Environmental defenders Garry ‘Kurontoy’ Doroteo and Loreto Miranda Balino were arrested on May 6, 2021. Doreteo and Balino oppose the construction of dams in the ancestral lands of Dumagat-Remontado in Sierra Madre Mountain Range, Philippines. Their communities live in the areas affected by the Kaliwa/Kanan Laiban Dam. Rights groups allege that the dam project violated the free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) process and several policies protecting the environment. Doroteo, member of the Dumagat indigenous group, has been active in the campaign against Kaliwa, Kanan, and Laiban dams that threatens the ecology and biodiversity of their ancestral land. The arrests come few hours after a report released by human rights group Karapatan that a ‘Bloody Sunday Massacre’ like operation could happen based on information from reliable sources. The arrests also came after authorities called for speeding up the construction of Kaliwa dam and tunneling.

In 2015, two consortia were pre-qualified to bid for the undertaking of the Kaliwa Dam project: the SMC-K Water Consortium, which is a partnership between San Miguel Holdings Corporation and Korea Water Resources Corporation; and the Abeima-Datem Consortium, which is a partnership between Albeinsa Infraestructura Medio Ambiento S.A. and Datem Inc. Since 2009, the Japanese firm Global Utility Development Co. (GUDC) proposed to build not a dam but a weir, and the project is considered to be cheaper, more sustainable and less invasive by local communities, which would not be relocated. However, in 2019 the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System of the Philippines signed a Loan Agreement with the China Eximbank, which selected a Chinese constructor.