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Chico River Dam Project
The Chico River Dam Project was a proposed hydroelectric power generation project involving the Chico River on the island of Luzon in the Philippines that locals, notably the Kalinga people, resisted because of its threat to their residences, livelihood, and culture. The project was shelved in the 1980s after public outrage in the wake of the murder of opposition leader Macli-ing Dulag. It is now considered a landmark case study concerning ancestral domain issues in the Philippines.
A situation report by Joanna Cariño, Jessica Cariño, and Geoffrey Nettleton for the 1979 National Convention of the Ugnayang Pang-Aghamtao (UGAT), Inc. states that opposition for the Chico River Basin Development Project started as early as 1965, upon the initiation of survey work in affected areas. Locals were wary of the destructive implications of the project, having heard of or witnessed the devastating effects of the Binga and Ambuklao dams to the minorities of Benguet. Earlier studies on the project, however, were not deemed feasible because of high estimated construction costs. Activities under the project picked up pace in 1974, at a time when countries around the globe were reeling from the effects of the OPEC Oil Price Hike of 1973. Alternative sources of energy became highly desirable as the price of oil quadrupled. This led the government of President Ferdinand Marcos to tap the German firm Lahmeyer International in cooperation with the Engineering and Development Corporation of the Philippines to develop a technical feasibility study. The Marcos administration then sought funds from the World Bank in order to fund the project.
The plan involved the construction of four dams along the Chico River:
The technical feasibility study was submitted by Lahmeyer in June 1973 without prior consultation with the indigenous population that was to be displaced by the project. Said population only learned of the study in 1974, when the Marcos government started conducting surveys in preparation for the construction of Chico Dams II and IV.
Even if only Dam IV were built, the project's watershed would have encompassed the municipalities of Tinglayan, Lubuagan, Pasil, and parts of Tabuk in Kalinga Province, and the municipalities of Sabangan, Sagada, Sadanga, Bontoc, Bauko, and parts of Barlig in Mountain Province. Contemporary estimates suggest that the project would have displaced about 100,000 Kalingas and Bontoks. In Kalinga, the barrios of Ableg, Cagaluan, Dupag, Tanglag, Dognac, and Mabongtot would be completely submerged. The Kalinga Apayao government estimated that more than 1000 families would be rendered homeless as a result, and P31,500,000 worth of farmlands would be lost. An additional P 38,250,000 worth of rice fields farmed by the residents of Bangad, Lubuagan, Dangtalan, Guinaang, and Naneng would also be flooded, even if the villages themselves would not be submerged.
The Marcos government offered various financial incentives if the communities agreed to be relocated, but these overtures were rejected by the communities because of the significance of the lands to their religious beliefs and to the legal system that shaped the relationship of their tribes and communities to one another.
The indigenous religious beliefs of the Kalinga place a strong emphasis on ancestor worship, and because these ancestors were buried within the communities themselves, the communities were essentially sacred burial grounds. Macli-ing Dulag, pangat (leader) of the Butbut people of Kalinga, is quoted by journalist Ma. Ceres Doyo expressing this sentiment:
...the question of the dam is more than political. The question is life—our Kalinga life. Apo Kabunian, the Lord of us all, gave us this land. It is sacred, nourished by our sweat. It shall become even more sacred when it is nourished by our blood.
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Chico River Dam Project
The Chico River Dam Project was a proposed hydroelectric power generation project involving the Chico River on the island of Luzon in the Philippines that locals, notably the Kalinga people, resisted because of its threat to their residences, livelihood, and culture. The project was shelved in the 1980s after public outrage in the wake of the murder of opposition leader Macli-ing Dulag. It is now considered a landmark case study concerning ancestral domain issues in the Philippines.
A situation report by Joanna Cariño, Jessica Cariño, and Geoffrey Nettleton for the 1979 National Convention of the Ugnayang Pang-Aghamtao (UGAT), Inc. states that opposition for the Chico River Basin Development Project started as early as 1965, upon the initiation of survey work in affected areas. Locals were wary of the destructive implications of the project, having heard of or witnessed the devastating effects of the Binga and Ambuklao dams to the minorities of Benguet. Earlier studies on the project, however, were not deemed feasible because of high estimated construction costs. Activities under the project picked up pace in 1974, at a time when countries around the globe were reeling from the effects of the OPEC Oil Price Hike of 1973. Alternative sources of energy became highly desirable as the price of oil quadrupled. This led the government of President Ferdinand Marcos to tap the German firm Lahmeyer International in cooperation with the Engineering and Development Corporation of the Philippines to develop a technical feasibility study. The Marcos administration then sought funds from the World Bank in order to fund the project.
The plan involved the construction of four dams along the Chico River:
The technical feasibility study was submitted by Lahmeyer in June 1973 without prior consultation with the indigenous population that was to be displaced by the project. Said population only learned of the study in 1974, when the Marcos government started conducting surveys in preparation for the construction of Chico Dams II and IV.
Even if only Dam IV were built, the project's watershed would have encompassed the municipalities of Tinglayan, Lubuagan, Pasil, and parts of Tabuk in Kalinga Province, and the municipalities of Sabangan, Sagada, Sadanga, Bontoc, Bauko, and parts of Barlig in Mountain Province. Contemporary estimates suggest that the project would have displaced about 100,000 Kalingas and Bontoks. In Kalinga, the barrios of Ableg, Cagaluan, Dupag, Tanglag, Dognac, and Mabongtot would be completely submerged. The Kalinga Apayao government estimated that more than 1000 families would be rendered homeless as a result, and P31,500,000 worth of farmlands would be lost. An additional P 38,250,000 worth of rice fields farmed by the residents of Bangad, Lubuagan, Dangtalan, Guinaang, and Naneng would also be flooded, even if the villages themselves would not be submerged.
The Marcos government offered various financial incentives if the communities agreed to be relocated, but these overtures were rejected by the communities because of the significance of the lands to their religious beliefs and to the legal system that shaped the relationship of their tribes and communities to one another.
The indigenous religious beliefs of the Kalinga place a strong emphasis on ancestor worship, and because these ancestors were buried within the communities themselves, the communities were essentially sacred burial grounds. Macli-ing Dulag, pangat (leader) of the Butbut people of Kalinga, is quoted by journalist Ma. Ceres Doyo expressing this sentiment:
...the question of the dam is more than political. The question is life—our Kalinga life. Apo Kabunian, the Lord of us all, gave us this land. It is sacred, nourished by our sweat. It shall become even more sacred when it is nourished by our blood.