Senator Risa Hontiveros has sought a formal Senate inquiry into the alleged displacement of Aetas and other indigenous peoples (IP) communities from areas within the New Clark City development project, saying there was a need to protect them from unjust expulsion from a land which has served as their home.
Hontiveros has filed Senate Resolution No. 257, saying that an investigation into the reported issuance of an eviction notice to the IP communities which was served in the middle of the festivities of the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, was warranted to check if their rights to their ancestral domain and livelihood were abused.
However, an estimated 15,000 local farmers and 20,000 Aeta and Abelling indigenous communities were projected to be displaced by the project. A research project of the University of Glasgow, in partnership with the University of the Philippines had also shown satellite imagery which revealed that in the 18 months since the NCCP project started, hectares of green land have been converted into concrete and in the process, displaced people from their homes and livelihood.
The BCDA, for their part, maintained that it followed due process by consulting with the Capas local government and that they were offering financial assistance package amounting to P300,000 per hectare or P30 per square meter. BCDA also claimed there were no declared ancestral domains or Certificates of Ancestral Domain Titles in the area.
“The difficulty of obtaining official documents to prove ownership has impeded the capacity of our indigenous people to protect their lands. This is a failure of the bureaucracy and not of IP communities,” she explained.
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