MAGALANG, Pampanga—This first-class municipality, which is the sweet tamarind capital of the Philippines, may no longer realize its expansion program, as 50 hectares intended for tamarind farmland has been invaded by other people for their personal use.
Mayor Malou P. Lacson complained that since 2005, local politicians, rich families and squatters have occupying the land instead of being used for the sweet tamarind and tourism project for the sustainable livelihood of the people.
Lacson said the current occupants have constructed concrete houses, rest houses, gardens, and other establishments for their own recreation.
During a media forum here, Lacson said the squatters “constructed their establishments without holding any title to show they own the land, but only dubious rights.”
About 20 hectares has already been occupied by these people, and they are planning to occupy more, ignoring her warning to vacate the land immediately, the mayor said.
The land in question is in barangay Ayala, one of 27 barangays of this municipality with a total population of 113,147 based on the 2015 census.
The land was donated by the Ayala family to the municipality sometime in the early 1920s, but it was used by the Mt. Pinatubo Commission as a relocation site for the people displaced by the eruption of the volcano in 1991.
However, when the commission bowed out in December 22, 2000, the land was returned to the municipality. That is also when the politicians and land grabbers started converting the land for their own use, Lacson claimed.
According to the first woman mayor of Magalang, the plan of the municipal government is to use the land for modern farming for its sweet tamarind expansion program, in cooperation with the Sweet Tamarind Center of the Pampanga State Agriculture University, which pioneered the program for the local and export market.
The sweet tamarind represents the “One Town, One Product” project of the local government for the provincial and national category.
“This is also one way to give the people sustainable income through farming the land with tamarind because it is profitable,” Lacson said.
According to the center, one sweet tamarind tree planted on the Ayala land yields P1,250 per year with a modest cost of only P250. Planting 100 trees in a hectare can yield P100,000 annually, it added.
Lacson said the food importers from Europe and around Asia Pacific are very interested to the sweet tamarind of Magalang because of its quality and affordable price.