LUCENA CITY –– Communist New People’s Army (NPA) rebels vowed to stage attacks to stop the construction of the controversial P18.7-billion Kaliwa Dam project in the Sierra Madre mountain ranges in north Quezon province.

“The Apolonio Mendoza Command (AMC-NPA-Quezon), with the support of the people, vows to launch tactical offensives to stop the construction of Kaliwa Dam and all anti-people projects of the reactionary government posing as ‘development projects,’” Eliza “Ka Eli” de la Guerra, deputy spokesperson of the NPA’s Apolonio Mendoza Command, said in a statement Tuesday.

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“The Kaliwa Dam project will be stopped and the ancestral lands of the Dumagat and Remontado tribe will be free from environmental destruction,” she said.

The Metropolitan Waterworks Sewerage System has long been pushing for the construction of the Kaliwa dam as a major component of its New Centennial Water Source Project to address a projected water crisis in Metro Manila.

The project is funded by China’s Official Development Assistance to the Philippines.

Environmental groups, religious, militant groups, and concerned local government officials in northern Quezon have been waging a vigorous campaign to stop the dam project. (Editor: Leti Boniol)

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