The Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) Gitnang Luzon has expressed its solidarity with the farmers, indigenous Aeta people, and residents of five barangays in Capas, Tarlac, who held a protest to air their grievances against policies "causing severe hardship, harassment, and lack of security in their community."
The residents are calling for an immediate response to their complaints regarding the policies of the 790th Air Base Group of the Philippine Air Force (PAF) Air Installation and Base Development Command (AIBDC).
The group said the policies include the banning of construction and repair of houses, restricting water and electricity supplies, and blocking the entry of relief goods from non-government organizations (NGOs), churches, and private individuals.
The residents claimed that even materials, used for burying their dead, are prohibited inside the community.
BAYAN Gitnang Luzon said the restrictions imposed by the 790th Air Base Group, under the leadership of Lieutenant Colonel Owen M. Avenido, are part of the plan for a Joint Training Complex at the Crow Valley Military Complex and Colonel Ernesto Ravina Air Base (CERAB).
The facility is intended for continuous launchpad for military exercises, such as the annual Balikatan held in the area.
Under this plan, the militant group claimed that residents within the total 18,000-hectare land area of the military complex in the barangays of Sta. Juliana, O'Donnel (Patling), and Sta. Lucia face displacement.
The BAYAN Gitnang Luzon added that farmers, indigenous people and residents in other barangays of Capas and Bamban have been victims of evictions, demolitions, destruction of crops, and blockades led by the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) for New Clark City (NCC).
According to the group, the national government is bypassing its own laws, such as the Indigenous People's Rights Act (IPRA), or using them to divide the indigenous Ayta.
BAYAN Gitnang Luzon said BCDA continues the construction of roads that destroy farmlands, ancestral domains, and the environment.
The alliance said the Marcos Administration has been rushing to open 1,600 hectares of land within "New Clark City" for the Economic Security Zone of the "Pax Silica" Initiative.
Under this initiative, various infrastructures will be built to transform the area into a semiconductor, microchip, and artificial intelligence data hub, the group said.
The Economic Security Zone is adjacent to the Joint Training Complex and part of military and economic hubs such as the Subic Ammunition Factory, Agila Shipyard, Basa Airbase, Fort Magsaysay Military Reservation, and the APECO Defense Hub, according to BAYAN members.
The group called on the government to immediately address the grievances of the residents.
It added that there must be genuine and meaningful consultations with the farmers, indigenous people, and residents.
"Recognize the rights of farmers to their land, the rights of indigenous peoples to their ancestral domains and self-determination, and the rights of residents to housing," the group said.
