CITIZENS in Tabuk City, Kalinga, took to the streets to oppose the proposed Chico dam hydro electric project.
In a protest rally set over the weekend, stakeholders gathered rejecting the 52MW project which is set to commence.
The rally is led by newly formed NO to Karayan movement headed by Cornelio Balnao with residents and officials of Kalinga’s component city.
Locals assembled at the city hall then proceeded to Bulanao going to the Manankaw site at Sitio Banat in Bagumbayan following a short program.
Local officials led by Board Member Danzel Langkit with barangay and city officials led the delegation backing the shelving of the project.
Elders, stakeholders including those who fought alongside Macliing Dulag in the past against a similar project along the Chico River, is opposing the project in the hope, awareness will rise for the anticipated shelving of the project.
Locals fear damage in their ancestral lands and scared burial grounds once the project pushes through.
Directly affected are members of the Naneng, Dallak and Minanga sub tribes and the residents of sitio Banat, Bagumbayan which is feared to be submerged once the project starts.
The project is 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 National Commission for Indigenous People (NCIP).
NCIP Kalinga provincial officer Natividad Suggiayao, however, said all guidelines set by law were followed in the approval of the 52MW Chico River hydro electric project.