Thousands of farmers and fisherfolk are faced with eviction and loss of livelihood across the entire Bicol region due to widespread plunder and landgrabbing by local bureaucrat-capitalists, big landlords and foreign corporations for ecotourism, mining, renewable energy and land conversion. These local bureaucrat-capitalists and big landlords are one in the same, the likes of the Escudero, Hamor, Co, Salceda, Villafuerte, Alsua, Mitra, Cua and Kho clans. They have used their positions in local government and public funds to amass land and resources. 

There are numerous cases of local residents being evicted from their homes. In Camarines Sur, hundreds of farmers in the municipality of Siruma face eviction by Governor Luis Raymund Villafuerte’s Wanderlust Land Development Corp. In Bula, 200 residents face imminent eviction because of a land dispute between Conrado Colarina of Ruby Shelters and Development Corp. and the Tan family.

In Masbate, mining operations of Filminera Resources Corp. has put the communities surrounding the mine under military rule to suppress their resistance. Over 21,000 residents also face eviction from Empark Land Development Inc.’s planned Masbate International Tourism and Economic Zone. In 2023, Governor Antonio Kho evicted 94 farmer families and seized lands for his interests in ranching, ecotourism and mining. 

In Albay, the Co family’s Sunwest Corp. seized land at the foot of the Mayon volcano. In Sorsogon, hundreds of mud crab gatherers and fisherfolk lost their livelihoods because of the coastal road project and reclamation.

Since 2022, at least 77 renewable energy projects (solar, wind and geothermal) have been planned and are currently under construction across the region. The largest and most damaging to Bicolnon livelihoods are the two offshore windfarms in San Miguel Bay in Camariner Sur, owned by Copenhagen Infrastructure New Market Fund Corp., ACEN Corp. and Nexif Ratch Energy. Around 5,000 to 6,000 fisherfolk will lose their livelihoods due to this project.

Many more projects in the region belong to various comprador bourgeois families and foreign companies. In the name of ecotourism and renewable energy, Bicol’s natural resources are being exploited by these foreigners and bourgeois compradors, while being abetted by government agencies and protected by the military and police.