KARAPATAN condemns the violent demolition of a peasant community in Sitio Balubad, Barangay Anunas, Angeles City. At least seven persons have reportedly been injured after combined elements of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and goons hired by Clarkhills Properties Corporation opened fire on the protesting farmers. Even reporters covering the demolition were reportedly harassed and threatened by the raiding team.
Clarkhills Properties has been trying since October 2023 to gain control of a 72-hectare landholding that had already been awarded to the farmers under the government’s agrarian reform program after they had completed paying the required amortization. The Department of Agrarian Reform, however, later voided the Certificate of Land Ownership Award granted to the farmers, leading to a series of violent attempts by Clarkhills Properties to seize the land from the residents.
The area is populated by at least 535 households with some 2,000 families. Before this violent demolition, the residents had been resisting Clarkhills Properties’ demolition teams which have been conducting monthly demolitions since October.
KARAPATAN stands in solidarity with the farmers of Barangay Anunas in their continuing struggle for their basic human rights to their lands and livelihood.