Firm asked to consider Aeta plight at township launch

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO— Property giant Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) launched on Thursday a P75-billion mixed-use estate on 1,125 hectares of land along Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx) in Hacienda Dolores village in Porac town, amid clamor to return the land to displaced residents and farmers in the area.

Alviera, which is being developed near the SCTEx Porac interchange by ALI and its partner Leonio Land Holdings Inc. (LLHI), was designed to serve as a commercial township to include a business and industrial park, university zones, retail centers, a country club, recreational areas and a suburban district.

According to the Alviera website, the Ayala firm, which owns 70 percent of land development, bought the land from Manila Bank, while LLHI bought its share of the development area from the Dayrit family of Pampanga province.

However, some 300 Hacienda Dolores farmers have asked the Porac town council to revoke a 2012 ordinance that reclassified some 750 ha of the estate from agricultural to commercial, residential and industrial use, according to Joseph Canlas, chair of Aguman Dareng Maglalautang Kampampangan (Alliance of Kapampangan Farmers).

Since 2011, the farmers have been asking the Department of Agrarian Reform to withdraw the exemption it granted to Hacienda Dolores farms from agrarian reform coverage.

ALI said the areas it has developed here were excluded from the coverage through an exemption order that was strengthened by a certificate of finality.

In a statement, the Alviera developers said: “ALI and its partners remain committed to the community and neighboring developments, sensitive to their needs and supporting these with livelihood opportunities. ALI and LLHI have started their engagement efforts in Barangay (village) Hacienda Dolores to better understand and assist the needs and concerns of the community.”

Holy Angel University, one of the two major universities in Angeles City, has signed a contract with ALI and LLHI to open a school in Alviera within seven years.

A Catholic bishop on Thursday appealed to government agencies and the developers to “initiate a peaceful dialogue and to treat farmers with dignity and respect as human beings.”

Bishop Broderick Pabillo, chair of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines’ permanent committee on public affairs, made the appeal on the heels of reports that the dispute has led to the unsolved killings of two Hacienda Dolores farmers, the jailing of a village chief, the eviction of 300 farmers and the destruction of their crops and huts, and the denial of access to a road traversing through Alviera property that leads to Aeta villages and farms.

On Aug. 21, Pabillo and Pampanga Archbishop Emeritus Paciano Aniceto were not allowed entry to that road, prompting them to cancel a Mass in the Aeta village of Sapang Uwak.

The firms, Pabillo said, should “observe corporate social responsibility and pursue development within the bounds of human rights and respect for the rule of law.” Reports from Jun Malig and Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon