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Just a little over an hour's drive away from Manila, a big real estate development company owned by Congressman Manuel Villar, the former Speaker of the House of Representatives now currently seeking election as Senator, is laying the groundwork for their newest housing project. With hundreds of millions of pesos invested, the Palmera Housing Corporation has left no stone unturned to ensure the success of their newest endeavor.

At the cross-hairs of this development is the Aeta community of Karahumi. Nearly completely forgotten and receiving barely any assistance from both Government and civil society, the Aeta community have survived by shifting away from foraging and hunting to settle on small vegetable farms in what remained of their lands. This is not the first time they were driven off from their lands as a couple of years back, lowland stone-quarry operators took a fancy on the area and set up their machinery to start their operations. It wasn't long when the sand and gravel had run out and the quarry businesses started to fold.
After re-establishing their communities, a new threat emerged. The housing project proved more daunting and difficult as it had the backing of powers that be and the moneyed elite. Armed guards were deployed and houses were demolished with standing orders to the people to stay out and never return.

However, this did not deter the will of the people. They initiated negotiations and dialogue with management on numerous occasions only to be rebuffed. When they insisted in cultivating their crops and tending their domestic animals, they were prevented from doing so through the barrel of a gun. Eventually violence erupted resulting in the mysterious death of a community leader.

With the assistance from PAFID, evidences of ancestral land ownership were gathered and, notwithstanding the risk in security, an on-ground survey was conducted to identify the boundaries of the traditional lands of the Aeta community. By the last quarter of the year 2000, all the necessary requirements for filing a claim had been completed and was formally submitted to the Government for action.