Fisherfolk-leader and Koalisyong Makabayan senatorial candidate Ronnel Arambulo condemned the demolition against the fishing community in Sityo Kimil Ilog, Orion, Bataan on September 25. This is the third time the local government of Orion has implemented the eviction of the residents.

At least 26 fisherfolk families have been evicted from Sityo Kimil Ilog since August 12. The Manila Bay-facing community is still recovering from the effects of the oil spill and successive typhoons and rains caused by the southwest monsoon.

“Worse than disregarding the fisherfolk’s plight, the Orion Town Leader Mayor Antonio Raymundo and the fascist police even colluded to disposses the fisherfolk of their livelihood and homes,” Arambulo said. These issues are not new to Arambulo as he has long been a fisherman in Laguna de Bay.

The local government carried out the demolition under the guise of implementing the Supreme Court Mandamus on the cleaning of Manila Bay. The residents do not believe in this reason because they know that they are being evicted for the planned business to be built in the area.

The fisherfolk-leader condemned the local government for misusing the order. He said, at the heart of cleaning Manila Bay should be the rehabilitation of fishing resources for the benefit of fisherfolk and not a few nor the businesses. “Our houses and especially the fisherfolk are not trash for them to clean them and sweep away,” the fisherfolk-leader added.

In 2023, Erigon Marketing and Development Corp sent the Sitio Kimil Ilog residents a letter evicting them to make way for its business in the community. The eviction and demolition of the community began on July 7, 2023. Some residents were forced to agree and evacuate while others stood up for the right to housing.

Residents said that the “cleaning up of Manila Bay” is clearly just a pretext to evict them especially as corporations continue to operate along the Bataan coastline. There are still widespread reports of reclamation, quarrying and disposal of polluted and contaminated water into the sea.

Arambulo supported the residents. “The glaring fact is that the worst destruction of the fishery takes place through continuous reclamation, quarrying along the coasts of Bataan,” he said.

Amid the demolition and attack against the fisherfolk’s livelihood, there is no other answer but firm unity and reliance on their fellow oppressed and exploited.

These issues are among those that Arambulo will highlight as a Koalisyong Makabayan senatorial candidate in the 2025 election. He will also oppose reclamation, campaign against Chinese bullying and for asserting the rights of fisherfolk in traditional and territorial fisheries, and other issue of the fisherfolk in the election theatre.