Maranaos wary of planned expansion of Lake Lanao shores

LANAO DEL SUR --- Local sectors are opposed to any expansion of the shores of Lake Lanao along Marawi City using war debris as filling materials.Experts, among them professors in the government’s premier learning institution in the south, the Mindanao State University, have warned of its devastating effect to the lake’s ecology and capability to accumulate floodwaters from surrounding hinterlands in Lanao del Sur.Marawi City is the capital of Lanao del Sur, a component province of ARMM.The chairman of Task Force Bangon Marawi, Eduardo Del Rosario, had recently announced that around eight million metric tons of concrete debris from the conflict-torn areas in Marawi City will be utilized for land reclamation projects.ARMM Vice Gov. Haroun Al-Rashid Lucman said Thursday the task force must study first the perceived adverse impact of such project to Lake Lanao.The downstream flow of the lake that drains at seashores of Lanao del Norte propels state-owned hydroelectric plants supplying about three-fourths of Mindanao’s daily power needs. We are not antagonistic people. We welcome development plans as long as environment-friendly.Lake Lanao is the strongest icon of the Maranao tribe. The term Maranao means `people of the lake’ and by that we value so much Lake Lanao, Lucman said.Lucman said Maranaos are only asking for a prior study on the scientific intricacies and effects to Lake Lanao of the TFBM’s plan.Lake Lanao, Asia’s largest, is teeming with endemic wildlife, including fish species.He said government engineers under Marawi City Majul Gandamra and Lanao del Sur Gov. Soraya Bedjoria Alonto-Adiong can help do a study on the viability of expanding the shores of Lake Lanao using debris from conflict-torn areas as filling materials. Maranaos, for centuries, have been relying on fishes from this lake for survival, said Lucman, also an ethnic Maranao who hails from the lakeside Bayang town in the second district of Lanao del Sur.A popular Catholic peace activist, Oblate missionary Eliseo Mercado, Jr., said any artificial expansion of the shores of Lake Lanao is just like tampering its eco-system.He said proponents of such project should initiate a research first on its effects to the environment. Nature does not forgive and forget. The effects of such action on the lake, on its fauna and flora and people would be forever, said Mercado, who is involved in outreach activities complementing the southern Mindanao peace process.