Will the Santonino people win the battle for life?
Gita Meidita
Solidaritas Perempuan, Indonesia

This article is based on the field trip to Rizal Area in Philippines organised by Amihan, National Federation of Peasant Women, Philippines, to expose the participants of the Asian Conference on Women’s Land Rights to some of the problems faced by the people in rural Philippines. One hundred families of the Santonino community mainly made up of people coming from Visayas, Mindanao, and other areas from Northern part of Luzon, call the Rizal Area home. Migration to this area was due to their traditional land being “snatched” by landlords, thus rendering them landless. The isolated Rizal Area village is located on a hillside near the WaWa Dam and is connected to a neighbouring ‘stop-over village’ with a hanging bridge built a year ago. Previously, the villagers could only cross the wide river during the dry season when it was time to get more freshwater, a scarce commodity during the dry season. Due to its location, the village is also prone to land slides during the rainy season. Its residents have no choice but stay on the slopes risking their lives as they have nowhere else to go. Paradoxically, now they are being pushed out of this isolated unsafe area.

Santonino community again faces the problem of landlessness. When they settled in the area initially, the land was owned by the government. Now it is private property of a Filipino businessman Don Alfonso D. The community panicked a few years ago when he announced plans to demolish the settlement. The area immediately became a political arena for candidates running for local elections. The public outcry forced the landlord to suspend his plans but he put a big sign at the entrance to the village which says that the community lives at his mercy on his land implying that he can “kick them out” anytime. The residents are not allowed to build any more houses.

On top of the looming eviction, poverty stricken people of Santonino face a lot of other problems. They do not have access to clean water as the only source is ground water. During dry season the ground water dries up and they have to dig deeper or buy water from the nearby village. They cannot use water from the river as it is polluted by the waste from upstream pig and poultry farms. Malaria, big stomach and TB are common ailments in the area. There is no health center in the village. The village school has one teacher for over 60 students leaving little chance for kids to get out of the “vicious circle” of poverty.

Amihan has been trying to help the Santonino community solve their problems since April 2004. They started by identifying the community’s problems and needs in a participatory manner and raising them with the local government. Amihan has also been helping in forming a communitybased organisation which would be instrumental in mobilising and advocating for the community’s rights. It has been successful in winning the trust of the Santonino people as they did not promulgate their work based on a single issue such as peasant women. Amihan has helped the community address their livelihoods issues: access to land, jobs, clean water and education. It is too early to speak about results of Amihan’s community development work in Santonino community but they are determined to help the community fight for their land and better life.

Barn Grood community will continue the struggle for their land!
Cholpon Akmatova
APWLD Resource Officer

Jintana Kaewkhao (centre) with APWLD Programme & Management Committee members Virada Somswasdi (right) and Elisa Tita Lubi

On July 23, 2004 members of the APWLD Programme and Management Committee and Secretariat visited the village of Barn Grood in Prachuap Khiri Khan province in the southern Thailand to meet the community who have been struggling, for seven years, to retain their rights to the land which had been theirs.

This confrontation began in 1997 when Saha Union, with permission of the local administration, started building a coal-fired power plant on coastal public land so that coal shipped in could be downloaded straight to the plant. Ultimately, the power plant would affect the marine life in that part of the Gulf of Thailand. To impede construction of the plant, the community built fences and a small shrine at the site.

An overwhelming majority of 9,000 residents of the village joined hands in the protest against the construction because it directly threatened their livelihoods which depend on fishing. Majority of the protesters are women. Jintana Kaewkhao, 42, a mother of three children, has been leading the struggle since the beginning. Five years ago they tried to intimidate her by shooting at her little roadside shop. Bullet holes on the shop’s metal gates are evidence of how far the business in cooperation with local officials can go in pursuit of profits. Furthermore, the recent murder of Charoen Wataksorn, a community leader from another town of Prachuap Khiri Khan who led a decade-long protest against the Bo Nok power plant project, shows just how brutal they can get. He is one of the 16 human rights defenders murdered in Thailand in the last three years. Most of them were community leaders who led campaigns against controversial “development” projects and tried to protect their community environment as well as economic, social and cultural rights of their people. “We’re not intimidated by the killing of Charoen Wataksorn. We’re determined to continue the struggle for our land,” says Jintana, who still receives threats over the phone.

In an effort to proactively engage into saving their livelihoods, Jintana along with some other community members bought shares of the Saha Union so that they could get notifications of the shareholders’ meetings. These meetings are used by Jintana and the community to speak out against the power plant project. Last year after many years of protests the Thai Government officially shelved construction of the power plant. However, the community stays vigilant as the company may resume operations anytime. The signs on buildings in the village with the company and project name which they used as offices are still there as a constant reminder of the threat to livelihoods of this fragile community.