CAPAS, Tarlac—Aetas reportedly complaining about being displaced by the ongoing development of the 9,450-hectare New Clark City (NCC) here are dreaming.
This was how Mayor Reynaldo “Reycat” Catacutan described their complaint in a press conference at the Legislative Building here on Thursday attended by Aeta tribal leaders, members of the Sangguniang Bayan, as well as village officials and the media.
“Kaya po sila nananaginip lang dahil binenta na nila ang lupa nila 30 years ago. Nung pumutok po angPinatubo, sila po ay nilipat na sa resettlement area sa Barangay Cristo Rey sa O’Donnel Resettlement Site na puro sementado na kaya wala nang makikitang kalupaan doon [I say they’re dreaming because they sold their lands 30 years ago. When Pinatubo erupted, they were moved to the resettlement area in Barangay Cristo Rey at the O’Donnel Resettlement Site, which is now all cemented],” Catacutan said. “As the local chief executive, I will be the first one to resist any project or development that is not pro Capaseño” he said.
“As mayor, my first order of business is to protect my people, their rights and interests,” he added. “This is the same for BCDA, otherwise they will be violating the Philippine Constitution,” he pointed out, referring to the Bases Conversion and Development Authority that is spearheading the massive development.
Aeta tribal leader and former National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) Commissioner Bayani Sumawang also said there are no Aetas displaced by the development at the NCC.
Kalangitan tribal chieftain Reynaldo Medriano and former chieftain Antonio Sumilang both deny any displaced Aetas. They said they are in constant communication with BCDA. Aeta Jaymar Tiglao, who works as a safety officer at NCC, said he is happy with his work.
Aeta workers
BCDA Senior Vice President Joshua “Jake” Bingcang said there are about 6,000 workers at NCC and 300 of them are Aetas.
Bingcang gave a detailed account of the ongoing development at the NCC, as well as the plans and projects for the Aetas. “There is no truth to the report that there are 15,000 farmers in Capas that will be displaced by the NCC because that figure is the total number of farmers in Capas,” Catacutan said, reacting to a news report.
“They said there were 16 tribes but not one tribe is located inside the NCC. Barangay Paruglog, Bueno and Santa Juliana where Aetas reside are not part of NCC,” explained Catacutan.
The Aetas are inside Crow Valley Target Range, the mayor said.
“I challenged UP [University of the Philippines] and UG [University of Glasgow] to come to my office and I will lecture them,” dared Catacutan, who also challenged anyone to see if there are Aetas displaced in the ongoing development at the NCC.
“I am challenging them to go to Capas to see if there are Aetas displaced because of the ongoing development at New Clark City,” said the mayor.
The press conference was an offshoot of a two-part report published in a national daily recently, “P607-B Clark ‘green city’ to displace Aeta communities” and “New Clark City: Development for whom?”
“This is totally erroneous,” said Catacutan, referring to the news articles that hundreds of Aetas were dislocated because of the government’s huge infrastructure project here.
“Come to Capas and we will take you to Dalin and Alli sitios to see for yourself if there are indeed hundreds of Aetas who were displaced (or to be displaced)” because of the development being undertaken” by BCDA, Catacutan said.
He also said the area being contested in the story is not even part of the Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT).
The 9,450 hectares is part of Clark Special Economic Zone—a government property which remained undeveloped after the Americans left in the wake of Mt. Pinatubo’s eruption in June 1991 and the subsequent nonrenewal of the US Military Bases Agreement in 1992.
“There are no Aeta communities at the NCC because the indigenous people are mostly residing in Barangay Kalangitan,” Catacutan said.
He was supported by Sumawang who is also from Barangay Kalangitan.
According to Sumawang, most of the settlers at Sitio Alli, at the boundary of NCC and Kalangitan, are mostly ‘unats’—referring to the lowlanders [unat means straight hair, as opposed to the Aetas who have curly hair] who decided to live in the disputed areas.
Sitios Alli and Dalin were proclaimed resettlement areas under Presidential Proclamation 812 more than 20 years ago.
He added that if there are Aetas in sitio Alli and Dalin, they are mostly caretakers of ‘unats’ who are mostly former soldiers from Metro Manila, Bulacan, Pampanga and Tarlac.
It was learned that even before it became a government resettlement area, the land in Alli and Dalin was purportedly owned by an ‘unat’ – one named Esting Coronel.
It was also learned that the land was sold because the Coronel family migrated to Australia.