The news has (rightfully) been taken over by the fact that a China Maritime Militia (CMM) vessel, where the CMM is “a subset of China’s national militia, an armed reserve force of civilians available for mobilization to perform basic support duties,” also “a fighting force on the front-line of China’s quest to control the seas.”

But so many things (as always) are happening across the country: activists and human rights advocates are being killed, Mangyan communities are being bombed.

And then there’s Malipay. An urban poor community in Bacoor Cavite which yesterday experienced violence in the hands of armed security and demolition personnel hired by the developers who want to destroy their homes and takeover their land.

To the Malipay community, the perpetrators are clear: the developer Vistaland and Lifescapes Inc. That’s the company OWNED by Senator and Duterte-campaign-funder Cynthia Villar, Duterte crony Manny Villar. DPWH Secretary Mark Villar.

According to the Malipay community’s Facebook page, at 5:00AM a backhaw, payloader, and about 50 armed security guards entered Sitio Malipay, ready to do clearing operations. The community, despite being surprised by the invasion, gathered together and there was a stand-off. At 7:30AM, reinforcement came for the security guards and clearing crew, another 30 or so guards.

The community waited for barangay officials and the police to arrive, but at 8:30AM shots were fired and the perpetrators — members of the armed guards were seen fleeing the community. This left 4 people injured — all residents of the Sitio Malipay.

The news reports on yesterday’s violence refuses to mention who this developer is who would gain from this kind of invasion, this illegal clearing operation. As far as the residents of Sitio Malipay are concerned, this demolition crew was dispatched by the Villars, who own the land development business that seeks to takeover property they have lived in for four decades. 3000 families live in Sitio Malipay.

This land falls under the Imus Friar Land Estate which means that “applications of longtime residents are extended priority under the law.” According to the Atin Ang Malipay page, “The Imus Friar Land Estate had been declared alienable and disposable under Forestry Administrative Order 11-1141 in 1968. The Villar-owned and partner corporations claim ownership on the strength of a land title issued in 1921, close to a decade prior to the lands being declared alienable and disposable.”

The case the Malipay community filed versus the Villars in 2015 is necessary context:

In an 11-page complaint with the DoJ Commission on the Settlement of Land Problems (COSLAP), the Sitio Malipay Neighborhood & Lot Owners Association, Inc. said that since 2011, they were being pushed out of the friar lands they lived in for three decades.

They said Calsons Global Link Corp. — described in the complaint as “generally known to be a dummy for respondent Villar” — has been encroaching on the land through an allegedly spurious transfer certificate of title obtained from a rural bank in Guagua, Pampanga.

The complaint said security guards hired from agencies “identified” with the Villar real estate group have barricaded the community, limiting residents’ movement and stopping them from doing home improvement works.

“Petitioner’s members feel aggrieved that for more than three decades, they have toiled the land, enriched it and developed and transformed it into a vibrant, thriving community of 7,000 people, only to be harassed by the security of respondents claiming to be owners of the land,” the complaint stated.

The dispute land was classified as “friar lands,” to which applications of longtime residents were extended priority under the law.

However, they said the respondents came armed with a transfer certificate of title (TCT) covering the area as supposedly foreclosed property in the name of Guagua Savers Bank. The approved survey plan shown by the respondents were also traced to a lot in Baguio City, not Bacoor City.

Because of this, the residents’ group sought to have Calsons’ TCT declared spurious and canceled. It also asked the DoJ to recommend that the residents be allowed to apply for the purchase of the friar lands.

In 2015, the Villars’ lawyer denied that they had anything to do with Calsons Global Link Corp.

And yet here we are four years after, and the same community has been victimized by this clearing operation. This time around it’s clear that it is the Villars doing this development. That is, between 2015 and 2019, the number of companies claiming land in this area has risen from one (Calsons Globalink) to four. The three others are Althorp Holdings and Find Properties, both part of the annual report disclosure of Vistaland, and Brittany Corporation which is a Vistaland subsidiary.

The media has refused to name “the developers” who wreaked havoc on Sitio Malipay yesterday.

And yet, the Villars have the most to gain from the illegal clearing and complete erasure of this community. Their Bacoor developments are all over their press releases, and so are the specific developments in Molino. Note too that their Evia Lifestyle Center is already within the same map — it makes sense that they would want more out of this area, never mind that it would mean disenfranchising communities. (It is also important to note that the Evia Lifestyle Center of the Villars has been pinpointed as the SOLE reason for the terrible traffic to and from Cavite — yet another instance of how these developers are getting away with everything.)

Speaking of getting away with everything, there was a time we held the Villars to account. Throwback to 2010, when media dared do in-depth (and free!) stories on how then presidential candidate Manny Villar built his subdivisions by taking over poor people’s lands. Read and weep, because the Villars are back in power, and how! (READ: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3).

There is also a tendency for media to call instances like this one “awayan sa lupa” (a fight over land), as if it was something that happened on equal footing, as if it was something that the Sitio Malipay residents initiated. In reality, what happened in Sitio Malipay yesterday had a clear aggressor, and it had clear victims. What happened was big business and development bullying its way into this community, using guns and goons and equipment, to scare the people out of these homes they’ve lived in for decades, to which they have a right. 

This is no different from what the Ayalas are doing in San Roque, and it is no different from what’s happening across the country, in the hands of big developers that are not only disenfranchising the already marginalized, but also affecting the ecology, ruining cities, creating heavier traffic, all in the name of personal interest and profit.

It is of course no coincidence that both the Ayalas and Villars are Duterte cronies. **