02/08/2024
ππ πππππ πππππ πππππππ'π βπππππ ππππβ, πππππππππππ ππππ ππ ππππππ
ππππ ππ πππ πππππ ππ
πππππππππ πππππ
ππ π π·πππππππ ππ π¨ππππ ππ π π©ππππππππ πͺπππππππππ
BAYAN Negros
July 17, 2024
πβπ ππππππ‘ πππ πππππππππ‘ ππ πππππππ πΆππ’ππ‘ππ¦ π‘πππππ‘π ππ ππ’π π‘ πππ ππ π‘βπ ππππ¦ πππ£ππ ππ¦ πΆππ‘π¦ πππ¦ππ π΄ππππ π‘π ππ’πππ ππ ππππ’π πππ ππ πππππ’π ππ£π πππ£ππππππππ‘ π‘βπππ’πβ π‘ππππ πππππππ π΅ππππππ πππ‘π π π π-ππππππ βππ’πππ πΆππ‘π¦β β πππ ππ‘ π‘βπ ππ₯ππππ π ππ π‘βπ πππππ πππ π ππ .
BAYAN Negros is in solidarity with the more than 24 tenants of Manokan Country, home to the renowned Bacolod chicken inasal, who have been displaced to make room for SM Prime Holdings Inc.'s corporate expansion into this renowned cultural heritage, facilitated by the bureaucrat capitalist and Bacolod City Mayor Albee Benitez.
For 41 years, Manokan Country on Father Mauricio Ferero Street has been a beloved destination for both tourists and food enthusiasts alike. It stands as a cultural cornerstone in Bacolod, even before SM Bacolod mall was built on reclaimed land. Now, the predatory SM Prime Holdings Inc.threaten to absorb these small entrepreneurs into its mega-mall complex in the guise of βrenovationβ and development. This would inevitably lead to exorbitant rents for tenants and higher prices for consumers.
Some tenants refuse to vacate their spots, asserting that the deal between the local government unit and SM Prime Holdings is illegal and must be nullified. The tenantsβ lawyers point to City Ordinance 16, Series of 1983, which originally established Manokan Country and mandates that any alterations or agreements involving a private entity must be approved by both the Mayor and the Sangguniang Panglungsod. They claim no genuine consultation with the stakeholders have been held and accuse the City Mayor of unfairly fast-tracking a deal in favor of SM.
The displacement of Manokan Country tenants is just a prelude to many more projects under Benitezβ oversight that would sacrifice the broad masses of Bacolod into the altar of corporate greed.
Since taking office, Benitez has aggressively courted both local and foreign investors to transform Bacolod into a so-called "Super City." However, this vision of inclusive growth masks a reality where the city becomes increasingly subservient to capitalist whims and big business agendas.
Thousands of fisherfolks and urban poor will also be displaced from the shorelines of Brgy Banago to pave way for the more than a thousand-hectare reclamation projects proposed by local and foreign compradors. More than 3 hectares of land in front of the property of Councilor Vladimir Gonzales has already been reclaimed and its operations have temporarily stopped due to the widespread indignation from progressive groups. Through a Sangguniang Panglungsod resolution hastily passed, Mayor Albee Benitez himself has been authorized to directly apply a whooping 621-hectare reclamation project to the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA).
Thousands of jeepney drivers in Bacolod have also denounced the Local Public Transport Route Plan (LPTRP) that would effectively kill their livelihoods, to pave way for modern jeeps and Benitezβs favored e-jeeps. They claim that Albeeβs sloganeering of βgreen routesβ and modernizing of the transport system is merely a way to encourage foreign entities to bombard us with imported and second-rate vehicles.
Even basic social services, such as electricity (Razon-owned More Power) and water (Villarβs PrimeWater), are being turned over to corporate hands resulting in price hikes in monthly bills. The promise of better and efficient services at the hands of private entities are proven sham as consumers continue to bear the brunt of persistent black outs and coffee-colored water.
For his Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino (4PH) program, Marcos Jr chose Bacolod City for a premiere test run, locally adopted by Benitez through its Asenso Yuhum Housing Program. The urban poor slam such a move as not genuinely heeding their calls for affordable housing. Initial reports claim that the narrow units cost Php2,500 a month, a hefty prices for the urban poor and homeless who barely have enough money to eat every day. Moreover, the housing unit is only available through a PAG-IBIG loan and built through private firms WRS Holdings Inc. and Scheirman Construction Consolidated Inc.
Small farmers and farm workers are also threatened by various land-use conversion proposals of the local government to pave the way for more malls and corporate establishments. In Hacienda Conchita in Brgy. Granada, more than 88 hectares of agricultural land will be surrendered to capitalists and converted for commercial use, affecting more than 102 households and their livelihood.
Mayor Albee Benitez is truly a textbook bureaucrat capitalist: using his seat of power to effectively facilitate the incursion of local and foreign capital into our land. It is no surprise that Benitez was one of the mayors who were pushing for the fast passage of the Negros Island Region (NIR) law, a move that will further make it easier for them to consolidate power over the vast resources of the province.
To protect their interests, the bureaucrat capitalist will use the police and military to threaten the growing unrest of the people. Case in point is the massive deployment of more than 299 police forces in Western Visayas, including four barangays in Bacolod, through the Revitalized Pulis sa Barangay (R-PSB) Program and Retooled Community Support Program (RCSP). Residents of Brgy Banago, where the resistance against reclamation is strong, have already reported increased presence of uniformed and non-uniformed police presence in their communities.
Coming from a family of Marcos cronies, Benitez has truly imbibed the Marcosian obsession with appearances: building infrastructures and investing on βarts and cultureβ to hide the true face of the struggling masses in Bacolod. His βSuper Cityβ propaganda can only do so much and he cannot hide the worsening economic and political crisis being dealt with by ordinary folks.
We call on the broad Negrosanon people to denounce and expose Mayor Albee Benitezβs schemes to further dig us into a neoliberal hellhole. We stand with the tenants of Manokan Country and all those facing displacement, echoing their call for justice and genuine consultation.
Together, we must resist the corporate greed and neoliberal policies that Mayor Albee Benitez represents. The struggle for a Bacolod that prioritizes its people over profit continues, and it is through solidarity and collective action that we can reclaim our city from the clutches of corporate greed and exploitation.
# #
