ANGELES CITY – A fact-finding group concluded yesterday its week-long mission in Casiguran, Aurora and expressed fears over the fate of hundreds of families now allegedly being harassed and unjustly displaced by projects lined up under Republic Act 10083 or the Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport Act (APECO).
In a telephone interview, Joseph Canlas, chairman of the Alyansang Magbubukid ng Gitnang Luson (AMGL), said no less than 5,430 farmers holding Certificate of Land Ownership Awards (CLOA), Certificate of Land Transfer (CLT), Emancipation Patents (EP) and Integrated Social Forestry (ISF) certificates, are being coerced into selling their lands for projects amid military pressure.
“The farmers are united against the APECO project because they have no other source of livelihood but their farms and fishing on the sea. Rice yield in Casiguran reaches to 60 to 80 cavans per hectare, while fishing could earn from P10,000 to P30,000 per week,” Canlas said.
Apart from AMGL, the other groups in the team are the militant fisherfolk group Pamalakaya-Pilipinas, church group Promotion of Peoples’ Response (PCPR), Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP), Pagkakaisa para sa Tunay na Repormang Agraryo (PATRIA), government employees’ group Courage and Government Employees for Genuine Land Reform (GE4GLR), indigenous peoples’ group KAMP and Katribu Partylist and Karapatan human rights group.
Canlas said the mission is “to identify the effects of Republic Act 10083 or the Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport Act (APECO) on the residents of Casiguran and nearby towns as the law provisioned to cover 13,000-hectares of land.”
Canlas’ group also cited alleged land grabbing and status conversion of private lands, from being agricultural to industrial.
APECO was sponsored by the Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara and his father Sen. Edgardo Angara at the House of Representatives and senate, respectively. It was enacted on April 22, 2010, about a year after it was filed on the lower house on April 20, 2011.
“Five barangays with a population of 5,430 are directly affected by APECO. The lands and homes of farmers, fisherfolk, indigenous people are threatened to be converted by the project,” said Canlas.
“APECO is a classic model of a legislated program that is only to serve the interest of big landlords and bureaucrat capitalists… at the cost of destroying the lives and livelihood of the Casiguran farmers, fisherfolk and indigenous peoples,” Canlas added.
His group cited residents as saying that the government did not consult with them before APECO was implemented.
“ASEZA used to cover only 493-hectares of land. Subsequently, APECO classified the ASEZA coverage as Parcel 1 and adding Parcel 2 covering 12,427-hectares, involving an additional three barangays mainly along the peninsula of Casiguran. The APECO program is composed of residential, commercial, industrial, eco-tourism, highways, ports and airport projects,” Canlas said.
He noted that the shorelines of the affected communities “are comparable to Boracay beach resorts, thus, the Angaras are very eager to convert them into eco-tourism sites and to rake up profits from investors.” He was referring to the family of Sen. Edgardo Angara whose son is Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara.
“APECO also include the construction of the international port at the Casiguran sound that would definitely destroy the marine environment and source of livelihood of the local fisherfolk,” Canlas said.
“Elements of the military and their agents are believed to be the perpetrators of various human rights abuses committed at the area,” the report said.
Canlas said the report cited abuses such as “filing of trumped up charges and coercion of tribal leaders to support the program; coverage of ancestral lands of Dumagat, instigating conflict among indigenous people; criminalization of upland farming; forced and deceptive buying of private lands. “
Other alleged abuses included “fencing of bay areas of fishing communities; harassment of barangay officials; military deployment in the affected areas; harassment of sectoral leaders opposing APECO and strafing of parish priest’s house at Barangay Bianoan, Casiguran.
Canlas said the fact-finding mission is “the start of a sustained campaign to expose the anti-farmer and anti-people political dynasty of the Angaras.”
The group also cited pressure from the military under the 48th Infantry Battalion, Bravo Company which use barangay halls as detachments in the barangays.
Canlas lamented that already, quarrying operations at Barangay Bianoan along Calabgan river block the farmers and residents access to clean water, as well a irrigation for their farms.
