ENVI, LUMAD GROUP SLAMS DENR CHIEF'S PRO-HYDROPOWER PLANT STAND

"It is unfortunate that the DENR 11 chief finds the construction of of the Sibulan hydropower plant a cause of celebration. Such operation stands in violation of the Bagobo's rights to their ancestral lands. Contrary to Mr. Ricardo Calderon's statement, the Sibulan hydropower plant is bound to destroy the ecological biodiversity of Tudaya and will cause negative impact on the whole of Mt. Apo which is supposed to be protected from such corporate and profit-oriented projects," Fr. Medardo Salomia, PANALIPDAN vice-chairperson said.

PANALIPDAN!-Southern Mindanao is an alliance of environmental advocates, academe, church people, youth, farmers and indigenous peoples groups. The network is based in Davao City but has a wide membership from all provinces in the Davao region. PANALIPDAN! has actively campaigned against the contruction of HEDCOR's hydropower plant.

Similarly, Datu Monico Cayog, PANALIPDAN convener and is the vice-chairperson of PASAKA Confederation of Lumad Organizations in Southern Mindanao, decried the DENR's statement and lambasted the agency.

"When Tudaya started its construction, great disturbance was created. Lands used to be coffee farms have been destroyed. The sacred Tudaya falls of the Tagabawa-lumads is now being violated with the huge pipes and heavy equipment of HEDCOR. More appalling, militarization is causing unpeace in the area and the people are fearing the presence of the 39^th IB and 72^nd IB," Cayog said.

As a Bagobo datu from Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur, also in the Mt. Apo range, Cayog said the ongoing construction of the hydropower plant will further destroy the "supopsed natural park." He said the hydropower plant will add to the water pollution and disruption caused by the Philippine National Oil Corporation (PNOC)'s geothermal power plant which was reported already to have caused arsenic contamination of some bodies of water in the PNOC operations area.

Fr. Medardo Salomia meanwhile attributed the current rice crisis to the development framework of the Arroyo government.

"We've been having rice shortage for some time already and it is precisely caused by the anti-people and anti-environment policies of the Arroyo government. It prioritizes corporate and extractive industries rather than enrcihing our agricultural industry. Lands are appropriated more to mining permits,& exlporations and banana plantations than rice planting," Fr. Salomia said.

On April 22, on the celebration of the Earth Day, PANALIPDAN together with support groups will picket the DENR office in Lanang as a show of protest against environmenttal policies such as construction of corporate dams, large-scale foreign mining, commercial logging and land use and crop conversion. They will also protest the Arroyo government's use of military

force to secure business investments.

PANALIPDAN! - SMR will also hold a region-wide conference which will feature environmental inputs and workshops to be participated in by various environmental advocates and other concerned individuals and groups.

For reference: Fr. Medardo Salomia

Vice-Chairperson, PANALIPDAN-SMR

DATU MONICO CAYOG

Convener, PANALIPDAN-SMR