Ha Tinh
My Loc Parish
During November 2011, the parishioners of My Loc
Parish, Binh Loc Commune, Loc Ha District, Ha Tinh Province, were targeted with
harsh police repression as a result of land dispute. District civil guards were
deployed throughout 13 communes to execute the land eviction. In My Loc, the
authorities had their men with field tractors, shovels, and hoes to clear the
land, using as a pretext to set up irrigation works. Bad elements including drug
addicts were used to intimidate the parishioners, stealing and destroying their
crops. The security police chief of the commune Phan Khac Cu even seemed to ignore
the complaints the parishioners reflected to him.
On October 15, authorities extended groundwork as
far as the premises of the parish. Unable to resist their anger, the parishioners
rushed in a gathering, blocking them from proceeding with their work. Parishioners
threw mud into the work team and the chairman of the commune people’s council.
The work team had to withdraw. On October 17, the authorities and their work
team came back. The parishioners resisted with resilience. Their crops were about
to be gathered. The authorities and their work team, again, had to withdraw.
The dispute over land at My Loc Parish persisted without solution like in
parishes elsewhere in the country, An Bang, Thai Ha, and Dong Chiem where the
problem in question remained unsettled.
Unrest
The Fish-Kill Incident
In early April 2016, tons of
dead fish washed ashore along the seacoast provinces of Ha Tinh, Qung Binh, Quang
Tri, and Thua Thieh – Hue. The dead fish included species living far-offshore in
deep water. The authorities conducted investigation, focusing on a mile-long
waste pipeline running from the steel plant in Vung Ang industrial zone, Ha
Tinh Province operated by Taiwanese Formosa. For many days, the cause had not
been found. Local leaders told people to avoid eating fish. Fishermen didn’t go
fishing. Dissent over the mass fish
deaths caused by the plant sparked as the mass and protests were fueled as Chou
Fan, Formosa external manager, said local communities needed to consider where
true interest lie, to catch fish and shrimp or build a steel mill. Vietnam
reportedly earned 5 billion from steel exports. Formosa nevertheless attempted
to distance itself from Chou’s statements, saying that the latter official interview
with the press was unauthorized and thus did not reflect the company’s views.
It further affirmed that wastewater generated from the factory “is processed
properly,” and hoped that it would find the answer.
During a press briefing over mass fish deaths in the
coastal provinces in Central Vietnam on April 27, 2016, Deputy Minister of
Natural Resources and Environment Vo Tuan Nhan failed to show evidence that
links with the mass fish deaths. This
state high official said that this catastrophe “results from either the effects
of a chemical toxin generated by people on land or sea and an unusual
environmental phenomenon identified as red tide.” National Resources and
Environment Minister Tran Hong Ha, on April 28, told reporters that although ministries
and science agencies had made efforts to deal with the disaster, they were still
confused. The minister apologized for slow response to this mass fish kill and
took responsibility for the issue. In a way, the minister’s assertion seemed to
nullify the assertions according to which some form of red tide had caused the
disaster. The theory could be ruled out. Professor Le Huy Ba, former director
of the Institute for Environment, Science, Technology, and Management at the
Institute in Ho Chi Minh City asserted that “red tide normally happens at the
end of summer. There was no change in the sea color, a sign of red tile. The
toxins are chemicals or metals including chromium, nickel, mercury, or copper.
They must come from industry waste.” Meanwhile hundreds of people in Quang Binh
Province exposed dead fish on National Highway 1 and blocked the traffic to
protest Formosa.
Protesters in major cities, Hanoi, Saigon, Da Nang,
and Vung Tau, protested against Formosa
and the ways the administration handled the disaster, but all gatherings were
broken up by police. On May 1, two acivists, Truong Minh Tam and Chu Pham Ngoc
Son were arrested after their on-the-spot inquiry into the mass fish
deaths. Following the order of Prime
Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, authorities investigated into the situation while
taking measures to secure public order and political security. The
administration appeared to adopt firm stance on any incitement as regards the
fish deaths issue. There still remain contradictions on the cause of fish
deaths. Formosa maintained that there was no link between the fish deaths and
the steel mill, regardless of the existence of mile-long waste pipe running
from Formosa’s facility. National Resources and Environment Minister Tran Hong
Ha declared the pipe illegal and ordered Formosa to dig it up. The Prime
Minister deliberately asserted the government would examine all facilities,
including Formosa.
As late as May, the administration had not released
the information on the cause of massive fish kill, raising the question of
whether the government had cozy relationship with Formosa. Gatherings for
protests continued to grow. Authorities tightened security in Hanoi and Saigon.
On Julep 5, police broke a protest against government sluggish response to mass
fish kill by young people in Hanoi. In Saigon, a group of a hundred people
gathered but were stopped at the first attempt of rally. Meanwhile, residents
in the areas affected by fish deaths voiced increasing frustration about job
losses and lack of income for “having no sea to live on.” The administration
planned to provide each family affected by the disaster with 49 pounds of rice
per month.
On June, 30, in a video clip projected during a
press conference in Hanoi, Chen Yuan Cheng, chairman of Ha Tinh Formosa, apologized
for the toxic chemicals discharged from the steel plant in Vung Angt that caused
fish deaths. Mai Tien Dung, Head of the Government Office, told the news
conference that Formosa would pay $500 million to compensate the affected
people, clean up the environment, and help fishermen to find new jobs. On July
4, Vice-minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Vo Minh Tah declared that
the ministry would cooperate with the Labor, Invalids, and bad Social Works
Ministry on vocational programs to help fishermen to transfer to other jobs.
The plan would also entail loans for them to find work abroad.
In agony, local fishermen voiced anguish, complaining
that it was difficult for them to change job. They couldn’t work in the forest;
neither could they do farming. The best way for the administration is to clean
up the sea so that fishermen can do their jobs. Observer’s ne maintained that the
sum of compensation that Formosa offered was not sufficient enough to
compensate for the losses millions of people who live along the coast suffer.
It is just a small part at the beginning. There should be a legal action to
assess all damages. Civil society groups maintained that Formosa and the
administration failed to address the question of how the disaster happened, and
whether State officials abetted Formosa’s skirting of environmental rules and
standards. Some even contended that the 500 million compensation package was
too little; others feared that it would be pocketed by corrupt officials. They
quickly accepted Formosa the 500 million packages without deeper investigation.
In an assigned statement, more than twenty civil society groups, political
activists, and religious organizations criticized the administration’s handling
of the crisis, accusing it of lenient with Formosa and demanded that State
officials be held accountable for their bungled response to a solution to the
crisis.
Fishermen in Quang Binh were upset. They had not
been able to go to sea since the mass fish deaths in April. Additionally, a lot
of fish in river farms suddenly died. Hundreds of fish farms were losing their
fish. They had no other means to survive in the coming days. On July 7, thousands
of Catholic parishioners in the town of Ba Don, Quang Binh Province, rallied in
a protest to demand the administration
and Formosa to help fishermen who faced hardship caused by mass fish deaths.
Police instantly repressed the rally, injuring two protesters and detaining
one. Repression increased, and the authorities came up with no practical
solution whatsoever. Formosa accepted responsibility for a chemical spill that
caused mass fish deaths but the question on how to clean up the pollution that
devastated the sea remained unanswered. Vo Kim Cu, who played key role in
approval of the operation of Formosa in Ha Tinh blamed the company over its
observance of the law and environmental protection standards. His approval of
the Formosa project was in line with the regulations, and the violations were
totally the business of the plant. In June, Formosa acknowledged it was
responsible for the pollution that killed an estimated 115 tons of fish and
pledged to pay $500 million to clean it up and compensate those affected by it.
The government said in a report to the National Assembly that the disaster had
harmed the livelihoods of more than 200,000 people, including 41,000 fishermen.
No practical measures had been exercised, however
Having had heard no words from the administration, on
August 15, 4,000 Catholic parishioners in Ky Anh Ha Tinh Province, marched
towards Ky Anh township offices to protest against the administration’ s
inaction as regards the mass fish deaths and negligence over the hardship and
the loss of live hood they were facing,
Most Ky Anh’s residents are fishermen. Following the mass fish deaths,
they survived on support of the Church and donors. For four months, they only
received each 15 kgs of rice per month.
Worse still, that rice was a kind of moth-eaten rice, and its quality
was so bad that they could not eat it. The protesters were blocked and
assaulted by more than 200 policemen who set up barricades and seized banners
and loudspeakers. One protester was seriously beaten, and many others were
injured. The protesters finally reached the township administration offices
which were nevertheless closed when they arrived. There was still no sign of support from the administration,
although the villagers had little means of subsistence the coming days.
On August 22,
National Resources and Environment Minister Tran Hong Ha declared that most
beaches along the coastal provinces of
Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri,
and Thua Thien - Hue affected by toxic spill in April from Formosa steel plant
were getting cleaner. To prove his views, the minister and other officials went
for a swim in the at Cua Viet seaport in Quang Tri Province. They said that the
waters in these provinces were safe for swimming. Fishermen showed distrust and
questioned the government findings. Fish were still dying. People in the
fisheries still could not resume their businesses. Activists did not believe
the authorities. Their swimming was just a show; they had done it before.
On September 1, thousands of parishioners from Quy
Hoa of the diocese of Vinh took to the street, protesting against the Formosa
for having caused pollution disaster along the central coast area in the
Center. To their distress, for four
months since the pollution, the authorities had come up with no solution.
Fishermen had no jobs, and life was becoming increasingly miserable for them.
Formosa had paid U.S. 5,000 dollars for compensation, but the authorities had
not paid them. Clashes erupted between the police and the parishioners at the
district’s offices. About a thousand from Phu Yen parish with banners marched
on the highway from their church to fishing wharves, demanding Formosa to
compensate for the losses they had suffered and clean up the pollution. The
protesters also demanded Formosa to leave Vietnam because the country doesn’t
need it. Plainclothes policemen reportedly stood by and made no interference. On
September 26, hundreds of fishermen from Phu Yen flooded the People’s Court in
Ha Tinh with lawsuits demanding Formosa to compensate losses caused by toxic
pollution it released, killing of thousands of tons of fish and leaving
hundreds of thousand people suffer hunger and economic difficulty. It was not
until the evening that 199 cases were received.’ and there were still 340 cases
to be processed. While the petitioners came forwards to file their suits,
others gathered around the court building, said prayers and sang songs
peacefully. The police made no motion but seemed ready to interfere with
force.
Protest became increasingly tense when, on October
2, thousands of demonstrators rallied in front of Formosa factory in Ha Tinh to
mount claims over the toxic pollution and mass fish kill it caused in April.
The protest particularly demanded government transparency as regards Formosa
compensation for the people and to stop releasing toxic waste into the local
Quyen River. The protesters wanted to talk directly to the company but no one
came out. Police lined up in front of the factory, stood by, and made no
intervention. On October 18, thousands of parishioners in the province of Nghe
An attempted to file new lawsuits. They were blocked while they were on the way
to the court in Ky Anh District. Some were harassed and taken away. The
situation grew tense after that. Security police warned with threats against car
drivers who would bring the protesters to the court building. While local
authorities intended to stop mass fling lawsuits, parishioners came even in
larger groups. Unrest over Formosa compensation for the toxic spill from the steel
mill continued. On December I, about 2,000 fishermen from Quang Binh Province
rallied at Xuan Hoa Hamlet, protesting the government’s slow payout from the
$500 million U.S. dollars for compensation by Formosa.
During a meeting with fishermen of Ky Anh District,
Ha Tinh Province on December 7, in response
to the questions on the licensing process that allowed the plant to operate
and the compensation agreed to by the administration
and Formosa, Environmental and Resources Minister Tran Hong Ha assured the
fishermen that licensing granted to Formosa complied with the law and that anything
related to Formosa’s operations were under the Ministry’s watch including the
soil and sea environment and compensation. He promised that money would be
released later to cover vocational training and low-interest loans so that
fishermen could buy bigger boats to fish at sea. The Minister came up with no
practical solution, however.
On October 11, a thousand villagers from Thach Hao,
Ha Tinh Province, submitted a petition to the local People’s council complaining
that the amount of compensation given to them was not enough to cover losses they
had suffered. The petition came two days after 300 people from Thach Lac
Village, Thach Ha District gathered in front of the village’s People’s Council
demanding explanation for an act of violence by a security agent. Chaos reportedly
happened while the authorities and the villagers were in session to assess
losses and prepare procedure for issuing compensation payments. A group of
villagers rushed into the office and asked about their eligibility for
receiving compensation payments. Chaos was foreseen to spread in the days to
come.
