SC Scraps Petition to Void Kaliwa Dam, Chico River Loans

The Supreme Court (SC) has scrapped a petition that is looking to declare the lone agreements for the Kaliwa Dam and the Chico River irrigation projects as void and illegal.

With a 41-page ruling, the High Court states that the two petitions filed in 2019 by the Makabayan bloc had failed to give compelling arguments that the loan agreement worth $211 million with the Export-Import Bank of China for the Kaliwa Dam project and that the loan from China worth $62 million loan for the Chico River Pump Irrigation project had Constitutional violations.

“(The) loan agreements have sufficiently complied with the applicable procurement laws and conform with the pertinent provisions of the Constitution,” mentioned the Supreme Court in their decision.

The High Court has said that the loan agreements were able to obtain the required approvals from the Monetary Board (MB) of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

It highlighted the MB has given their go-signal with a 2018 resolution after the Department of Finance (DOF) had given their endorsement for the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) proposed loan for the Kaliwa Dam project. With a 2019 resolution. the board gave its final approval for the $211.21 million loan.

The petitioners made claims that the government ignored the Constitutional requirement of prior approval from the MB before entering into the loan agreements. It was argued that the “confidentiality clause” of the loan agreement was barred by the constitution due to the issue of national interest.

Source: Business World