Properties Claims

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.