KALINGA elders have submitted to the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) their opposition to the proposed construction of a hydroelectric dam in the province.
Over 200 signatures are in the petition, which was submitted to NCIP regional director Ronald Calde.
The letter to the NCIP is the formal protest of direct stakeholders to the proposed 52-megawatt hydroelectric dam by the San Lorenzo Builders and Developers Group (Karayan Inc.).
A protest rally against the projectis set next week at the streets of Tabuk City.
The rally will be attended by elders, stakeholders including those who fought alongside Macliing Dulag in the past against a similar project along the Chico River in the hope that awareness will rise for the anticipated shelving of the project.
“We are strongly opposing the proposed dam because our ancestral inheritance will surely be damage. This land is the source of our living and also where they buried our ancestors,” the petition read.
Stakeholders include members of the Naneng, Dallak and Minanga sub - tribes and the residents of Sitio Banat, Bagumbayan whose lands will be directly affected by the project.
Petitioners claim those who voted in favor of the project are not directly affected by its construction and operation.
The project is being spearheaded by contractor Oscar Violago of the San Lorenzo Builders and Developers Group (Karayan Incorporated) and is now in the process of asking for consent from villages facilitated by the NCIP.
However, NCIP Kalinga provincial officer Natividad Suggiayao said all guidelines set by law were followed in the approval of the project.
Suggiyao said consultation processes as well as voting was conducted in accordance to nfip set guidelines which showed a majority for the project.
The NCIP led consultations with communities as well as the voting done last week which gave the go signal for the company to proceed with the project.
Suggiyao said elders and stakeholders were present in the voting and now will proceed to the negotiation stages before signing the memorandum of agreement.