Uniting under the call Save Patungan Now, residents of Patungan village, in Maragondon, Cavite province, set up barricades and successfully resisted the most recent attempt to demolish their homes and community on 13 January by a 1,000-strong contingent of the Philippine National Police, Armed Forces of the Philippines and armed goons. The demolition crew, working at the behest of real estate corporations of the Sy and Virata families, stormed the village, dismantled the barricades, destroyed homes and repeatedly fired their guns.
The villagers, however, were able to stop the demolition crew’s advance. At least twenty villagers were injured, while six of them were arrested and detained by the armed security agents.
Located some 70 kilometers south of Manila, Patungan village (recently renamed Sta. Mercedes) sits along the coast at the southern tip of Manila Bay, surrounded by more than 600 hectares of lush mountains and pristine coastal waters. Around 1,200 farmers and fishers call Patungan home. The area is being eyed for ‘ecotourism’ and upscale residential projects.
Since 2012, the MTV Realty Corporation of the Viratas has been encroaching on the community, despite the absence of any land title. MTVRC forcibly claimed the mountains and coastal areas of Patungan and began constructing roads. It deployed armed goons who threatened, harassed and deceived the villagers, forcibly driving several of the families away.
The villagers organized themselves under the Save Patungan Now Movement. With the support of other fishers and peasant organizations, environment activists and youth groups, they were able to frustrate violent demolition and land grabbing attempts in 2012, 2014, 2016, and the most recent on 13 January.
MTV Realty Corporation has reportedly sold its ‘claim’ to the Manila Southcoast Development Corporation of the Sy family. The MSDC is currently constructing upscale residential and beach resort projects at the nearby Hamilo Coast and Hacienda Looc in Nasugbu, Batangas province, where thousands of farmers and fishers have already been displaced.
More than 5,000 of the total 8,650 hectares of Hacienda Looc were already awarded to the local farmers in 1990, as part of the Manila government’s agrarian reform program. In 1994, however, the Manila government unilaterally rescinded the awarded land titles and sold Hacienda Looc instead to the MSDC.
The MSDC is owned by the SM Investment Corporation, one of the largest conglomerates in the Philippines, with interests in shopping mall development, real estate development, retail, banking and tourism.