KABATAAN Party-list Rep. Sarah Elago has asked the House committee on human rights to investigate the alleged violent dispersal of residents during a demolition in a barangay in San Jose, Occidental Mindoro.
In a resolution submitted before the committee on Tuesday, December 19, Elago informed the committee that on November 29, 18 houses in barangay Mabini, San Jose were demolished before the residents could petition the court for a temporary restraining order halting the Supreme Court's decision to demolish their homes.
The affected structures stood on a 21-hectare agricultural land owned by Pio de Roda.
Mikhal Lagra, 19, was arrested after the demolition. He had shown to authorities the draft TRO from the court.
Elago pointed out that President Rodrigo Duterte promised before he assumed his post that there shall be no demolition if there is no viable site for relocation.
In this case, the residents of barangay Mabini have yet to receive word from the government on where they will be relocated, Elago added.
A separate resolution has been filed to investigate the supposed illegal arrest of Lagra.
Lagra is facing a case of direct assault for allegedly punching the sheriff in the face. Elago said this was a trumped up charge.
While in prison, Lagra was allegedly approached by an unidentified man and told to be careful in joining protest actions.
"The surveillance of Lagra is similar to the attacks against activists and all dissenters in different regions," Elago's resolution reads.
"The pattern is all too similar to be ignored--the intensified surveillance of activists and dissenters and intimidation through anonymously sent text messages and monitoring of their whereabouts by suspected state agents," it added. (VoxPop Philippines)
