The Save Apayao Peoples Organization (SAPO) once again called for the rejection of the Gened 1 hydro-power dam construction plan on the Apayao-Abulog River in Kabugao, Apayao. The project threatens the indigenous community’s ancestral land, culture, and safety, the group said.

Pan Pacific Renewable Power Phils. Corp. plans to build seven water reservoirs and a pump storage facility in the province. The dam is only one of eight hydropower projects planned along the same river.

Research by the Cordillera Peoples Alliance and Aliansa dagiti Pesante iti Kordiliera (Apit Tako) shows that the construction of Gened 1 will submerge several communities. These include the barangays Poblacion, Nacagman, Waga, Bulu, and Madduang in Kabugao and large parts of Santa Marcela, Flora, Pudtol, and Luna in Apayao. It will also damage some nearby towns in Cagayan. The project will destroy river and forests, and threatens residents’ livelihoods.

The group condemned the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for granting the company a permit to cut trees. The company also failed to conduct sufficient and proper consultations with the community. This is a dangerous precedent for the continued destruction of ancestral land and ecosystems, the group said.

The community also reported that company personnel have started operating in the nearby town of Pudtol due to strong opposition from the Kabugao community against the dam. There is also information that the company has begun deploying machinery in the barangays of Pudtol near the boundary of Kabugao.

SAPO calls on the residents of Pudtol to oppose the dam project and defend their ancestral land. The group said that protecting the land is an act of justice and respect for the past, present, and future generations.