The residents of Sitio Balubad, Angeles City in Pampanga were met with gunfire despite only defending themselves from a violent demolition on March 12, leading to five residents being hospitalized. 

Though the residents hold certificates of land ownership award (CLOA), real estate agency Clarkhills Properties Corporation (CPC) has been asserting its claim over the land. With help from the Philippine National Police and SWAT, they have been attempting to evict the residents and level their houses. 

“Gagawin na naman ito para sa negosyo ng iilan, samantalang aalisan ng kabuhayan yung mga magsasaka at i-de-demolish yung bahay ng mga residente,” said Mimi Doringo, secretary-general of urban poor group Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (KADAMAY). 

Repeated Attempts 

A reported 500 members of the police, SWAT, and CPC’s demolition team were sent to Sitio Balubad to evict its residents and destroy their houses. The residents were shot at after they formed a barricade, asserting that the over 2,000 people and farmers living on the land were the rightful owners. 

These attempts are not new, as similar eviction efforts happened in October 2023, November 2023, and early February. The February confrontation led to 20 residents being injured after the demolition team threw stones at them.

But now, the residents of Sitio Balubad and neighboring areas are forced to leave as they fear for their safety amid the violent demolition job. Most sought temporary shelter in a nearby church and covered court. 

“Sa tagal ng panahon na nakatira doon yung mga residente, sila na yung nagpaunlad doon. Nakapagtanim na sila ng palay at nakapag-ayos sila ng mga bahay nila. Makikita natin na may gusto lang talaga umangkin ng lupa,” said Doringo, as the residents have been legally living there for decades. 

Revoked Agreement

The 72 hectares that Sitio Balubad is built on was land distributed to its residents under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program in the 1990s. The farmers were granted CLOAs and paid their land mortgages to the Landbank of the Philippines. 

But CPC then requested for the CLOAs be canceled, which the Department of Agrarian Reform heeded. What were once labeled agricultural lands were then reclassified to residential, opening the doors for CPC to lay claim to it. 

A 2001 Supreme Court ruling denied the residents’ petition for reconsideration. However, the farmers only found out that their CLOAs were revoked in 2020, leaving their livelihoods uncertain.

“Alam naman natin na pag nagkaroon ng mga polisiya [tulad ng land reclassification], gagamitin siya ng mga nakadikit sa mga puwesto ngayon para makamkam ang mga lupain na sa tingin nila ay kaya nilang kunin sa maralita,” said Doringo. 

Probe Sought

Angeles City Mayor Carmelo Lazatin last Saturday urged the Commission on Human Rights to investigate the incident on the demolition team’s reported use of firearms, demolition of still-occupied houses, and erection of checkpoints around the area, ultimately resulting in injury to residents.

But for Doringo, the violation to the Sitio Balubad community’s rights is not limited to the violence committed against them, as CPC’s assertion of its ownership of the land also encroaches on the farmers’ agrarian rights.

Land reclassification and subsequent land use conversion deprive farmers of their tilling land, adding to the 7 in 10 farmers who remain landless, according to peasant group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP).

KMP opposes similar policies like the National Land Use Act that farmers groups say could further threaten their land ownership rights. Urban poor groups stand with them in their demands for genuine agrarian reform, instead, to award farmers their share of land and boost local agricultural production. 

“Hindi lalago ang produksyon natin kung laging nawawalan ng lupa ang mga magsasaka, hina-harass, at minsan, pinapatay pa,” said Doringo. ●

First published in the March 21, 2024 print edition of the Collegian.