The International Coalition for Human Rights in the
Philippines (ICHRP) expresses utmost condemnation on the
arrest of 21 peasants and residents of Sitio Veinte-Veinte
Cuatro, Barangay Casile, Cabuyao in the Southern Tagalog
province of Laguna.
At 11 PM on February 7, guards of
the Laguna Estates Development Corporation (LEDC) and armed
goons of Emirate Security Services violently dispersed the
peaceful encampment of peasants in Casile. The guards
reportedly fired guns repeatedly to intimidate the
residents.
Afterwards, 21 peasants and residents were
arrested and brought to the Cabuyao Police Station by the
Philippine National Police (PNP) on trumped-up charges of
“squatting” and trespassing. ICHRP condemns the
complicity of the PNP, LEDC, and the Emirates Security
Services in the violent arrest of the residents. We also
denounce the inaction of Cabuyao Mayor Dennis Hain on the
incident.
Among the arrested were five senior
citizens, three women, one individual suffering from
diabetes, and one individual with a mental health problem.
They were released and their charges were dismissed after
almost 48 hours in detention.
The LEDC is owned by the
influential Yulo landlord clan. It plans to construct an
extension of the Cavite-Laguna Expressway (CALAX),
condominiums, and subdivisions (gated villages) on peasant
lands in the localities of Laguna. The incident on February
7 follows the illegal fencing of the Yulo-owned Sta. Rosa
Realty Development Corporation (SRRDC) on 24 hectares of
peasant lands in Casile in 2024, which reintensified the
conflict between residents and the Yulos.
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Barangay
Casile is part of the 7,100-hectare Hacienda Yulo. Since
2020, peasants and residents in the area have been receiving
eviction threats. A sitio inside the hacienda was reportedly
burned down by armed goons in 2021.
The Yulos’
intrusion into peasant lands goes way back in the 1970s when
they built a summer house in Casile and oversaw successive
demolitions. This was the beginning of their decades-long
systematic landgrabbing through companies LEDC and
SRRDC.
The systematic and ceaseless attacks against
peasant communities and continued landgrabbing of peasant
lands in the country are symptomatic of the utter failure of
the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) of the
Philippine government in distributing lands to farmers. It
exposes a government run by political dynasties, landlords,
and bureaucrats that strongly favor corporate interest and
sham “development” over the welfare of millions of
toiling, neglected, and landless peasants.
ICHRP
supports the call for genuine land reform, strong state
support for farmers and the agriculture sector, and calls
for an end to attacks against peasant communities in the
country.
