Conserving watersheds also justice issue

Conserving watersheds also justice issue

December 02, 2008 23:53:00
Maurice Malanes
Philippine Daily Inquirer

BAGUIO CITY – When Ifugao Gov. Teodoro Baguilat Jr. argued in a recent watershed summit that upland communities must be justly compensated for maintaining the headwaters and watersheds for the lowlands, he articulated the ecological principle that all ecosystems are interconnected.

Unfortunately, government policies on watersheds and ecosystems remain disjointed. Thus communities or provinces that host watersheds, which supply the dams that produce electricity and irrigate lowland farms, are not part of the “host communities” or “host LGUs (local government units)” as defined by the Department of Energy, said Baguilat.

As a result, provinces with watersheds have long been deprived of a just share from national wealth taxes, lamented Baguilat, who spoke during an inter-agency watershed summit in Baguio City in October.

To the Ifugao governor, it is time to give justice to Cordillera’s watershed communities, whose abundant natural resources have been conserved and managed through indigenous systems “passed on to us by our ancestors.”

He said the one centavo per kilowatt-hour set aside for host communities for the DOE’s development programs is limited only to communities where the dam reservoir is located. This, he said, is stipulated in the implementing rules and regulations of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira) of 2001.

Trickles

“Only trickles from the programs for the corporate social responsibility of the operating company reach the communities where water is sourced out, one of which is sponsoring cultural events,” Baguilat said.

He cited the Magat Dam, one of Asia’s biggest dams in Ramon, Isabela, which produces 360 megawatts (MW) of electricity and irrigates 85,000 hectares of farmland in Isabela and Nueva Vizcaya.

To Baguilat, Magat is Ifugao. Isabela claims otherwise.

Ifugao and Isabela officials are locked in a court battle over the jurisdiction of Magat Dam.

But while the case has yet to be resolved, the two provinces negotiated in March for an equal sharing scheme on the transfer tax accrued from the facility’s sale from the National Power Corp. to SN Aboitiz, said Baguilat.

For many years since the Magat Dam began operating, Isabela has been getting the bigger share of the 70-30 percent sharing from the dam’s franchise tax. In 2001, Ifugao officials had to haggle with then Isabela Gov. Faustino Dy Jr. for a 50-50 percent sharing of the franchise tax.

Struggle

Ifugao since then has been getting its share from the tax. “But we had to struggle for it,” said Baguilat. “Still, the share from the tax is unjustified as the true beneficiaries – the watershed keepers – are not yet justly indemnified.”

“The share we have received is only the fees from the dam operators for doing business, but communities which have kept the watersheds have yet to be compensated,” he said. “Without the watersheds, there would be no dams and no business.”

Baguilat attributes the remaining forests of Ifugao to ancestors, who have taught the way of the “muyong,” a clan or community-managed woodlot, which can still be found above clusters of rice terraces in the province.

Under the “muyong” tradition, only clan members are allowed to harvest wood from the woodlot and that whatever wood is harvested must be for the family’s needs only (such as for housing) and not for commercial purposes.

The irony, however, is that while Ifugao has a rich resource, which is primarily water, the province remains the 10th poorest in the country and its people remain “cash-poor,” said Baguilat.

Many Ifugao residents were forced by poverty to migrate elsewhere while some have followed the example of Benguet vegetable growers who would clear forests to grow commercial vegetables such as cabbages and potatoes. This is particularly happening in the forested town of Tinoc bordering Benguet.

Baguilat is leading Ifugao officials in helping push for what he calls a “pro-watershed cradle program,” which is being coordinated with civil society groups.

One of the program’s concerns is educating residents to rethink their commercial vegetable farming approach and shift to organic farming and agro-forestry such as integrating coffee, fruit trees with hardwood and other tree species.

Under the program, the Ifugao government also helps cooperatives, community associations and family enterprises how to process, package and market their products.