Daniel C. Peckley Jr., proponent of the Upper Tabuk Hydropower Project (UTHP) that threatens the Taloctoc, Naneng, Malbong, Dallac, and Minanga indigenous groups in Kalinga, has been appointed as the new UP vice president for development (VPD).
Peckley’s office confirmed earlier today that he assumed office last March 8, though on an ad interim basis, as the UP Board of Regents must still confirm his appointment.
Peckley succeeded Ferdinand Jesus Pecson who left UP earlier this month. Peckley is UP President Angelo Jimenez’s second VPD, a little over a year into his six-year term.
As VPD, Peckley is in charge of programs to expand the financial endowments of UP through grants and donations, identify and implement income-generating programs for UP, and coordinate with other UP units on resource generation.
Peckley is an engineer by profession, who obtained his civil engineering degree from UP Diliman in 1995. He holds a doctorate in civil engineering from the University of Tokyo. Both Peckley and Jimenez are members of the Alpha Phi Beta fraternity.
Peckley is the owner of DPJ Engineers & Consultants, which first proposed the UTHP in 2008.
The UTHP is a 15-megawatt hydropower facility. The project also involves the construction of a 35.4-meter high dam along the Tanudan River to create a reservoir to store 5 million cubic meters of water, spanning over 30 hectares, according to the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA).
The National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) issued UTHP a certification precondition in 2009, but eventually revoked it in 2012 after strong protests from the affected indigenous groups, according to a report from Northern Dispatch.
A certification precondition is a document that proves that a project does not encroach on any ancestral domain of any indigenous community.
A decade later, DPJ revived the project. The following year, the Taloctoc and Malbong groups formally thumbed down the UTHP through a resolution of nonconsent.
Development projects affecting ancestral lands must secure free and prior informed consent from the communities (FPIC), pursuant to the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act.
Amid the indigenous groups’ rejection of the project, DPJ and the NCIP in Kalinga continued to red-tag, malign, and vilify opponents of the project, putting their lives in danger, according to CPA.
In September 2020, 189 individuals from the Taloctoc, Naneng, Malbong, and Minanga indigenous groups submitted to the NCIP a petition to halt the FPIC process for the UTHP.
The petition also opposed Peckley’s declaration that his UTHP will only proceed in the ancestral domains whose inhabitants provided consent, arguing that the project will still inevitably affect nearby communities as well.
“This petition is yet another proof of the affected communities’ opposition to the project,” said CPA Secretary General Bestang Dekdeken. “No means no. Saying no to the project is an exercise of self-determination which must be respected by the project proponent and NCIP.”
The Provincial Government of Kalinga has a joint venture agreement with DPJ, following the nod of the Kalinga Sangguniang Panlalawigan in 2022. Per the agreement, Kalinga will contribute P158.4 million and will own 20 percent of the UTHP.
“The affected communities oppose the project because of the adverse effects it will have on their ancestral lands, [and] violations on the FPIC process,” added Dekdeken. ●
