Philippines
24.07.03
Urgent Interventions
Phillipines: forced evictions of 115 indigenous families and use of force against them
OMCT/HIC-HLRN
JOINT URGENT ACTION APPEAL:
Forced Eviction of 115 Indigenous Families/Use of Force
in the Philippines
Case PHL-FE 240703. ESCR
The International Secretariat of OMCT and the Coordination Office of HIC-HLRN request your URGENT intervention in the following situation in the Philippines.
Brief description of the situation
The Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP) and the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), both members of the OMCT network, have informed the International Secretariat of OMCT that, on 16 April 2003, police forces—in the presence of Quezon Municipality and the Subdistrict of Lumintao—forcibly evicted from their homes 115 indigenous families living in the Lumintao Subdistrict, in the Municipality of Quezon, Bukidnon Province, Island of Mindanao. This housing rights violation apparently has been carried out at the behest of local commercial interests.
These families, of the indigenous Manobo people and members of the Resean Manobo Farmers Association (REMFA), have reportedly been evicted from public land where they have been living for around five months. Reportedly, they settled on this public land following a previous eviction from a historically Manobo-held site they occupied in their struggle to regain control over their ancestral land.
While 58 families reportedly found shelter with relatives in Lumintao, on 21 April, the Subdistrict Captain Villamor Yaba transferred the 57 other families to the Lumintao Elementary School, where they built shanties using laminated sacks for roofs. These 57 families are comprised of 256 people, among them 135 children under 18, seven lactating mothers, and four pregnant women. The source reports that the families had no beds, and slept directly on the ground. Only 30 shanties were built, and many families were forced to live in crowded conditions, sharing a shanty with up to three other families. According to the information received, the families did not have enough food to eat and were reduced to eating only porridge.
Following a period of approximately 2 months, during which some of the families have been living in temporary shanties under inadequate housing, nutritional and sanitary conditions, the Lumintao Subdistrict officials eventually resettled the 57 families on 24 June 2003 to a new site located less than one mile from where the police evicted them on 16 April 2003.
While the authorities are claiming that the most-recent relocation site is to be permanent, OMCT and HIC-HRLN are concerned that the uncertain legal status of that resettlement site leaves the 57 families without secure tenure. They also recognize that the water supply in the new location is reportedly contaminated and not safe for drinking. The personal safety and integrity of these families are precarious.
Apparently, none of the 115 families has received adequate compensation for the loss of their homes and possessions and, according to the source, no independent inquiry has been carried out into the forced evictions and demolition of houses.
Detail of the case: facts, official position and efforts at local remedy
According to the information received, on 16 April 2003, at around 13:00, Bukidnon Province Sheriff Mr. Tyrone Tan, accompanied by approximately 40 people, including several police officers, the Quezon City Police Chief Mr. Bobby Abao, the Quezon Municipal Councilor Ms. Gloria Yaba and the Lumintao Barangay Captain Villamor Yaba, entered the premises where the 115 indigenous families were living. Several men were allegedly wearing masks and arrived with two dump trucks, a police vehicle, a Land Cruiser, and a military service vehicle. They were also reportedly accompanied by six members of the private security forces employed by Mr. John Unchuan of the Escano family, which owns the adjacent property and sugar plantation and is currently engaged in a land conflict with the 115 Manobo families.
Following their arrival at the site, Sheriff Tan produced a document he claimed was a demolition order to be enforced that day. However, according to the information received, this document, dated March 18th 2003, was invalid because it was only signed by the Quezon Court Clerk Angelina Gam and not by Judge Dante Villa. When this concern was raised by Mr. Datu Lito Aglay (Chairperson of the REMFA) Sheriff Tan allegedly told him to shut up and to vacate the area. The families reportedly did not receive prior notification of this eviction.
The local sources report that the police, led by Chief Bobby Abao, ordered the families to surrender their farm tools, grabbed the inhabitants and forced them into the dump trucks. The families were reportedly not able to take their animals with them. Reportedly, the police snatched the children and, consequently, 10-year-old Charlie Sacalang suffered from a swollen right arm. The Subdistrict Captain Villamor Yaba then reportedly took the families to the Subdistrict Hall in Luminato where, two days later, the Subdistrict authorities returned their possessions, including their clothes and kitchen utensils.
At this time, Mr. John Unchuan’s private security forces allegedly burned down some of the families’ houses and destroyed the remainder with a payloader vehicle fitted with a forklift. It is reported that the police took no action to stop the destruction of the homes and left the area while the security forces carried out the demolition and burning. According to local sources, there has been no investigation into the eviction of the families, the validity of the writ under which the eviction was carried out and the destruction of the homes by private security forces. TFDP has filed a complaint against Sheriff Tan for grave abuse of authority.
As the Lumintao Elementary School reportedly opened for a new school year on 13 June 2003, the 57 displaced Manobo families forcibly relocated again on 24 June 2003 to the new site less than a mile from the families’ 16 April 2003 eviction site. Barangay Lumintao officials have reportedly informed the Manobo families that this site would provide them with 20 hectares of land, including farmland, and that it is a permanent relocation.
According to the information received, this site has been allotted following negotiations between the Bukidnon Provincial Governor Jose Maria Zubiri, Jr., and the owners of the neighbouring Escano sugar plantation, who have claimed that the land belong to them. It should be noted, however, that an October 2002 Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) report designated that site as public land, which could only be officially distributed through the DENR.
Background
The 16 April 2003 eviction of the Manobo families and their 24 June 2003 relocation occurred against the background of the indigenous Manobos’ struggle to regain control over their ancestral land. This struggle brought them in direct conflict with the Escano family and, as a result, they have been facing repeated harassment, threats and actual abuse by the Escano security forces and the police.
While this harassment has been lasting for many years, it reached an unprecedented scale since June 2002 when the Manobo families reportedly occupied a portion of the Escano estate, which they considered as part of their ancestral land. Their moving out of this land in November 2002 to resettle on a public domain did not put a stop to abuses perpetrated by the Escano security forces. On the contrary, the Escanos have claimed to themselves this land and, as a result, their security forces have reportedly harassed and intimidated the Manobo families in this new location on several occasions. This harassment took notably the form of firing, erecting barricades and barbed wire fencing around the Manobo settlement and destruction of houses. More detailed information about this harassment can be found on OMCT website (www.omct.org).
The Manobo families have been fighting for legal recognition of their ancestral land for more than 20 years. In 1983, the Philippines Supreme Court reportedly granted 62 hectares to the Manobo families, but the government authorities never satisfactorily distributed it. In March 1991, the Manobos filed a petition for land distribution with the Department of Agrarian Reform, which reportedly noted that land had already been allocated in the 1983 Supreme Court decision. Currently, the Manobo families are reportedly preparing a claim for the National Commission of the Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), an agency created to settle claims regarding ancestral land.
Human rights’, international laws’, and treaties’ violations
The eviction of the Manabo families, but also their relocation, contradict, inter alia, their right to food, to water, to adequate housing, as well as their right to be protected agains cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment: their right, as women, men, and children, to live in a secure place to live in peace and dignity. The Philippines authorities especially violate these citizens’ entitlements to security of tenure, access to public and environmental goods and services, information, freedom from dispossession, an appropriate location, participation, and compensation. All are elements of the Right to Adequate Housing, and recognised as such in international law. Specifically, the authorities have breached their treaty obligations under articles 1, 2, 4, 11, 12, and 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), which The Philippines ratified on 7 June 1974. The State also has been derelict in its obligations as elaborated in the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights General Comments Nos. 4 & 7 on the Right to Adequate Housing, and No. 15 on the Right to Water. The Philippines also has breached articles 1 and 6 of the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) that it ratified on 15 September 1967.
Action requested:
Please write to the authorities in The Philippines, urging them to:
i. take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of the Manobo families;
ii. guarantee an immediate investigation into the circumstances of the eviction and the burning and destruction of houses by private security forces, identify those responsible and bring them before a civil competent and impartial tribunal and apply the penal, civil and/or administrative sanctions provided by law;
iii. guarantee the right to adequate housing of the Manobo families of Bukidnon province, with particular attention to the following elements: security of tenure, access to public and environmental goods and services and freedom from dispossession;
iv. guarantee the respect of human rights and the fundamental freedoms throughout the country in accordance with international human rights standards.
Addresses
Her Excellency Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, President, Republic of the Philippines, New Executive Bldg., Malacanang Palace compound, J.P. Laurel st., San Miguel, Manila, Philippines
Fax no. +63 (0)2 929–3968, Email: opnet@ops.gov.ph or kgma@yahoogroups.com
Hon. Purificacion Valera Quisumbing, Chairperson, Commission on Human Rights Commonwealth avenue, Diliman, Quezon City,Philippines; Fax no. +63 (0)2 929–0102, E-mail: apnr@chr.gov.ph
Hon. Teresita Quintos-Deles, NAPC, Lead Convenor, Member of Task Force 63, 6th Floor, DHC Bldg,. 1115 Edsa, Quezon City, Philippines; Tel no. +63 (0)2 373–3361– 64, Fax no. local 132
Timuay Ronald L. Adamat, Secretary for IPs Special Concern, Office of the Presidential Adviser for Special Concerns, Indigenous People’s Special concern office, Rm. 415, Tahanan ng Masa Bldg., Malacanang, Manila, Philippines; Tel/Fax no. +63 (0)2 736–8656
Atty. Reuben A. Lingating, Commissioner, National Commission on Indigenous People’s, 2nd and 3rd Flr., D & E Bldg., Quezon and Roces Avenue, Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines
Note: if you have any problems getting through to the fax numbers or e-mail addresses, please use those of the Filipino ambassador to the UN cited below.
Ambassador Samuel T. Ramel, Permanent Mission of the Philippines to the United Nations in Geneva; Avenue Balnc 47, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland; E-mail: philippine.mission@ties.itu.int; Fax: +41 (0)22 716–1932
**************
Geneva - Cairo, 24 July 2003
Kindly inform OMCT and HIC of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply to: omct@omct.org, mmignot@hic-mena.org
The joint urgent appeals of OMCT and HIC are dedicated to the protection of the right to adequate housing.
**************
Sample letter
Excellency,
We have been informed by OMCT and Habitat International Coalition-Housing and Land Rights Network that, on 16 April 2003, members of the Philippines police forces, in the presence of officials from the Quezon Municipality and the Subdistrict of Lumintao, forcibly have evicted from their homes 115 indigenous families living in the Barangay of Lumintao, Municipality of Quezon, Bukidnon Province, Mindanao. We are very concerned about the condition and rights of these indigenous families.
While part of them could find shelter with relatives, 57 families—256 people, including 135 children under 18, seven lactating mothers, and four pregnant women—were transferred to the Lumintao Elementary School, where they built shanties using laminated sacks for roofs. As the Lumintao Elementary School reportedly opened for a new school year on 13 June 2003, the 57 Manobo families who had been transferred in there were relocated on 24 June 2003 to a new site, located less than one mile away from where the families were evicted on 16 April 2003. Officials from Barangay Lumintao said that it is a permanent relocation, but we are concerned about the uncertainty surrounding the legal status of this resettlement site, which falls short of guaranteeing these families’ security of tenure. Even with security of tenure, housing rights are violated when forced eviction is made a precondition. In addition, the water supply in this new location is reportedly not safe for drinking, due to contamination.
Following these concerns, we urge you to take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of the Manobo families. As you represent the authority duty bound to protect human rights. As such, we encourage you to ensure an immediate investigation into the circumstances of the evictions and the burning and destruction of houses by private security forces, identify those responsible and bring them before a civil competent and impartial tribunal and apply the penal, civil and/or administrative sanctions provided by law.
The eviction of the Manabo families, but also their relocation, contradict, inter alia, their right to food, to water, and to adequate housing, especially their rights to security of tenure, access to public and environmental goods and services, information, freedom from dispossession, an appropriate location, participation, and compensation. All are elements of the Right to Adequate Housing, and recognised as such in international law. Hereby, the authorities namely violate articles 1, 2, 4, 11, 12, and 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) that the Philippines State ratified on 7 June 1974, General Comments No 4 & 7 on the Right to Adequate Housing and No 15 on the Right to Water, as well as articles 1 and 6 of the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) that it ratified on 15 September 1967. Therefore, we urge you to respect the international legal standards, and to implement your obligations.
Looking forward to learning about your action in this case, thank you for your attention.
Respectfully,
[signed]
[Your name]
[Your organisation]
CC:
*********************************
Additional information concerning the struggle of the Manobo families and the harassment by the Escano family.
As mentioned in the urgent appeal released by OMCT and HIC-HLRN (PHL-FE 170703), the last episode of this conflict started on 28 June 2002, when families reportedly occupied an unimproved portion of the Escano estate, which they considered as part of their ancestral land. Following a civil case (Civil Case No. 428, July 2002, Asuncion R. Escano, et al. versus Datu Gregorio Dag-on et al.) brought by the owners of the Escano plantation, DENR released a report on 2 October 2002, indicating that the area occupied by the Manobo families was part of the Escano estate, and, on 22 October, Judge Dante I. Villa issued an order to vacate the premises. The Manobo families voluntarily left the area on 2 November 2002. They reportedly settled in an area identified as public land in the October 2002 DENR report, a move that did not put a stop to their conflict with the Escano family.
The Escanos have claimed to themselves the designated public land that the Manobo families have occupied. As a result, the Escano security forces reportedly harassed and intimidated the families in this new location on several occasions, leading to the families’ eviction on 16 April 2003. On 27 December 2002, at 03:00, masked Escano security forces allegedly entered the Manobo families’ settlement and fired their guns during two minutes. On 14 January 2003, the Escano security forces allegedly erected barricades and barbed wire fencing around the Manobo settlement, impeding the families’ movement. When the families appealed to the Quezon police, officers reportedly responded that the security measures did not inhibit the families and took no action. On 23 January 2003, at approximately 10:00 am, the security forces allegedly entered the settlement with pay loaders equipped with forklifts and began to destroy houses. It is reported that when a resident asked them to stop, the security forces opened fire, wounding two Manobo peoples and killing a security guard who was driving the pay loader.
JOINT URGENT ACTION APPEAL:
Forced Eviction of 115 Indigenous Families/Use of Force
in the Philippines
Case PHL-FE 240703. ESCR
The International Secretariat of OMCT and the Coordination Office of HIC-HLRN request your URGENT intervention in the following situation in the Philippines.
Brief description of the situation
The Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP) and the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), both members of the OMCT network, have informed the International Secretariat of OMCT that, on 16 April 2003, police forces—in the presence of Quezon Municipality and the Subdistrict of Lumintao—forcibly evicted from their homes 115 indigenous families living in the Lumintao Subdistrict, in the Municipality of Quezon, Bukidnon Province, Island of Mindanao. This housing rights violation apparently has been carried out at the behest of local commercial interests.
These families, of the indigenous Manobo people and members of the Resean Manobo Farmers Association (REMFA), have reportedly been evicted from public land where they have been living for around five months. Reportedly, they settled on this public land following a previous eviction from a historically Manobo-held site they occupied in their struggle to regain control over their ancestral land.
While 58 families reportedly found shelter with relatives in Lumintao, on 21 April, the Subdistrict Captain Villamor Yaba transferred the 57 other families to the Lumintao Elementary School, where they built shanties using laminated sacks for roofs. These 57 families are comprised of 256 people, among them 135 children under 18, seven lactating mothers, and four pregnant women. The source reports that the families had no beds, and slept directly on the ground. Only 30 shanties were built, and many families were forced to live in crowded conditions, sharing a shanty with up to three other families. According to the information received, the families did not have enough food to eat and were reduced to eating only porridge.
Following a period of approximately 2 months, during which some of the families have been living in temporary shanties under inadequate housing, nutritional and sanitary conditions, the Lumintao Subdistrict officials eventually resettled the 57 families on 24 June 2003 to a new site located less than one mile from where the police evicted them on 16 April 2003.
While the authorities are claiming that the most-recent relocation site is to be permanent, OMCT and HIC-HRLN are concerned that the uncertain legal status of that resettlement site leaves the 57 families without secure tenure. They also recognize that the water supply in the new location is reportedly contaminated and not safe for drinking. The personal safety and integrity of these families are precarious.
Apparently, none of the 115 families has received adequate compensation for the loss of their homes and possessions and, according to the source, no independent inquiry has been carried out into the forced evictions and demolition of houses.
Detail of the case: facts, official position and efforts at local remedy
According to the information received, on 16 April 2003, at around 13:00, Bukidnon Province Sheriff Mr. Tyrone Tan, accompanied by approximately 40 people, including several police officers, the Quezon City Police Chief Mr. Bobby Abao, the Quezon Municipal Councilor Ms. Gloria Yaba and the Lumintao Barangay Captain Villamor Yaba, entered the premises where the 115 indigenous families were living. Several men were allegedly wearing masks and arrived with two dump trucks, a police vehicle, a Land Cruiser, and a military service vehicle. They were also reportedly accompanied by six members of the private security forces employed by Mr. John Unchuan of the Escano family, which owns the adjacent property and sugar plantation and is currently engaged in a land conflict with the 115 Manobo families.
Following their arrival at the site, Sheriff Tan produced a document he claimed was a demolition order to be enforced that day. However, according to the information received, this document, dated March 18th 2003, was invalid because it was only signed by the Quezon Court Clerk Angelina Gam and not by Judge Dante Villa. When this concern was raised by Mr. Datu Lito Aglay (Chairperson of the REMFA) Sheriff Tan allegedly told him to shut up and to vacate the area. The families reportedly did not receive prior notification of this eviction.
The local sources report that the police, led by Chief Bobby Abao, ordered the families to surrender their farm tools, grabbed the inhabitants and forced them into the dump trucks. The families were reportedly not able to take their animals with them. Reportedly, the police snatched the children and, consequently, 10-year-old Charlie Sacalang suffered from a swollen right arm. The Subdistrict Captain Villamor Yaba then reportedly took the families to the Subdistrict Hall in Luminato where, two days later, the Subdistrict authorities returned their possessions, including their clothes and kitchen utensils.
At this time, Mr. John Unchuan’s private security forces allegedly burned down some of the families’ houses and destroyed the remainder with a payloader vehicle fitted with a forklift. It is reported that the police took no action to stop the destruction of the homes and left the area while the security forces carried out the demolition and burning. According to local sources, there has been no investigation into the eviction of the families, the validity of the writ under which the eviction was carried out and the destruction of the homes by private security forces. TFDP has filed a complaint against Sheriff Tan for grave abuse of authority.
As the Lumintao Elementary School reportedly opened for a new school year on 13 June 2003, the 57 displaced Manobo families forcibly relocated again on 24 June 2003 to the new site less than a mile from the families’ 16 April 2003 eviction site. Barangay Lumintao officials have reportedly informed the Manobo families that this site would provide them with 20 hectares of land, including farmland, and that it is a permanent relocation.
According to the information received, this site has been allotted following negotiations between the Bukidnon Provincial Governor Jose Maria Zubiri, Jr., and the owners of the neighbouring Escano sugar plantation, who have claimed that the land belong to them. It should be noted, however, that an October 2002 Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) report designated that site as public land, which could only be officially distributed through the DENR.
Background
The 16 April 2003 eviction of the Manobo families and their 24 June 2003 relocation occurred against the background of the indigenous Manobos’ struggle to regain control over their ancestral land. This struggle brought them in direct conflict with the Escano family and, as a result, they have been facing repeated harassment, threats and actual abuse by the Escano security forces and the police.
While this harassment has been lasting for many years, it reached an unprecedented scale since June 2002 when the Manobo families reportedly occupied a portion of the Escano estate, which they considered as part of their ancestral land. Their moving out of this land in November 2002 to resettle on a public domain did not put a stop to abuses perpetrated by the Escano security forces. On the contrary, the Escanos have claimed to themselves this land and, as a result, their security forces have reportedly harassed and intimidated the Manobo families in this new location on several occasions. This harassment took notably the form of firing, erecting barricades and barbed wire fencing around the Manobo settlement and destruction of houses. More detailed information about this harassment can be found on OMCT website (www.omct.org).
The Manobo families have been fighting for legal recognition of their ancestral land for more than 20 years. In 1983, the Philippines Supreme Court reportedly granted 62 hectares to the Manobo families, but the government authorities never satisfactorily distributed it. In March 1991, the Manobos filed a petition for land distribution with the Department of Agrarian Reform, which reportedly noted that land had already been allocated in the 1983 Supreme Court decision. Currently, the Manobo families are reportedly preparing a claim for the National Commission of the Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), an agency created to settle claims regarding ancestral land.
Human rights’, international laws’, and treaties’ violations
The eviction of the Manabo families, but also their relocation, contradict, inter alia, their right to food, to water, to adequate housing, as well as their right to be protected agains cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment: their right, as women, men, and children, to live in a secure place to live in peace and dignity. The Philippines authorities especially violate these citizens’ entitlements to security of tenure, access to public and environmental goods and services, information, freedom from dispossession, an appropriate location, participation, and compensation. All are elements of the Right to Adequate Housing, and recognised as such in international law. Specifically, the authorities have breached their treaty obligations under articles 1, 2, 4, 11, 12, and 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), which The Philippines ratified on 7 June 1974. The State also has been derelict in its obligations as elaborated in the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights General Comments Nos. 4 & 7 on the Right to Adequate Housing, and No. 15 on the Right to Water. The Philippines also has breached articles 1 and 6 of the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) that it ratified on 15 September 1967.
Action requested:
Please write to the authorities in The Philippines, urging them to:
i. take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of the Manobo families;
ii. guarantee an immediate investigation into the circumstances of the eviction and the burning and destruction of houses by private security forces, identify those responsible and bring them before a civil competent and impartial tribunal and apply the penal, civil and/or administrative sanctions provided by law;
iii. guarantee the right to adequate housing of the Manobo families of Bukidnon province, with particular attention to the following elements: security of tenure, access to public and environmental goods and services and freedom from dispossession;
iv. guarantee the respect of human rights and the fundamental freedoms throughout the country in accordance with international human rights standards.
Addresses
Her Excellency Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, President, Republic of the Philippines, New Executive Bldg., Malacanang Palace compound, J.P. Laurel st., San Miguel, Manila, Philippines
Fax no. +63 (0)2 929–3968, Email: opnet@ops.gov.ph or kgma@yahoogroups.com
Hon. Purificacion Valera Quisumbing, Chairperson, Commission on Human Rights Commonwealth avenue, Diliman, Quezon City,Philippines; Fax no. +63 (0)2 929–0102, E-mail: apnr@chr.gov.ph
Hon. Teresita Quintos-Deles, NAPC, Lead Convenor, Member of Task Force 63, 6th Floor, DHC Bldg,. 1115 Edsa, Quezon City, Philippines; Tel no. +63 (0)2 373–3361– 64, Fax no. local 132
Timuay Ronald L. Adamat, Secretary for IPs Special Concern, Office of the Presidential Adviser for Special Concerns, Indigenous People’s Special concern office, Rm. 415, Tahanan ng Masa Bldg., Malacanang, Manila, Philippines; Tel/Fax no. +63 (0)2 736–8656
Atty. Reuben A. Lingating, Commissioner, National Commission on Indigenous People’s, 2nd and 3rd Flr., D & E Bldg., Quezon and Roces Avenue, Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines
Note: if you have any problems getting through to the fax numbers or e-mail addresses, please use those of the Filipino ambassador to the UN cited below.
Ambassador Samuel T. Ramel, Permanent Mission of the Philippines to the United Nations in Geneva; Avenue Balnc 47, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland; E-mail: philippine.mission@ties.itu.int; Fax: +41 (0)22 716–1932
**************
Geneva - Cairo, 24 July 2003
Kindly inform OMCT and HIC of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply to: omct@omct.org, mmignot@hic-mena.org
The joint urgent appeals of OMCT and HIC are dedicated to the protection of the right to adequate housing.
**************
Sample letter
Excellency,
We have been informed by OMCT and Habitat International Coalition-Housing and Land Rights Network that, on 16 April 2003, members of the Philippines police forces, in the presence of officials from the Quezon Municipality and the Subdistrict of Lumintao, forcibly have evicted from their homes 115 indigenous families living in the Barangay of Lumintao, Municipality of Quezon, Bukidnon Province, Mindanao. We are very concerned about the condition and rights of these indigenous families.
While part of them could find shelter with relatives, 57 families—256 people, including 135 children under 18, seven lactating mothers, and four pregnant women—were transferred to the Lumintao Elementary School, where they built shanties using laminated sacks for roofs. As the Lumintao Elementary School reportedly opened for a new school year on 13 June 2003, the 57 Manobo families who had been transferred in there were relocated on 24 June 2003 to a new site, located less than one mile away from where the families were evicted on 16 April 2003. Officials from Barangay Lumintao said that it is a permanent relocation, but we are concerned about the uncertainty surrounding the legal status of this resettlement site, which falls short of guaranteeing these families’ security of tenure. Even with security of tenure, housing rights are violated when forced eviction is made a precondition. In addition, the water supply in this new location is reportedly not safe for drinking, due to contamination.
Following these concerns, we urge you to take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of the Manobo families. As you represent the authority duty bound to protect human rights. As such, we encourage you to ensure an immediate investigation into the circumstances of the evictions and the burning and destruction of houses by private security forces, identify those responsible and bring them before a civil competent and impartial tribunal and apply the penal, civil and/or administrative sanctions provided by law.
The eviction of the Manabo families, but also their relocation, contradict, inter alia, their right to food, to water, and to adequate housing, especially their rights to security of tenure, access to public and environmental goods and services, information, freedom from dispossession, an appropriate location, participation, and compensation. All are elements of the Right to Adequate Housing, and recognised as such in international law. Hereby, the authorities namely violate articles 1, 2, 4, 11, 12, and 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) that the Philippines State ratified on 7 June 1974, General Comments No 4 & 7 on the Right to Adequate Housing and No 15 on the Right to Water, as well as articles 1 and 6 of the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) that it ratified on 15 September 1967. Therefore, we urge you to respect the international legal standards, and to implement your obligations.
Looking forward to learning about your action in this case, thank you for your attention.
Respectfully,
[signed]
[Your name]
[Your organisation]
CC:
*********************************
Additional information concerning the struggle of the Manobo families and the harassment by the Escano family.
As mentioned in the urgent appeal released by OMCT and HIC-HLRN (PHL-FE 170703), the last episode of this conflict started on 28 June 2002, when families reportedly occupied an unimproved portion of the Escano estate, which they considered as part of their ancestral land. Following a civil case (Civil Case No. 428, July 2002, Asuncion R. Escano, et al. versus Datu Gregorio Dag-on et al.) brought by the owners of the Escano plantation, DENR released a report on 2 October 2002, indicating that the area occupied by the Manobo families was part of the Escano estate, and, on 22 October, Judge Dante I. Villa issued an order to vacate the premises. The Manobo families voluntarily left the area on 2 November 2002. They reportedly settled in an area identified as public land in the October 2002 DENR report, a move that did not put a stop to their conflict with the Escano family.
The Escanos have claimed to themselves the designated public land that the Manobo families have occupied. As a result, the Escano security forces reportedly harassed and intimidated the families in this new location on several occasions, leading to the families’ eviction on 16 April 2003. On 27 December 2002, at 03:00, masked Escano security forces allegedly entered the Manobo families’ settlement and fired their guns during two minutes. On 14 January 2003, the Escano security forces allegedly erected barricades and barbed wire fencing around the Manobo settlement, impeding the families’ movement. When the families appealed to the Quezon police, officers reportedly responded that the security measures did not inhibit the families and took no action. On 23 January 2003, at approximately 10:00 am, the security forces allegedly entered the settlement with pay loaders equipped with forklifts and began to destroy houses. It is reported that when a resident asked them to stop, the security forces opened fire, wounding two Manobo peoples and killing a security guard who was driving the pay loader.