Kim’s Dream Orlan Ravanera
Let us Stop – Agaw Dagat, Agaw Kabuhayan, Agaw Buhay
More than fifty fishing families in Molugan, El Salvador City, Misamis Oriental are puzzled no end why the foreshore area of about 3,000 sq. meters where they have been living in the past 44 years since the eighties as fishing community has been titled issued to Ms. Evelyn Roa Clavano.
That 3,000-sq. meter foreshore which until now is underwater and became only live-able after filling the foreshore area with some 5-ft. stone-high pavement which they had painstakingly gathered for so many years where they had built their houses, should not carry a land title, perhaps, a “water-title” could be a better description. With the issuance of land title, a case now has been filed against the fishing community in Molugan for eviction. No Sir. That is a great social injustice! A glaring travesty of justice and of the fisherfolk’s human rights!
Fisherfolk as they are, they formed themselves into an association called the Kapunungan ng Mananagat sa Molugan, a Trade Union Congress Party (TUCP} affiliated organization.
As narrated to me by their President, Mr. Hernandez Valmoria, it was in the late seventies when then Gov. Pedro “Oloy” Roa, being a logger himself, made use of the seashore area in Molugan, El Salvador, as “tambakan ng mga cut logs (i.e., mahogany, narra, almaciga, red lauan, etc.)” before being transported to other countries. Well, am not surprised! Based on my research, a logger like the Roa & Sons Logging Company, would earn as much as 360 million pesos in just one shipment of logs alone, money that had not just been pocketed by the logger alone but those who were supposed to enforce environmental laws knowing that all logging activities then were all illegal. Yes, based on my research, our dipterocarp forests were protected by existing laws, i.e., no logging in areas with a topography of more than one thousand meters above sea level or in slopy areas with more than 50% gradient and there are laws that prohibit the cutting of the finest of trees, i.e, narra, red lauan, almaciga, mahogany, etc. Of the 17 million hectare-dipterocarp forest, only half a million is left, the reason why our country is the 4th hardest hit country in the world by climate change as in just one night of flooding alone, thousands lost their homes or their lives. Our archipelago needs at least 54% forest cover to be unfettered from ecological disaster but only 5% is forestall.
Well, Molugan became that “tambakan ng mga putol na kahoy!” Thus, that seashore area, after being used as “tambakan,” an application for titling of some 14,000-sq. meters was done by no less than the Roa’s daughter, Ms. Evelyn Roa Clavano. After the issuance of the title, some 11,000 sq.-meter portion was sold to the Union Plywood Corporation (UPC) then bought by Gaisano from UPC where a “Gaisano bodega” now stands, in gross violation of existing laws as such construction inside the seashore being a “public domain” should not be done without permission from the DENR. It is in the remaining 3,000 sq.-meter area is the offshore area where more than 50 families have been occupying as their residents in the past 40 years. Their occupancy was backed-up by a Barangay Resolution, allowing them to occupy the foreshore area as fisherfolk. As responsible fishing community, no less than the DENR has provided the LGU with a Yacht which the LGU turned-over to the Molugan fisherfolk who are designated as fishery wardens to protect the bay from illegal fishing activities. Protecting the grandeur of Macajalar Bay is their expression of gratitude to the government for allowing them to occupy the foreshore area as fisherfolk where they fish daily to provide food for their respective families and their communities.
When the Sangguniang Panlungsod learned that the foreshore areas had been issued a title to a businesswoman, Ms. Evelyn Roa Clavano, the August Body issued a Resolution to cancel such title as such should have not been issued at all, thus, such title was fraudulently issued. The question is, why was a land title issued? The titling could not be done without the knowledge of the DENR and the said office has denied giving its consent. No less than the Community Environment Officer, Mr. Conrado Mahinay confirmed that no application for titling had been received from the title holder, Ms. Evelyn Roa Clavano. Why was a title issued without DENR’s knowledge and consent? This is now the subject of investigation and verification. If in fact such issuance of a title is without the consent of the DENR, no less than Atty. Van Michael Pacuribot, the head of the Legal Office in Region 10, has assured the Molugan fishing community that the DENR will write no less than the Solicitor General for the cancellation of the title. Wow, how amazing, we salute you Atty. Michael Pacuribot for your brilliance and integrity.
In fact, no less than the Commission of Human Rights is so interested to know why a title has been issued because titling of that foreshore area is a glaring violation of the human rights of the fishing community in Molugan, El Salvador. For more than forty years, the fishing community has been residing in the foreshore area and the fishing families have already gotten some vested right, more than the issuance of a piece of paper called the land title. Never will the fishing families vacate the area because in doing so, they will lose their homes, their livelihood, their food and will be living in hunger and extreme poverty. Thus, AGAW DAGAT, AGAW KABUHAYAN, AGAW BAHAY, AGAW PAGKAIN will lead to AGAW BUHAY. SILA PO AY TAO, HINDI BASURA! Is the enrichment of the rich means the dispossession of the poor fisherfolk? Never! Inubos na po ninyo ang kakahuyan sa gubat, pati ba dagat aangkinin pa ninyo? Tama na po!
Let notice be served to one and all that in this country, no one is above the law; all must bow down to the majesty of the law because we follow the rule of law and not of men. Again, may we ask? Why was a title issued in a foreshore area that is even under water? Is it the rule of money and influence? For five long years now, the more than 50 fishing families are appearing in court every now and then to protect their human rights against eviction. They already have spent so much for their legal defense despite the fact that they can hardly provide food for their malnourished children as the poorest of the poor now are the fishing communities because of the 13 major bays in the Philippines, 10 are already biologically dead. One of the killers of the bay is the massive siltation that destroyed marine and fishery resources as thousands if not millions of tons of top soil are carried by the rivers to the bay because of the massive denudation of our dipterocarp forest brought about by massive logging done by logging companies, one of which is the Roa & Sons Logging Company. Please pity the poor fishing community in Molugan! Sobra na po ang kanilang paghihirap, dadagdagan pa ng mga kaso laban sa kanila dahil sa ipinaglalaban ang kanilang karapatan! Maawa na kayo! We appeal to the Human Rights Commission to intervene as apparently there is the participation of some State actors in violation of the human rights of the poor and the oppressed fishing community!
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