The multibillion peso dam is part of the New Centennial Water Source-Kaliwa Dam Project (NCWSP) by the Philippine Government in 2012. The 600-meter dam is said to solve the water supply shortage in the country’s capital Metro Manila.
Planned to harness water from the Kaliwa River and its tributaries, the dam will be constructed in the Sierra Madre Mountain Range of General Nakar in Quezon Province and Tanay in Rizal Province.
Reports say it will affect more than 300 hectares of protected forests which includes ancestral lands of Indigenous Dumagat. Thousands of Indigenous Dumagat, together with Sierra Madre’s biodiversity is feared to be wiped out.
Amid its catastrophic effects and continuing denouncement from Indigenous communities, Indigenous Peoples rights defenders, environmental groups and civil society organizations, the Duterte government expressed its iron-fist decision in implementing the project funded by a controversial China loan.
While the urban center Metro Manila is said to experience a water supply shortage, will another mega-dam project solve this crisis?
Is massive displacement, loss of ancestral lands and environmental destruction the only answer?
Hear the stories from the ground.
Listen to the voices from the margins of this giant dam project.
See the beauty of the forests and rivers on “Ground Zero”.
(This video documentary is produced by Int’l Indigenous Peoples Movement for Self Determination & Liberation and Bulatlat. The production of this documentary was made possible through the support of Coalition for Human Rights in Development.)
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