to the drainage problems.

Speaking at his weekly radio program over Station DyRD, Lim said Damalerio’s has no basis for his criticisms except his own opinion.

The mayor said Damalerio has neither the expertise nor the qualification to take issue with the experts who designed, prepared and proposed the solutions to the problem.

He also asked why Damalerio is suddenly interested in the drainage problem only now when the solution is near.

Lim pointed out that the drainage system has been his priority project even as far as 1992 when he served as city administrator to then Mayor Jose Ma. Rocha.

During that time, he was responsible for the construction of the drainage system along Lamdagan street and Remolador extension.

“Damalerio is not aware of that but the residents of these places are my witnesses,” the mayor said.

He also noted that when he assumed in 2004, the drainage problem was among his first concerns when he negotiated for the upgrading of the CPG avenue road improvement project.

At the time, Lim said the project was only for an overlay asphalt but he lobbied for the inclusion of a drainage component and for it to be upgraded to concreting.

“This is the reason that even though Cong. Edgar Chatto, the god of Damalerio, was not concerned about it, the drainage system was incorporated in the CPG avenue road improvement project,” Lim added.

The mayor also took issue with Damalerio’s claim that the national government through the efforts of Chatto and Gov. Erico Aumentado poured in P43-million into the San Jose outfall.

“I challenge him to show that Cong. Chatto allocated funds from his CDF for this project,” Lim declared.

The mayor said that if there is anybody who should claim credit for the project, it would be Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Aumentado and then Budget Secretary Romulo Neri.

Lim also took issue with Damalerio’s claim that the “polluter’s fee” sends a wrong signal to the people that “it’s okay to pollute as long as you pay”.

“It does not mean that people are allowed to pollute just because they can pay. It is an economic instrument where people are made to pay now when they have not been paying before,” the mayor said.

Lim said that since there is only one drainage system, it would be impossible to follow a defective ordinance that allowed only rainwater into the drainage.

“Is he aware that there are 90,000 violators and that the Capitol where he holds office is among the violators whose connections would be cut if he insists on implementing the ordinance that prohibits discharges aside from rainwater?” he asked.

Lim said that the collection of the polluter’s pay, which is a sort of carrot and stick approach, is provided for in the Clean Water Act.

The mayor said that if only Chatto allocated a bigger chunk of his discretionary funds that totals P70-M annually, Tagbilaran would have availed of not just two drainage systems that Damalerio wants.

(BoholChronicle)