APECO is Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport Act of 2010 or Republic Act

10083. It is a program that aims to transform Casiguran town as well as the whole Aurora to as
an investment haven, site of commercial and industrial districts and eco-tourism zones. The
APECO is being supervised and managed by the Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport
Authority into a self-sustaining industrial, commercial, financial, and recreational center, with a
suitable residential area, in order to create employment opportunities around Casiguran, and to
effectively encourage and attract legitimate and productive local and foreign investments.
APECO will cover 12,923 hectares of lands in Casiguran, Aurora. The development project
promises to boost tourism, employment rate and the economy of the municipality as well as its
neighboring areas. However, after about seven years, there are still no observable operations
happening in the area; given the fact that the government has already allocated more than P2
billion of the precious taxpayers’ money to APECO.
The Angaras, who politically dominates the Aurora are responsible for this law.
According to head of APECO, this law aims mainly to provide jobs for the Casiguran tribe and
other affected people and to make the province a progressed one. But the APECO program did
not prosper as they have planned, because the program was tainted with anomalies and
oppression to the indigenous people which was being prejudiced by the said program.
The Casiguran tribe who at large composes the Casiguran Island, an affected area of
the program, mentioned the incapacity of the Lawmakers to inform them regarding the law that
they will be affected, the area they’re living on and the job they have. Not until, the law had been
passed and the moment it had been implemented. The Casiguran tribe live as peaceful and
normal as they could, they have even mentioned that “Dito may kalayaan kami” but because of
the factor that this program ruined their life they made actions regarding the issue to stop
APECO.
The APECO Law was written for the progress or for the advancement of the life of the
indigents living in territory that was being subjected by the law for the program. But, is the said
progress that the law pointing out is the same progress that the indigents wanted?
The APECO aims mainly to provide jobs for the Casiguran tribe and other affected
people and to make the province a progressed one. But are those jobs suitable for those
tribesmen? Not all of the tribes men are educated and skilful enough to carry on modern jobs.
The congress, before making such law should have thought of the consequences of the said
law, ethnic tribes are struggling to chase modernization as they also want progress but not the
progress that will ruin their home and jobs and also their source of food. The aim of this
program. That is to provide job for the Casigurans for me is absurd, a video that I watched
features a tribesman saying he only attained until grade 3, now, how can they expect a
Casiguran to work on their provided jobs when they are uneducated.
If APECO is truly for the benefit of that region, why are the indigenous farmers and
fisherfolk there so bitterly against it, to the point of repeatedly marching in scorching heat for
weeks.
Because the law did not respect their rights as an indigenous people, their rights over
their ancestral domain. Because of the APECO program their lands where cemented, in the said
video, a swamp full of mangroves was now an airport runway. Mangroves are very important to
the tribes, because it is where fishes lay their eggs, fishes is one of the staple food of the tribe.
Rice fields was also cemented to be used as a cottage field, now because of this program
Casiguran farmers have less property to plant rice. For short the APECO deprived the
Casiguran people their lands, but not only their land but their sources of food and possibly the
land where their houses should have been built. APECO is not for the benefit of the people of
the said region specially to the Casiguran tribe.
In the video, the people of Casiguran marched, where it took 17 days from Casiguran to
Manila just to talk to President Aquino. According to Aquino he is not responsible for the law
itself but as the President he should implement the law. The Casiguran tribe fought and voiced
out everything they experienced. In the end, just a review about the law had been attained. I
was appalled on what the president said to the people, yes his job was to implement the law,
but he can ask the congress to amend the said law if it brings prejudice or harm to the people.
The president must exercise its power vested to him, not just to execute the laws, but to
scrutinize if the law is not just for the benefit of the many, but also for the benefit of the weak
and the powerless.
In the video,during the meeting of the representatives of the Indigenous Cultural
Communities/Indigenous Peoples and the Creator of the APECO, then Rep. Juan Edgardo
Angara admitted and I quote “We admit na nagkulang talaga kami sa widespread
consultation,dahil sa pressure rin po yan sa pagsasabatas ng APECO Law, ang nangyayari po
diyan ay naghe-hearing at mabilisan po yan, talagang iniis-schedule, so ang ikini-consult po
naming ay yung barangays, barangay leaders, mayor, sanguniang bayan at saka sanguniang
panlalawigan ho. So maaring, aminado naman kami na nagkulang kami sa pagkonsulta sa ibat
ibang sector…”
The said statement of the then Rep. Angara shows the absence of Free and Prior
Informed Consent of all members of the Indigenous Cultural Communities or Indigenous
People. The enactment of APECO without the consent of the Indegenous People deprives them
of due process which is a guarantee upheld and protected no less than the Supreme Law of the
land, the Constitution.
According to jurisprudence, it favoured the indispensability of due process and public
consultation to the affected person and communities prior the enactment of any laws. Therefore,
the failure of the Angaras and the legislation in conducting public consultation, providing the
right to due process, and attain a Free and Prior Informed Consent from the Indigenous Cultural
Communities/Indigenous Peoples inviolate of the Constitutional guarantees.
Furthermore, the project violates many other existing laws. For one, APECO violates the
Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reforms law (RA 9700), as the
infrastructural and industrial developments it is expected to put in place will destroy around 300
hectares of agricultural land that serve as a food source for the locals of Aurora. APECO also
failed to follow the Fisheries Code (RA 8550), displacing fisher folk without securing their
relocation and support. Additionally, APECO intrudes into the ancestral lands of the Agta
Dumagat without their free, prior and informed consent, in violation of the Indigenous Peoples
"Rights Act (RA 8371)
 According to former president Ramon Magsaysay “He who has less in life should have
more in law.”
Laws must be enacted to protect the rights of our Indigenous Communities or
Indigenous Peoples who are often in the disadvantage due to lack of knowledge in our political,
civil, and judicial system. These people are often lack the faculties to fight for their rights. It
should be the task of the Government to protect these rights, such rights which are older than
our government and our modern civilization. It is the duty of each and every one of us to look
back into our history, our history prior the arrival of the colonizers on our land.
According to the late Senator Flavier, “The IPs are the offsprings and heirs of the
peoples who have first inhabited and cared for the land long before any central government was
established. Their ancestors had territories over which they ruled themselves and related with
other tribes. These territories- the land- include people, their dwelling, the mountains, the water,
the air, plants, forest and the animals. This is their environment in its totality. Their existence as
indigenous peoples is manifested in their own lives through political, economic, socio-cultural
and spiritual practices. The IPs culture is the living and irrefutable proof to this. Their survival
depends on securing or acquiring land rights; asserting their rights to it; and depending on it.
Otherwise, IPs shall cease to exist as distinct peoples.”
The congress or the legislation, instead of making laws which may prejudice the lives of
the indigenous people, must observe their true agenda or mission, which is to be the
representative of the people in the legislature. They must ensure the voice of the people are
being heard or must be considered first before enacting any law. They must embody the true
intention of the Constitution as their purpose, and that is to be the true representative of the
people.