This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. VI, No. 4, February 26 - March 4, 2006
Land
Grabbing in Pampanga?
The huge machines groaned as they
scraped and removed soil from the face of a hill. Soon, a swath of the Zambales
mountain range in Barangay (village) Hacienda Dolores, Porac, Pampanga (90 kms.
north of Manila) will vanish to make way for the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway
Project (SCTEP).
BY ABNER BOLOS
PORAC,
Pampanga — The huge machines groaned
as they scraped and removed soil from the face of a hill. Soon, a swath of the
Zambales mountain range in Barangay (village) Hacienda Dolores, Porac, Pampanga
(90 kms. north of Manila) will vanish to make way for the Subic-Clark-Tarlac
Expressway Project (SCTEP). Along the
newly-built road leading from the Porac river to the project site, mango and
guava trees were uprooted and vegetable crops destroyed. For the upland
farmers in this village, (pop. 7,000) not only their crops and the fruit-bearing
trees that have sustained them for generations will be taken away from them. LLL Holdings,
a corporation partly owned by former Pampanga governor and incumbent senator
Lito Lapid, now claims ownership of the 761 has. forest land, which includes the
village’s residential areas.
Destroyed crops “We don’t want
their money. What we know is that our forebears have worked on the land and
nobody lays claim to it in the past except us, by virtue of our actual
possession. Suddenly, somebody says he owns it and will take it away from us,”
Petron Pineda, 68, told GLNS. Pineda has
just received P3,000 as payment by employees of KAJIMA Corp., a Japanese firm
contracted by the Base Conversion Development Authority to construct this part
of the SCTEP. The money is
compensation for his crop of camote (sweet potatoes) destroyed in the road
construction, but he was not paid for a portion of his farm that was used for
the project. The employees
who asked not to be identified explained that the BCDA have paid all the
landowners affected by the project. The money paid
to Pineda, they said, is not for the land but for crops destroyed outside of the
defined road area and was paid “as a consideration and goodwill” on the part of
KAJIMA, and not as a legal obligation.. Officers of
the Aguman Memalen Ating Malasakit King Hacienda Dolores (Association of
Concerned Citizens of Hacienda Dolores or AGUMAN), an organization of village
residents, say that BCDA has recognized the ownership of LLL Holdings on the
land and have, indeed, paid the company millions of pesos in right-of-way fees. Land
owners? “We have not
seen the so-called owners. They have not come to us. The people who are
implementing the project did not conduct a single meeting to consult us about
their plans. This came as a shock to everybody,” Teresita Ignacio, AGUMAN
treasurer, said in a meeting with affected farmers and residents held in the
village chapel last February 15. Ignacio said
their woes began when it was announced that the SCTEP will be constructed and
will traverse their village. In October
last year, they were told that by government officials that LLL Holdings owns
almost all of the land in the village and has been paid right-of-way fees by the
BCDA. Residents,
however, believe that LLL Holdings is owned by powerful individuals in the
province one of which is Sen. Lito Lapid. A 60-year old
farmer who also works in a government office in Pampanga told GNLS that he
personally went to see Sen. Lapid in his residence in Porac sometime in January
to inquire about the matter. “Matagal nyo nang
pinakinabangan ang lupa.
Nagbabayad ako ng amilyar dyan kaya bigyan nyo naman ng pagkakataon ang iba,”
(You have benefited from the land for a long time. I am paying the real estate
tax on the land, it’s about time you give others a chance [to benefit from the
land]), the farmer who asked not to be named, quoted Lapid as saying. The farmer
also said that he was given an assurance by Lapid that he will be compensated. “Mag-uusap na
lang daw kami,” [We will just talk things over], the farmer said, referring to
Lapid’s promise of compensation. The AGUMAN is
questioning the process through which LLL Holdings came to own the land. Last year,
they submitted an administrative complaint to the Porac municipal council
against barangay officials for allegedly faking a document that may eventually
serve as the basis for the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to exempt the
land from being covered by the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP). In the
complaint, the farmers and residents charged Hacienda Dolores barangay chair
Nestor Tolentino, two barangay council members and barangay secretary Eligio
Dimal for producing a document that was “forged and approved by themselves
without any knowledge and…and acceptance of their constituents.” The complaint
was signed by three barangay council members and 65 farmers and residents. The alleged
forged document dated September 9, 2005 was supposedly signed by 19 farmers and
was submitted to the DAR regional office. DAR is
expected to issue a decision on whether there are tenants on the land and
whether it is covered by CARP. A DAR decision
that the land is not tenanted and is exempt from CARP will bolster the ownership
claim of LLL Holdings. Part of the
document read: “King ikami ekami kumontra king kaburian ning mikibandi king
gabun nanu man ing buri nang gawan kaniti pauli na nitang alang bibye buwis king
pupol ming produkto.” (That we will not oppose the landowner in whatever he
wishes to do because we did not give his share in the harvests). In the
document, the signatories disclaim any tenant-landlord relations with Leonardo
L. Leonio, the land’s registered owner. The document
was made part of LLL Holdings’ application for CARP exemption. On January 3,
2006, all the 19 signatories in the alleged forged document executed a sworn
statement saying they did not sign it and disavowed its contents. They said what
they signed is only an acknowledgement of the payment they received for their
crops damaged by the road construction and not a waiver to their claim on the
land. Gerry
Alvarado, AGUMAN chair say they are also in a search of a copy of the land’s
original certificate of title (OCT) through which they hope to prove that the
land was titled illegally. A
certification issued by barangay chair Nestor Tolentino show that LLL Holdings
own land in the village covered by TCT Nos. 575228-R, 575229-R, 575230-R,
575231-R and 575528-R while FL Enterprises and Management Corp. own land covered
by TCT No. 534721-R. The titles
cover almost 800 has, or practically the entire village, AGUMAN leaders say. The
certification further says that the lands in question are “cogonal, hilly to
rolling and untenanted.” Growth
corridor The SCTEP is a
flagship project of the Arroyo administration that will link the Subic Bay
Freeport in Olongapo City, the Clark Special Economic Zone in Pampanga and
Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac. Called Central
Luzon’s “growth corridor,” the road will be 60 meters wide and will cover some
94 kilometers cutting across the Zambales mountain range into Pampanga and
Tarlac. Construction
began October last year. In Hacienda
Luisita, farm workers and residents have opposed the project saying they have
been deprived of their rights as claimants to the 6,000-hectare sugar
plantation. The BCDA has
paid P90 million to the Cojuangco family for right-of-way fees for about 66 has.
inside the hacienda that will be used for the road project. “These
so-called development projects bring nothing but misery to the people. Because
of the [SCTEP], thousands of farmers in Pampanga are in danger of being
dislocated. This may be another case of land-grabbing,” Joseph Canlas, chair of
the Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luzon (Central Luzon Peasant Alliance) told
GLNS. He said his
organization will support the farmers who are protesting against the project and
their possible eviction from their farms and homes.
Unyielding A 47-year old
farmer who asked not to be identified said he personally went to the BCDA office
to complain. He owns a two-hectare parcel planted to fruit bearing trees,
bananas and watermelons. Portions of
his crops have been destroyed. He said he was told by a certain military officer
who is also a BCDA official that all claims regarding the land has been settled
and the project will push through as planned. “Hindi kami
nakapag-aral pero naiintindihan namin na inaaagaw nila sa amin ang aming lupa.
Mangyari na ang mangyari
pero hindi kami aalis,” (We may be uneducated but we understand that our land is
being taken away from us. Come what may, we will not leave), he said. He said he
stands to lose at least P20,000 worth of watermelon harvest and the income from
some 900 bananas and other fruit-bearing trees on his land. He has not
been paid a single peso and has decided, after his frustration with BCDA, that
he will not demand payment anymore. Soldiers,
accompanied by government officials, allegedly visited him on his farm and he
now fears for his safety. He claims he
is being accused of issuing threats against people connected with the project, a
charge which he denies. He said he is being harassed because of his opposition
to the project. GLNS/Posted
by Bulatlat © 2006 Bulatlat
■
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Gitnang Luson News Services
Posted by
Bulatlat
He and the KAJIMA employees were still in his hut beside the river when GLNS
arrived for an interview.
Complaint