Confident about ‘confidential’ deal?

Our latest story looks at the impact on the affected communities of the P52-billion Laiban Dam project, the subject of an ongoing tender that has been kept largely secret by the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS).

The MWSS has yet to disclose details and documents covering its joint-venture agreement with San Miguel Corporation but already the representatives of the food-beverage giant have commenced talks with residents who would be displaced by the dam.

The construction of Laiban dam will force the relocation of about 10,000 people from seven barangays in Tanay, Rizal, and another barangay in Quezon province.

Ed Lingao and Jaemark Tordecilla visited the area last week and saw this story of communities left in suspended animation amid the serial false starts for the Laiban dam project, over the last 30 years.

A barangay captain says that while the MWSS personnel have kept a low-profile role “for fear of retaliation from angry residents,” representatives of San Miguel have started talks with village officials and residents, and that the matter of compensation was also tackled.

Indeed, while the NEDA has yet to see a copy of the MWSS’s agreement with San Miguel, and while the MWSS has yet to disclose if other parties had submitted counter-bids as of its July 8, 2009 deadline, the people of Tanay, Rizal, know one thing for sure – San Miguel Bulk Water is coming in to build Laiban dam.