Last July, at the height of monsoon rains, residents living near Mount Makiling in Calamba City blamed the sudden floods in their area to a subdivision development allegedly being built on the slopes of the mountain.
Although government officials said the development reportedly falls outside the jurisdiction of the Mount Makiling Protected Landscape, residents and environmentalists alike are now alarmed at the rapid pace of development in our province – development that, ironically, puts more lives at risk.
And now, with the recent onslaught of supertyphoon “Uwan” – which, while mercifully bypassing our province, still caused a good deal of damage and sent families fleeing their homes – focus is trained on the rapid deterioration of our natural resources, particularly on the province’s eastern hinterland.
For instance, the Ahunan Dam hydroelectric project in the town of Pakil has drawn flak from residents, particularly as part of the project involved cutting off a large area of forest for a dam and reservoir. The environmental degradation is further exacerbated by the wind-energy project now being built in nearby Paete. Both projects were identified as the cause of the recent flooding in the two town's poblacions.
Since the Sierra Madre has been considered one of the last bastions of Luzon against extreme weather, the mere fact that a large reservoir is being built right in the middle of the mountain has caused alarm among Pakileños who fear a literal deluge should it fail.
Here’s the biggest irony: multinational companies claim such projects will enable the country to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. But at the cost of destroying what should be our biggest protection against typhoons?
Let the lessons of the recent typhoons sink in: when Nature is seriously wounded – condominiums being built on mountainsides, forests denuded in the name of clean energy – its revenge will know no bounds.
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