Ruvilyn “Bingbing” S. Margarito, Indigenous Peoples’ representative to the city council, said charges of robbery, threats and intimidation, harassment, and human rights violation, among others, will be filed against the Security and Public Safety Department of the CDC after its staff were allegedly caught carting away equipment belonging to Aetas.
She accused CDC Asst. Vice President for Security Services Juan Miguel “Red” B. Fuentes, who is also the concurrent manager of the Estate Preservation and Recovery Division of the state-run-firm, as the one who ordered the “taking of equipment” and the alleged “subsequent harassment” against their tribal leaders.
She claimed they were able to get a video of Fuentes that showed him carting away some of their equipment in the dead of night.
Roldan G. Serrano, an Aeta and owner of JDS Trading which is putting up a vibro/ sand screening plant at Riverside in Barangay Calumpang here, said the stolen equipment amounting to millions of pesos were his property.
Serrano claimed “they caught the CDC in the act of committing the robbery” at around 4 a.m. on Saturday using a boom truck, a crane and a trailer truck to load off their properties.
The CDC trucks were trapped in the area after the alleged robbery was discovered.
He said some of the security personnel even destroyed the vibro plant’s panel box and carted away electrical cables.
Margarito said as soon as they got wind of the then-ongoing robbery, tribal chieftains responded but were held in a checkpoint put up by the CDC. She said they were also prevented from bringing food and water to their fellow Aetas in the area because of the CDC checkpoint.
Margarito feared that the CDC is clearing the area because they have a potential investor interested in putting up a business in their property.
On Monday, Margarito said CDC Litigation Division manager Atty. Angelo “Pinggoy” Lopez III sought to negotiate a settlement with them and tried to convince them to sign a document recognizing the authority of the CDC in exchange for their stolen properties.
She said Lopez also assured them that the CDC is willing to return all the stolen items in exchange for their equipment.
But Serrano said they refused pending the filing of charges against CDC. He said they are amenable after the charges were fi led and if the CDC will issue them a receipt indicating all the stolen items that were forcibly taken without their knowledge.
They claimed the CDC had no power or authority to require them to seek permission or clearance from the staterun firm to operate in their ancestral domain which is covered by Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) No. RO3-BAM-110-025.
The disputed area where the vibro/sand screening plant is being established is straddling the boundary of the main zone of the Clark Freeport.
Margarito said they were surprised by the CDC robbery incident since JDS Trading agreed to stop the construction of the vibro plant because of lack of permits. Serrano said they followed the instructions of the CDC when the state-run-firm advised them to stop undertaking further construction.
But she said the CDC might have been agitated because they have requested a re-survey of the disputed area with the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in order to firmly establish their boundaries.
