On February 27, 2022, a gun attack seriously injured outgoing Infanta municipality mayor Filipina Grace America, in the Philippines. America is a known opponent of the Kaliwa Dam project being railroaded by the Duterte administration, which the locals have long opposed due to its potential impact on the environment and the Dumagat Indigenous community.

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.