Monster underneath San Miguel

Mariano Carrasco

THERE is more to the San Miguel Village dispute than meets the eye. It now appears that an amorphous “monster” lies underneath the hill and village, ready to devour the homes and residents thereon.

Initially, I thought it was a simple right-of-way land dispute, a problem that can be solved easily by a simple application of the Civil Code provision which allows passage to the nearest public road  for lands surrounded or locked by other lands. (The public road here is the Limketkai road that exits at Lapasan highway from the Camaman-an area.) I thought it was easier for the uphill San Miguel Village residents to invoke their right of way since they have been using the road, partially concreted in the middle, in going to and from the village for more than 20 years. In fact, Mindanao Health Care Corporation, which allegedly owns the land, had acquiesced in or tolerated the use of the road right of way for more than 20 years. The corporation, according to the residents, have in fact donated a three-meter wide road for the residents.

Many years back, the San Miguel Village residents felt lucky. The Coca-Cola company had  launched a program whereby employees are given soft loans so they could purchase a piece of land, subdivide it, and build a community thereon. The father of Atty. Edgar Cabanlas, the late Marcial Cabanlas, co-empoyee of my father, was very helpful in the acquisition of the lots at San Miguel. Through honest manual labor and by the sweat of his brow, my father acquired a homelot, too.

San Miguel is blessed and dreamy because it stands on top of a hill that overlooks the city, the Limketkai mall, the Loop condominium, and Filinvest’s Oasis condominium. But now it seems the dream has turned into a nightmare. Somebody, or some groups with vested interests, want to hang some kind of a loop or hangman’s noose around the village—destroy it, destroy the hill, destroy the Roman Catholic chapel standing thereon, eliminate the Camaman-an road that exits towards Lapasan, eliminate the San Miguel road right of way—and build around it an interconnecting loop of condominiums, malls, and shopping centers for the rich and famous.

Now, we are witnessing a classic situation, a usual theme in movies, wherein the powerful rich, in cahoots with goons, the police, and the civil authorities, are all plotting to grab lands and destroy a community—all in the name of greed and profit.

It all started in November last year when Mindanao Health Care suddenly fenced off with barbed wire the road right of way, and excavated the road using backhoes, claiming they can do anything because it is part of their land title. The residents resisted and protested. Since City Hall did not respond despite the protests, letters and petitions, the village residents decided to stage a protest rally in front of City Hall and near the San Miguel road. There were protest coffins and placards. The next day, Mayor Oscar Moreno and Clenro Edwin Dael issued a Stoppage Order ordering the excavation and quarry to stop because no quarry permit was issued and it was therefore illegal and besides it endangered the lives and homes of the village residents. The barangay chairman also issued a notice ordering the removal of the barbed wire fence since no fencing permit was issued.

Thereafter, a few months later, in the dead of the night, the backhoes resumed the quarry operation, accompanied by an armed group that included policemen. Clenro Dael and we, the lawyers (five in the family), asked the police to stop the excavation but the police simply remained silent and simply watched the excavation and the protesters. It was simply unbelievable, reminiscent of the Ampatuan case. They were practically guarding the backhoe operators!

Then a protest action was held at the City Council. For the first time in local history, two protest coffins were brought inside the city council session room. Then finally, the City Council passed a resolution ordering the expropriation of the road right of way and approving the budget to be paid to Mindanao Health Care Corporation. Mayor Moreno signed the expropriation ordinance, though reluctantly. But Mindanao Health Care Corporation refused to accept the amount offered, saying it’s too small. The mayor then should have instructed the city’s legal counsel to file the expropriation case in court. But no such action has taken place. Sadly, the city government and the city legal office have given the San Miguel Village residents the run-around, passing the buck from one office to another for reasons unexplained.

Then suddenly, once again, for the third or fourth time,  in the afternoon of  November this year, Mindanao Health Care, in gross defiance of the Stoppage Order and despite the city council resolution, resumed the excavation. Again there were security guards, and again it was done in full view of the police authorities who simply stood by and allowed the excavation to continue, notwithstanding the protestations of the San Miguel Village residents. But unlike the Ampatuan case where the dead were being buried using the backhoes, here the backhoes were being used with the intention to bury live human beings. Worse in that sense. Now, not single statement or denunciation could be heard from Clenro Dael or from the mayor, up to now.

As reported in the mass media, that afternoon somebody unidentified threw gasoline and Molotov cocktails on the backhoe, setting it on fire. Mindanao Health Care Corporation and the armed goup filed criminal cases of arson indiscriminately! Have they come to court or the prosecutor’s office with clean hands?

Lately, a former official of the provincial government who became a big-time contractor for government projects and who has enriched himself, and who is running as councilor under Moreno’s ticket, texted one of our clients that he would like to talk to him in private to relay a confidential message from the mayor. Our client, upon our advice, refused to talk to him in private. And finally, the former official, was forced to text the message that the mayor himself is against the expropriation of that road right of way! Pastilan! Is it true that this wolf has disguised himself in a sheep’s clothing? Is Ayala interested again in those lands?

 (Mariano B. Carrasco is a lawyer based n Cagayan de Oro. His law firm handles the case against the Mindanao Health Care Corp.)