by Gerry Lee Gorit
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – A police official and some residents were injured in a demolition that took place Tuesday in sitio Palalan, Lumbia, this city.
This’ after residents resisted a demolition undertaken by members of the city’s SWAT team who were ordered to demolish more than 300 houses in sitio Palalan, in Barangay Lumbia.
The city’s elite police officers were following a writ of demolition against a neighborhood organization. The court order reportedly came from the Regional Trial Court Branch 5.
A police official was hit and was immediately brought to the nearest hospital for treatment. Some of the residents who only watched the ongoing tension were also hurt by rampaging stones coming from the people who resisted the police plan to demolish their houses.
Nena (not her real name) told the media that the land they were occupying had been occupied decades ago by their great great grandfathers and no one showed up to tell he owned the land.
“When my great, great grandfather lived here he told us that there were only three families that carried the name of Bacarro, Caballero and another one that I cannot recall anymore,” Nena said.
She said she was surprised that only now this supposed owner, who did not even show up in Palalan, tried to get them the land they have lived in for many decades.
The barangay council of Lumbia came to the demolition site and appealed to police authorities to stop the growing tension as it may erupt into a bloody demolition as residents continue to block the highway enroute to their houses.
Councilman Pepe Laride said the council would try to talk to the residents in a most humanly possible negotiation.
Laride said the residents have fought for their houses as the national government has said in law that there would be no demolition if there is no relocation for the affected residents.
