Iloilo ‘Yolanda’ victims seek help in land row

ILOILO CITY, Philippines – Some 21 families affected by the super typhoon Yolanda in Carles, Iloilo sought the assistance of the Office of the Ombudsman—their collective complaint is that they are being victimized anew by an apparent post-Yolanda man-made calamity.

At the core of the complaint is the Yolanda Housing Resettlement Program implemented by the National Housing Authority. In Iloilo, an ongoing project in Barangay Dayhagan, Carles was awarded to E.M. Cuerpo Inc.

Norma Bangiban, one of the complainants, led fellow affected residents in seeking Ombudsman intervention.

“Every day we fear and feel sorry for ourselves,” said Bangiban. “We lost our family home and produce during Yolanda and now it is happening to us all over again.”

Bangiban and fellow complainants claimed ownership of a portion of the land being developed. The problem, though, is that a title obtained by NHA for the project showed otherwise.

She said added to their plight was a purported certification from Dayhagan Barangay Captain Dennis Golingan stating that no settlers are in the project area.

As such, not one of the complainant-family is listed as project-beneficiary and stands to be ejected.

To date, at least seven structures have been demolished by project developers while others fear demolition any given time.  Fully-grown fruit trees were also allegedly uprooted, including vegetable plots of the affected families.

Ofimia Bangiban, mother of six, shared the same sentiments, saying all is lost for her and her family.

“What will we do now? They placed the stockpile right outside our house and we already experienced landslide,” she said. “We have no source of livelihood and every day we are in fear.”

Their collective fear, she added, is also on the presence of armed men during clearing operations of the contractors.  Worse yet, no police assistance was purportedly extended to them with the local police saying “ipa-blotter n’yo lang.”

The Ombudsman officially received the group’s complaint yesterday while a copy was furnished to Governor Arthur Defensor.

“If everyday we will fear for our lives and safety and subjected to threats as if we do not have human rights, what can we do? What can we do against the rich, the politicians and those in power?” the complaint went.

“We trust that through your office (Ombudsman) we can avail of help because we feel helpless even in our own town,” the complaint read. —/JMD (FREEMAN)