This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. VI, No. 3, February 19-25, 2006
Farmers’ Homes
Bulldozed to Pave Way for Revilla-owned Housing Project
Unabated tension and agony
still linger among farmers in Cabangaan village after their houses were
bulldozed to give way to a posh housing project by the Revilla clan.
BY DENNIS ESPADA
SILANG, Cavite – Unabated tension and agony
still linger among farmers in Cabangaan village after their houses were
bulldozed to give way to a posh housing project by the Revilla clan.
Last Feb. 15, the farmers said the Revilla
family hired construction workers to make fences that would enclose the
25-hectare land and prevent them from harvesting their crops. Several men, they
said, took away their pineapples and bananas using the trucks of Imus
Productions, a Revilla-owned movie outfit. They also discovered that the
village’s water pump was missing, consequently depriving water to at least 1,300
residents, they said.
These incidents took place amid ongoing
negotiations between the Municipal Government of Silang, actor-senator Ramon
“Bong” Revilla Jr., and government agencies for a just and reasonable
relocation, and to recognize the legitimate rights of the 50 tenant-families who
lost their homes and land to till.
Twelve days ago, police-supported demolition
teams headed by Cavite’s police intelligence chief Rodel Sermonia tore down 44
houses within the disputed property of former senator and Public Reclamation
Authority chair Ramon Revilla Sr. (Jose Bautista in real life). The human rights
watch group Cavite Ecumenical Movement for Justice and Peace (CEMJP) stated the
incident has displaced 191 individuals, including 77 children.
Angry residents said the police failed to give
them formal notice and did not even show the demolition order from the court.
The land dispute started in 2004 when the
Revillas filed a case before the Department of Agrarian Reform’s Adjudicatory
Board (Darab). The agrarian case went through the normal process. But as their
legal case proved futile, the farmers decided to camp out and barricade the
village in November 2004 to avert any demolition.
The Samahan ng Magsasaka sa Cabangaan (Samaca or
Association of Farmers in Cabangaan), charged that the Revillas were able to get
a demolition and eviction order from Darab “using their political influence.”
Both Darab’s provincial and central offices issued a decision in Revilla’s
favor.
Samaca chair Teodoro Garcia recalled that in
December last year, Revilla Sr. spoke with them over the phone and told that it
will be their last Christmas season in the village because he will pursue the
demolition after New Year’s Day. Last January 28, Garcia said, one of them
received text messages supposedly from Revilla saying their days are already
numbered.
Revilla Sr. denied he harassed the villagers and
belied allegations portraying him as a land grabber.
The Kalipunan ng mga Magsasaka sa Kabite (Kamagsasaka-Ka
or Farmers’ Federation in Cavite) clarified that: “Kailanma’y hindi inaangkin
ng mga mamamayan dito ang lupang sakahang pag-aari ng mga Revilla.
Patuloy lamang nilang iginigiit na
marapat silang kilalanin bilang mga lehitimong tenante at hindi itrato na tulad
ng mga iskwater gaya ng paratang sa kanila.”
(The people here are not claiming any
agricultural land owned by the Revillas. They just demanding that they be
recognized as legitimate tenants and not squatters as they are portrayed to be.)
Legitimate Tenants
According to 76-year old Caridad Mercado – the
oldest resident in the village – the tenants arrived in Cabangaan in 1911,
shortly after the eruption of Taal volcano. Many displaced residents from nearby
towns of Taal, Bauan and Talisay in Batangas founded a settlement where they
bushwhacked and started tilling the land. Since then, the land slowly turned
into a rice and coconut farm.
In the 1950s, a certain Emiliano Asuncion
claimed the land. The Asuncions and the farmers sealed a landowner-tenant
relationship, with the latter agreeing to pay land rent in the form of money or
crops.
Revilla Sr., who was known for his Robin Hood,
amulet-bearing character in action films, purchased the land from the Asuncions
in 1972. Part of their agreement was that the tenants would be retained and the
landlord-tenant relationship will continue.
As the paddies were replaced with pineapples and
coffee trees, the farmers entered into a written leasehold agreement with the
Revillas in the early 1990s. Since then, they paid P1,500 per hectare annually
as part of the contract. The tenant-farmers religiously paid their rent,
Kamagsasaka-Ka stated. But in 1998, Revilla Sr. refused to accept the rentals
for the simple reason that he doesn’t need it because he has plenty of money
already.
In 2002, Revilla Sr. accused the farmers of
illegal squatting and ordered then to abandon the land within six months,
Kamagsasaka-Ka said. This compelled them to organize to assert their rights as
legitimate tenants of Revilla’s land.
Last year, around 300 fully-armed elements of
the Philippine National Police (PNP)-Silang, Regional Mobile Group, Regional
Investigation Unit, Cavite Criminal Investigation and Detection Team and the
military, raided Cabangaan in search of New People’s Army (NPA) guerillas.
Kamagsasaka and Samaca stated that instead of "agimat
ng masa” (amulet of the masses), Revilla Sr. should be called "nagpapalayas
ng magsasaka” (evictor of farmers). “Hinding-hindi iiwan ng mga magsasaka
ang lupang kanilang kinagisnan,” (The peasants will never leave the land
where they saw the light of day) both groups further said. Bulatlat © 2006 Bulatlat
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