The forests of Pakil are now on the verge of destruction - and not one official cares.
That was the lament of residents of Pakil who aren't willing to go down on the deforestation of their beloved mountain range without a bitter fight.
As the construction of the 1,400-megawatt Ahunan Pumped-Storage Hydropower Project goes into high gear, residents who have held the mountains behind their town with reverence could only watch helplessly as the forests that have been part of their landscape for decades are now being stripped away.
All in the name of promoting renewable energy, but at the expense of environmental destruction?
Pilgrimage site
Recently, netizen Maurice Joseph Maglaqui Almadrones once again stirred feelings of anger and helplessness when he posted pictures of the area around Mount Ping-as.
Since the Spanish period, the mountain has been a favorite pilgrimage site of Catholics seeking not only physical cures for their ailments but also spiritual renewal.
Local lore has it that pilgrimages to the mountain started around 1671 when a Franciscan priest serving as cura parroco of the nearby town of Paete took a vow as a penitent to climb a mountain carrying a wooden cross.
Upon his death, the people of Pakil, out of great respect, put up a wooden cross in this mountain in front of which they prayed the Holy Rosary and Santacruzan.
In the belief that it cures ailments, especially asthma, townsfolks cut out (“Pingas”) small portions of the cross to use as medicine.
Eventually, a stone cross was built in 1966 (and replaced in 1995) at the area, which by then had become a popular pilgrimage site called "Ahunan."
Pilgrims have derived spiritual comfort not only in the peaceful atmosphere at the mountain but also at the lush greenery of the surrounding area.
Today, as Almadrones shared in his social media, things look a lot different now.
Whole sections of the mountains around Pakil are now being denuded and flattened to make way for the storage dam which will be constructed right in the middle of the town’s mountain range.
Imminent danger
The presence of a massive water reservoir behind Pakil town proper could spell disaster for the town and the surrounding area, concerned groups and environmentalists have consistently warned.
And with good reason.
For one, the excavation of a major water reservoir at the Sierra Made mountain range – which has been held as key to lessening the destructive power of the typhoons that periodically ravage Luzon – meant that much of the forest cover that protects the town will be removed.
As a matter of fact, according to locals, over 3,772 trees in the barangays of Rizal and Baño have already been slated for clearing at the site of the dam.
Not to mention that the water reservoir itself poses a severe risk to residents in the event of an earthquake or massive flooding – a fact that had already been hammered home after weeklong monsoon rains left much of Laguna’s eastern portion submerged last year.
These warnings, however, have fallen on deaf ears, as residents have lamented that certain officials in Laguna province are clearly signaled their approval to the project.
Case in point: the inclusion of Ahunan Power, Inc., the developer behind the dam, as a sponsor in last April's Turumba Festival.
Concerned groups have denounced the LGU's allowing Ahunan Power, Inc. as a sponsor in the festival, claiming that it is "ironic" that a corporation destroying a part of Pakil was allowed to participate in an event ostensibly aimed at honoring and safeguarding its natural heritage.
Like many Pakilenos who have long opposed the construction of the dam, Almadrones foresaw doom in the destruction of the mountains around the town.
“Isa itong sakunang naghihintay na maganap sa pagsapit ng tag-ulan. Isa itong sakunang ikasisira ng kultura at pamumuhay ng Pakil dahil ang mga pagbabago sa kalikasan ay bumabago sa lahat ng aspeto ng isang lugar na nagmula sa kalikasan,” Almadrones said in his Facebook post.
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