The fight for the island of Sicogon in Iloilo is a microcosm of the larger struggle of people against land-hungry giant corporations like Ayala.

Ka Raul sits up and braces himself—he has done this too many times. This, after all, was just another day in the almost 15 years he has been in the struggle for his island home of Sicogon. Ka Raul also happens to be the president of the Federation of Sicogon Farmers and Fisherfolk Association (FESIFFA). He smiles and asks, “Saan mo gusto magsimula? [Where would you like to start?].”

Sicogon, an island that lies on the northern part of Iloilo, could rival the popularity and the beauty of the famous white sand beaches of nearby Boracay island. Named after a grass abundant in the area—cogon—Sicogon was popular for its crystal clear waters and white beaches lined with coconut trees. Truly, Sicogon sounds like the ideal tourist destination, and its elite owners tried to make it so. But their successive efforts failed.

The people of Sicogon, however, had a different idea, and when the landowners could not translate to translate their dream of Sicogon as a tourist mecca into reality, they decided to take matters into their own hands.

During the last few years, the people seemed to be winning until they came up against an external actor, the Ayala conglomerate, which teamed up with the local elites to revive the plan to make Sicogon a hideaway for the global one percent. The island is now caught in this high-stakes battle between elite tourism and people’s development.

The story is one that is too common a narrative in today’s bleak terrain of impunity and power plays. But Sicogon’s story is also its own because it is far from over, and the people of Sicogon are determined to write a happy ending to a saga of suffering and resistance.

THE STRUGGLE FOR PARADISE

The story begins with the 70 percent of the 1,163 hectares that belonged to a wealthy and influential family in the region. After being passed on from one landed elite to another, Sicogon, with its lush beaches and beautiful landscapes, became the site where dreams of commercially developing the area thrived.

But these dreams were thwarted around the 1980s, when management of the tourist destination that preceded Boracay closed up shop. The management said it was because of the unstable political climate, some said that the resort closed down because it was bankrupt—purely a product of bad management.

With the failure of the local landed elites, the residents of Sicogon saw an opportunity to take matters into their own hands. At first they made significant gains in pushing for their ownership of the contested land. When the municipality classified the land controlled by the Sarroza-owned corporation Sigocon Development Corporation (SIDECO) as agricultural, FESIFFA pushed to have it surveyed and inspected by the local Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and found that 335 hectares were qualified for inclusion under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

Because of these findings, the regional director released a Notice of Coverage informing SIDECO that the 335 hectares would be placed under CARP. This was followed by the Land Bank coming up with a list of 256 potential agrarian reform beneficiaries. The emboldened FESIFFA also applied for free patents for the island’s remaining 72-hectare alienable and disposable land and for a stewardship agreement for the timberland portion under the Community-Based Forest Management Program (CBFM).

But Sicogon’s position as a prime spot for tourism attracted one of the biggest business conglomerates in the Philippines, Ayala Corporation. Soon enough, the conglomerate entered Sicogon with a joint venture program with the unproductive SIDECO to revive the dreams of developing the island into a paradise for the wealthy. These plans triggered opposition from FESIFFA, which argued that should there be any kind of “development” occurring in their home, they had to be included.

This is where matters stood when calamity struck.

TYPHOON HAIYAN—GAMECHANGER OF THE LAND STRUGGLE

Typhoon Haiyan, locally known as Yolanda, turned out to be the prime reason why many of FESIFFA’s victories eventually turned into losses. Around 95 percent of the residents’ houses were demolished by the unforgiving typhoon. More than five years since the devastation, rehabilitation remains slow and cumbersome for the people of Sicogon. Even more consequential than the super typhoons physical impact was the opportunity it presented to SIDECO and Ayala Land to dispossess the people of their land.

Haiyan decisively altered the balance of power in favor of the Ayala and SIDECO, nullifying the people’s previous legal gains. It was around this time that the national government, unable to provide to the urgent needs of the people of Sicogon, deployed “development partners” in rehabilitation efforts, in which utmost importance was assigned to the delivery of humanitarian support. Cleverly, Ayala chose Iloilo as their area to be a development partner in, a province that includes the municipality of Carles of which Sicogon was a part.

As a development partner, Ayala promised to “work toward complete recovery.” To nobody’s surprise, “rehabilitation” in Sicogon took the form of displacing the residents and relocating them elsewhere. Ayala and SIDECO manipulated humanitarian support to create incentives for people to leave. They offered money, and a house and lot in the mainland in exchange for relocation. The selective doling out of aid was complemented by coercion as armed guards employed by SIDECO sent boats carrying relief goods back to the mainland, threatening physical violence to those refusing to comply with the blockade.

FESIFFA had reason to believe these threats. Even before Yolanda, both Manong Raul and the Vice President of FESIFFA, Manang Amy, cited instances in which the armed guards had their homes raided repeatedly. Manang Amy’s child even suffered from hearing loss for over a month because of warning shots fired by the armed guards. This was not going to change after Yolanda—in fact, Yolanda has worsened it.

With desperation rising, Ayala played divide and conquer. However, most of the FESIFFA members who opted to stay and refuse the offers by Ayala retreated to the timberlands, which remained state property. Most of them thought that at the very least, they could not be easily ejected as the timberland was state property. At this point, the demand of those who stayed was simple: let them stay on the island, nothing else. From around a hundred members, only 60 members of FESIFFA, along with some non-members, elected to remain on the island. It was a social catastrophe that, in the opinion of these survivors, was more damaging than the physical impact of Haiyan.

GOVERNMENT'S CONTROVERSIAL ROLE

Where was the government in all this? In one word, largely on the side of the landlords. When the Notice of Coverage for 809 hectares was issued (with 335 declared as CARP-able), SIDECO went to the judiciary. They filed different kinds of cases: civil cases for the those who inspected and deemed the land as CARP-able, repeated attempts to appeal to DAR for an exemption to CARP by providing proof that the island was a commercial and tourist zone among many others.

Some cases still persist today, and have stalled the process of land titling. Not only are multiple cases cumbersome for the residents both in morale and financial matters, it also keeps the struggle unnecessarily protracted. Indeed, Manang Amy and Manong Raul are already resigned to the fact that this fight is no longer just theirs, but for their children and their children’s children.

After Haiyan, things did not get any better. A year after the devastation, a compromise deal was proposed by the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC), AKBAYAN, and FESIFFA signed the compromise deal, whereby the farmers “agreed” to give up land rights to the 334 hectares of land in exchange for 30 hectares for a residential area.

Today, however, the signing is disputed. Ka Raul, who signed for FESIFFA, claims that he was coerced into signing the deal without any legal counsel. The rest of the members, even Ka Amy, did not know that the signing was going to be held the same day. Ka Raul regrets signing the deal—recalling that a former high-ranking official in the Aquino administration told him that day that “no other high-ranking government official would help us” if FESIFFA did not agree to the compromise deal.

The compromise deal ended up useless in the long run. Not long after the signing, government betrayed the residents. DAR hastily approved the conversion application of the joint venture for the development of the land as a tourist area, the Community Environment and Natural Resources (CENRO) of DENR filed criminal cases for illegal logging against the leaders of FESIFFA because of their use of fallen trees from Haiyan to create temporary huts in the timberland area, and the application of FESIFFA for the free patents to the 72-hectare alienable and disposable land was rejected, with the patents instead awarded to dummy residents of the corporations.

To make matters worse, DENR asserted that in their latest survey of the island, the boundary of the island shifted inward by 260 meters, rendering some lands, considered alienable and disposable lands, as nonexistent. To the residents, this was nothing but the use of land surveys to benefit the powerful.

However, these are all just the tip of the iceberg of the government’s controversial role in the island of Sicogon. The DENR entered into an adopt-a-mountain project with SIDECO despite the latter’s lack of juridical personality—its Securities and Exchange Commission registration was revoked due to SIDECO’s failure to comply with requirements such as submission of annual reports and financial statements. This then was revoked by DENR, but without mention of the lack of juridical personality, but an indictment of “stubborn” and “unruly” residents—alluding to the members of FESIFFA who were vocal against the project.

One mistake from the agency could be passed of as bad judgment, but DENR has made several in Sicogon. DENR awarded 72 hectares of the alienable and disposable land to individuals who are not qualified to be Free Patent beneficiaries. These individuals, are unsurprisingly, employees of SIDECO. Free Patent beneficiary applicants, according to the law, must be in possession of the land for 30 years or more, and have paid taxes. The application of these SIDECO Free Patent beneficiaries states that they were only in possession of the land starting from 1997 to 2010 (when they were awarded)—barely 13 years.

DENR, still, hastily approved the application only after 3 months after being applied for. The letter recommending the approval of the application addressed to the Regional Executive Director, order of approval by the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Officer (PENRO), and the transmittal letter to the Registry of Deeds for the issuance of the certificate of title were all done in the same day, 29 December 2010. On the other hand, FESIFFA members signified their intention to apply for a free patent ahead of SIDECO, yet the application was not acted upon with the same kind of efficiency. It was only through several follow-ups that the DENR Regional Office admitted the existence of the letter of intent.

But the DENR is not the only culpable agency.

The DAR Regional Office approved the application of exemption for CARP of SIDECO even if it has no jurisdiction over the application. Regional officials have no jurisdiction to entertain application of land exemptions of landholdings the land area exceeds 10 hectares. The SIDECO application exemption covers more than 800 hectares. DAR officials gave FESFIFA members the runaround when they requested for documents for them to contest the application for conversion filed by SIDECO. From the local level to the national level officials, their request for copies of the application, attached documents was not entertained. Given this backdrop of lack of access to documents, FESIFFA were not able to provide an adequate response to the application for conversion DAR officials hastily approved the land use conversion without the adequate investigation on the ground. In fact, they promptly issued the certificate of finality after the release of the order granting the conversion order even without proof if FESIFFA members actually received the order.

The state is not neutral, and the story of Sicogon has made it clear which side it is on.

HOLDING THE LINE

FESIFFA currently has no other choice but to file criminal and administrative cases given the flagrant display of corruption and power plays. Some members went to Manila last March to file criminal charges against several provincial officials of DENR for the violation of RA No. 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Law and to push administrative charges against the same officials for grave misconduct and serious dishonesty. Allies of the people of Sicogon are reportedly in the process of making their campaign international, by drawing the support of Hollywood personalities and sustainable tourism organizations.

But aside from these developments, the heart and soul of the struggle remain the people behind the movement. Ka Amy has been in the struggle for almost 15 years and has served FESIFFA as its vice president. At this point in her life, she says that this fight is not hers or her family’s. It’s not even FESIFFA’s at this point. The fight belongs to the younger generation, who they fear are vulnerable to the version of the story peddled by Ayala and SIDECO. However tired, the 63-year old fighter is firm: her strength is drawn from her comrades in FESIFFA. She says that even though she is tired, as long as there are people to fight with her, then maybe, it might be all worth it still.

Ka Raul unflinchingly tells us of a story of one the members of FESIFFA who was found dead—chopped to pieces and possibly raped before by one of the suspected armed guards sent by SIDECO. The years of struggle has made him tough, but not unfeeling. He mostly talks about them as cautionary tales—to never underestimate what these corporations are willing to do to strike fear into the hearts of those who struggle.

When asked if he had ever felt scared in all of this, he laughs at the question. “Ikaw ba, puntahan ka sa bahay ng mga lalaking may baril, hindi ka ba matatakot? [If you found yourself in your house surrounded by armed men, won’t you be scared also?]”

“Maraming casualty dito [There are a lot of casualties here],” he says, as he tells us that during the time that he could not go back to Carles due to threats to his life, his wife passed away. He says that the irony is that the struggle has left him incapable of attending to the needs of his family. But he adds quickly, “Basta kung ano man ang mangyari, pinaglaban natin ang karapatan namin.” He and his comrades in FESSIFA have no regrets in taking on this struggle for their land.

*Ia Marañon is an organizer for Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino and a researcher for Laban ng Masa. Walden Bello is a former member of the House of Representatives.