| Right now, a large number of Villagers from Trio in the Toledo District are in distress. They risk losing their homes and their farms because the current owner of the land they've been squatting on has showed up demanding that they move or pay for it.
We understand that it is large tracts of farm land, which used to belong to the Thurton Estate, but has been acquired by a Chinese businessman.
The villagers have been staying there for over 20 years - some of them claim that they've been there for 25 to 30 years. They've cultivated the land and built their homes on it. These same residents say that successive Governments have promised to regularize the situation on by acquiring they land on which they are squatting, and giving them access to titles for it. But, that never came, and the Chinese businessman has now showed up, and we're told he's telling them that they either need to pay him 20 thousand dollars in compensation, or else, they have to move.
Our colleagues from PG TV spoke with a few of the residents earlier this week during a meeting they held to discuss how they will address this problem. Here's what these residents had to say:
Maribel Garcia, Concerned Villager
"I have 25 years living here in Trio Village. My mother is one of the affected persons from the Chinese man."
Reporter
"Why is everybody here today?"
Maribel Garcia, Concerned Villager
"Well, we are meeting here to see if we can have a reason to solve this issue that we have with the Chinese man on the land that the people are working on."
Reporter
"We understand that the Chinese man just showed up in the village and say the land belongs to him."
Maribel Garcia, Concerned Villager
"Yeah, that's true without showing no paper, no documents, so that people can see."
We spoke to their Area Representative, Mike Espat, this evening, and he asserts that the Land Department has known about this issue for a long time now, and he says that his hands are tied in trying to assist them. He said that the only fix he can foresee for this problem is that if the Government acquires the land and pays the business man for his property.
We tried to reach officials at the Lands Department for comment, but we were unsuccessful, we'll try again tomorrow.
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