Around 3,000 indigenous Aeta residents from five barangays marched in Capas, Tarlac on July 14 to condemn the land grabbing of their ancestral domain and ongoing harassment by the Philippine Air Force (PAF). They marched from Barangay O’Donnell to a checkpoint at the entrance of the Colonel Ernesto Ravina Air Base (CERAB), a military reservation in Barangay Santa Juliana. They mounted the protest to coincide with the PAF’s commemoration of its 79th anniversary.

The communities have been barred by the 790th Air Base Group of the Philippine Air Force Air Installation and Base Development Command (AIBDC) from building and repairing their homes. Their water and electricity supplies have been restricted, and the entry of relief goods and assistance from organizations, churches, and other private individuals, as well as materials for burying their dead, has been blocked.

These policies imposed by the 790th Air Base Group are connected to the planned Joint Training Complex at the Crow Valley Military Complex and CERAB for military facilities and as a launching pad for war games, such as the annual US Balikatan war games. Under the plan, residents living within the total 18,000-hectare land of the military complex in barangays Sta. Juliana, O’Donnell (Patling), and Santa Lucia will all be displaced. The air base group is led by Lieutenant Colonel Owen M. Avenido.

The indigenous peoples are calling for an end to the conversion of farms and other productive lands for the expansion of the military reservation. During the protest, they carried placards with demands such as “We were already a barangay before RA 7227 and PP 163,” “Please do not ban farm tractors from entering,” and “Do not build infrastructure projects in stolen lands.”

Republic Act No. 7227, also known as the Bases Conversion and Development Act of 1992, established the Bases Conversion and Development Authority, which was tasked with converting and selling former US military bases in the country. In connection with the law, Presidential Proclamation No. 163 was issued, establishing the Clark Special Economic Zone. Its implementation covered ancestral lands in Tarlac.

According to the indigenous residents, the forced projects are being implemented without meaningful consultation and without obtaining their free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) as mandated by state law. They said they and their ancestors were already there long before the government’s laws and proclamations that are now displacing them. In fact, their ancestors were already in Capas when the Spanish colonizers arrived in the Philippines.

Aside from the expansion of the military reservation, the indigenous peoples and farmers have long been victims of eviction, demolition, crop destruction, and economic blockades led by the BCDA for the New Clark City project within the municipalities of Capas and Bamban. The BCDA continues to construct roads that destroy farms, ancestral lands, and the environment.

The Aetas anticipate their displacement to worsen with the expansion of the New Clark City to pave the way for the US economic security zone for hosting an “artificial intelligence hub,” data centers, and other infrastructure linked to the Pax Silica initiative. Aside from mining critical minerals and rare earth metals for semiconductors, the data hubs will require large volumes of “ultrapure water” and an electricity supply of at least 5 gigawatts for the entire security zone.

On July 14, the US Embassy in the Philippines announced the visit of US Ambassador Lee Lipton to the construction site of the said projects in the economic security zone. This zone is adjacent to the Joint Training Complex and is part of military and economic hubs such as the Subic Ammunition Factory and Agila Shipyard, Basa Airbase, Fort Magsaysay Military Reservation, and the APECO Defense Hub.

The Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan)-Central Luzon expressed strong solidarity with the Aetas and residents of Tarlac. “Recognize the rights of farmers to their land, of indigenous peoples to their ancestral domain and to self-determination, and of residents to their right to housing,” the group said.

It also urged the people in Central Luzon to unite with the Aetas in resisting projects that serve foreign profit, war, and control. It added that the public must unite to condemn the use of Central Luzon and the entire Philippines as a forward operating base for US imperialism, which brings danger to the country.