Robredo aired this during his presidential campain in the province on Thursday, March 24, 2022, where she also expressed her support to what the government described as smart and green city.
“Dito po sa Tarlac, ano po ‘yung ating pangarap at pinapangako sa inyo? Unang una po ‘yung 100 percent na support natin sa New Clark City, na kabahagi diyan ‘yung Capas saka Bamban para po ito, maglilikha ng maraming trabaho para dito sa inyo,” the vice president said.
She also underscored the need for a modernized agriculture to help in the province’s transformation efforts.
“Ang suporta sa pag-modernize ng agriculture saka iba pang bagay, dahil ito, makakatulong sa lalong pag-transform ng inyong probinsya,” Robredo said.
The groups Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) and the National Network of Agrarian Reform Advocates (NNARA)-Youth urged Robredo to reconsider her support for New Clark City.
The group said the 9,450-hectare development project located in Capas, Tarlac encroaches on the ancestral lands of Aetas.
They said this will result in the “forcible displacement” of the indigenous people.
“We express our dismay over VP Robredo’s support for New Clark City. A ‘Gobyernong Tapat [kung saan] Angat Buhay Lahat’ should not leave our indigenous peoples and landless farmers behind,” Melo Cabello, NNARA-Youth national spokesperson, said.
NNARA-Youth said the project threatens to displace at least 65,000 people from 12 villages, including some 18,000 indigenous people who belong to the Aeta tribe.
For his part, KMP leader and Anakpawis chairperson Rafael Mariano said “an ‘inclusive and green city’ that tramples on human rights of indigenous peoples is contradictory to the call for ‘Makabayang Pagbabago’ within the framework of Robredo’s electoral platform — which prioritizes the rights and demands of the oppressed and marginalized.”
NNARA-Youth asked Robredo to withdraw her support for New Clark City. “We challenge VP Robredo to prove that her agenda of ‘Angat Buhay Lahat’ includes indigenous peoples by withdrawing her support for New Clark City.”
“We believe that it is well within her conscience and electoral platform to ensure that Aetas, our first people, would not be considered squatters in their own land,” they added.
Robredo’s candidacy is a glimpse of hope and light amid darkness, according to Cabello.
“We ask that she maintain that light lit for indigenous peoples, including the Aetas who went down from their ancestral land to support and warmly welcome VP Robredo in Tarlac, the home of our first people,” Cabello said.