Aeta Josie Gilbert, a resident of Marcos Aeta Village near this freeport, said the boy, a resident of Pulang Bato in her village, died last week after he was hit by concrete being dumped by a truck on a site for debris from the 241 villas already demolished at the Mimosa tourism estate here.
Two other Aetas were also reported to have been injured in separate incidents at the dumpsite, in their rush to first reach newly dumped debris being transported to the site near Dinosaur Island theme park here.
One of the Aeta scavengers who asked not to be named said they would extract steel from the debris to sell them for eight pesos per kilo. “The dumping started a month ago and Aetas would earn as much as P300 per day,” he said.
Allan Almario, head of the estate division of Filinvest Mimosa, said of the 253 villas in Mimosa, only 12 have remained, while the rest have already been totally demolished for the construction of two structures in time for the holding of the ASEAN Summit here this November.
“We are to construct two presidential villas in the cleared area,” he said.
Almario said that debris from the villas were indeed dumped in the area near the dinosaur theme park, as designated by Clark Development Corp. (CDC) which manages this freeport. He said the firm Albuerto Trading was contracted for the dumping operations.
Arising from the accidents at the dumping site, the CDC deployed last Friday security personnel to prevent Aetas from accessing the area. The CDC, however, vowed yesterday to later provide the Aetas with reusable scrap materials from the debris for the improvement or rehabilitation of their homes.
Appliances from the villas were turned over to the CDC which reportedly plans to bid them out later.
Similar demolitions and constructions have also been observed at the Fontana resort, which was allowed by the CDC to operate following the controversy arising from illegal gambling operations there. No one from Fontana, however, could be reached for interview.
