Displaced Sicogon residents hold 120-km march to dramatize plight
Hundreds of residents and farmers will hold a 120-kilometer march starting today to protest their displacement from an island being revived as a tourism destination.
The farmers and residents of Sicogon Island in Carles town, northeast of here, will hold the six-day march from Carles to Iloilo City, passing 13 towns to dramatize their plight.
The farmers have accused the Sicogon Development Corp. (Sideco) of forcing them to evacuate from the 1,160-hectare island island since December last year to pave the way for the Sicogon Island Resort Complex.
The island with around 4,000 residents was a top tourist destination in the 1970s because of its white beach even before Boracay Island drew world-wide attention.
The Panay Rural Organizing for Reform and Social Order Inc. (Progreso), a non-government organization assisting the farmers, said Sideco only owns 70 percent or 809 hectares of the 1,160-hectare island, while 30 percent or 351 hectares are classified as public or forest land.
It accused Sideco of using its security personnel and hiring armed goons to harass residents opposing the project.
The group has documented cases of houses of leaders of farmers and fisherfolk organizations being destroyed by armed men allegedly hired by Sideco.
Sideco President Edgar Sarrosa denied the allegations.
“These are pure lies,” he said in a telephone interview on Tuesday.
Sarrosa declined to discuss the issue further saying he will just furnish this reporter all documents regarding the issue. He said he also wants to be interviewed with the farmers “so that the truth will be known.”
Progreso executive director Lirio Cordova, said in an e-mailed statement that the displaced farmers have been residents of the island even before 1930.
But Sideco, backed with a land title, claimed ownership of around 809 hectares in the 1970s and built resorts in the coastal area. The residents were relocated to Barangay Buaya and Alipata, two of the island's three barangays.
Cordova said that in 1994, the Sideco property was placed under Compulsory Acquisition of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program with 200 farmers identified as beneficiaries.
But in 2004, Sideco filed a petition before the Department of Agrarian Reform to exempt the island from CARP on the ground that the island is a tourist zone.
Cordova said residents have also been asked to sign by Sideco of an affidavit of withdrawal as CARP beneficiaries.
This was followed by the filing of ejection cases by Sideco against leaders of the people's organizations Asosasyon sang Mangunguma kag Mananagat sa San Fernando (Ammasan), Buaya Farmers and Fisherfolks Association (Buffa) and Alipata Small Farmers and Fisherfolks Association (Alisffa).
Security personnel of Sideco have allegedly barred residents from farming and conducting meetings. Cases of illegal possession of firearms, robbery, grave coercion and unlawful detainer were also filed against the claimants by Sideco.
Cordova said the farmers and residents are appealing for the intervention of government agencies for their safe return to the island. They are also appealing for food, water and medical assistance.
The participants to the protest march are expected to arrive in Iloilo City on February 17, where they are set to dialogue with various government agencies.