Infanta Mayor Filipina Grace America, a staunch opponent of the Kaliwa Dam construction in Quezon, was shot by an unidentified gunman last February 27, Sunday.Â
The mayor was coming home from Church when the gunman opened fire on her and her driver at around 11:15 am. The report said that the gunman had “intent to kill,” but she survived the attempt and was rushed to the hospital.
America has consistently advocated against the construction of the Kaliwa Dam, a Chinese-funded 10.37 billion peso project supported by the Duterte Administration. She objected to the project because of its potentially devastating impact on local communities.
Although the dam promises to solve Manila’s water shortage, many groups have said that it would do more harm than good.
The Save Sierra Madre Network, for example, said that the dam would destroy the area’s biodiversity and would eliminate almost 10,000 of forest cover, exposing the area to extreme flooding.
In their 2019 opinion article for Manila Bulletin, Charissa Luci-Atienza and Bernie Cahiles-Magkilat also reported that the dam would submerge about 12,000 hectares of the forest ecosystems in Sierra Madre, endangering many species on the brink of extinction.
The dam also endangers the lives and livelihoods of the local Dumagat tribe, which has claim to the land where the Dam is being constructed.
“We have a right to our ancestral domains. But instead of protecting our rights, the president and the government are the first to violate them,” said Henry Borreo, one of the leaders of a Pigtaanan ni Dumaget Remontado di General Nakar Quezon, a local Dumagat organization.
Last January 2022, despite these issues, the Manila Water Sewage System (MWSS) and the National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP) railroaded the signing of the project’s Memorandum of Agreement.
Local government leaders like America have stood firm against the MWSS and NCIP officials pushing for the project.
Indigenous People’s rights group Katribu Youth called the shooting as another attack on an environmental defender and the indigenous people.
“Ang atake sa mga tagapagtaguyod ng karapatan ng mga katutubo ay atake rin sa kalikasan na ating inaalagaan at pinaka-iingat-ingatan,” they added.
In the past weeks, various human rights defenders and indigenous people’s advocates like America were also attacked.
Natividad Castro, a doctor serving the Lumad communities in CARAGA, was taken into custody on February 18 after she was accused of being a member of the New People’s Army.
On February 24, government soldiers gunned down five individuals in New Bataan, Davao de Oro. This included Chad Booc and Gelejurain Nguho II, volunteer teachers in a local lumad school. Meanwhile, last February 21, Kevin “Ka Facio” Castro was gunned down by state elements in Polilio, Quezon.
Castro is a volunteer teacher for remote areas in Quezon.
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Various human rights groups have rallied behind the call to #StopTheAttacks and bring the perpetrators to justice.
Featured image courtesy of RMN Networks.
