Fisherman Elmer Gonzalez, Dumangat leaders Abayan and Rita Banayag meet the press at the Pampanga stop of the protest march against APECO.
Photo by Ding Cervantes
MABALACAT CITY – Claiming to still believe Pres. Aquino’s vow to pursue “matuwid na daan” in his administration, some 150 leaders of farmers, fishermen and tribal folk from Casiguran, Aurora started last Saturday their caravan to Malacanang to remind the President of his promises to them on Dec. 11 last year on the Aurora Pacific Economic Zone (Apeco) project.
They plan to camp out indefinitely in a still undisclosed place in Metro Manila until the President complies with his promises, caravan organizers said.
The Apeco project, authored by Sen. Edgardo Angara under Republic Acts 9490 and 10083, would covert 12, 923 hectares of lands in Casiguran, Aurora into an economic zone. A petition questioning the constitutionality of the laws creating Apeco remained pending before the Supreme Court.
This, even as 16 priests under the Prelature of Infanta backed the protesters by issuing their signed appeal “to stop the serial abuses of Aurora by the Angara-sponsored/controlled Apeco,” as they asked Catholic leaders in Pampanga to assist the protesters in meeting with the media here to explain how Apeco would displace some 3,000 families in Casiguran.
During a brief stop-over at the Our Lady of Grace church in this city, Vicente Convicto, president of the Pinagkaisang Samahan ng mga taga Casiguran, Aurora (PiglasCa), noted that the President has failed to make true his promises to the protesters during their meeting on Dec. 11 last year at the Ateneo de Manila.
“The President promised to renew the certificates of stewardship for upland farmers, help the tribal folk get their certificate of ancestral domain titles (CADT), probe Apeco through the NEDA ( National Economic Development Authority), and suspend everything at the Apeco sites until all issues have been cleared,” he recalled.
But Convicto noted that “none of these promises have been fulfilled.”
Dumagat tribal leader Victor Abayan of Sitio Disdisar in Barangay Dalugan in Casiguran said the CADT promised by the President has remained a “dream” for tribal folk who are now being told to relocate to a farther inland area occupied by a rival tribe.
“We have known no other land but the one where our forefathers lived on. We have our old cemeteries to prove this. We don’t want to be converted into janitors under Apeco and then get fired. We want our lands that we can pass on to our children, without fearing a boss who could fire us,” said Abayan who wore a red loincloth.
Fisherman Pedro Calivara said the livelihood of Casiguran fisherfolk has already been affected by the land reclamation for a runway for an airport under the Apeco project. “We were informed that we could relocate to the inland side of the airport which will cut us off from the sea. We would have to travel about five kilometers to skirt the airport before we reach our bancas,” he said.
Paz Ramos, who has a titled one-hectare property in Barangay Estevez, said security personnel of Apeco have been regularly threatening to bulldoze her home amid her refusal to give way to the project. “I have no one to turn to because the police and the army are on the side of Apeco,” she lamented.
The petition filed by the affected folk before the Supreme Court claimed that the laws that created Apeco were unconstitutional for grave disregard of the rights of local folk, deprivation of properties without due process of law, denial of equal protection of laws for affected folk, absence of consultations with stakeholders, abolition of political units without proper procedure.
The petition also questioned Apeco’s power to incur debts without the concurrence of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and to delegate public utilities to foreigners, as well as its failure to distribute equal opportunities for wealth and non-development of agricultural and marine resources.
The Casiguran protesters started their caravan last April 16 through Baler, Baguio City and, San Jose City.
They arrived in Pampanga Friday and are slated to stop at regional government offices in San Fernando, Pampanga to Metro Manila by Monday.
“They will remain in Metro Manila until their demands for land titles, a credible economic review of APECO, and a moratorium on APECO’s budget and activities are finally met by the national government,” said an invitation issued by the caravan organizers for media.
