Herrera chides DTI chief on ecozone lands

Rep. Ernesto Herrera (LAMP, Bohol) chided Trade Secretary Mar Roxas yesterday for supporting a proposal to recall land ownership certificates the government had issued to indigenous people in special economic zones.

"We should not kick out Filipinos to accommodate foreigners in these economic zones. The government has so many idle lands it can designate as special investment areas without having to deprive tribal folk of their ancestral land," he said.

Earlier, the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) proposed that certificates of ancestral land claims and ancestral domain claims issued to indigenous people in economic zones be revoked so that foreign investors can be accommodated.

In Baguio, PEZA officials have asked Mayor Mauricio Domogan to withdraw the building permits he had issued to the heirs of the Carantes clan who occupy around 10 hectares of the 117-hectare economic zone in that city.

Roxas has supported the suggestion of these officials for the revocation of the land certificates and to evict tribal folk from the land they occupy.

Herrera, a former senator, said assuming that Roxas and the PEZA are legally correct, the government has no moral ground to deprive the indigenous people of their land.

"In this case, the government is actually taking away what it previously acknowledged as ancestral land and giving it to foreign investors. The rule of thumb in such cases should be: Filipinos come first before foreigners," he said.

"I have no quarrel with foreign investors. By all means, let them in. But let us not sacrifice our brothers' right just so we can enjoy the bounty that these foreign investors bring. Such a policy is self-defeating and morally untenable," he added.

He stressed that tribal folks have suffered so much throughout the nation's history and should be allowed to get back the rights they had lost.