Because of its rather “hot” content, in just a short time, the clip of the chaos on the social networking site Facebook attracted a large number of views, and at the same time, received many comments defending the people of Poom Lau village and reacting harshly to the officers and employees of Co Ba Forestry.
Is this chaos real or not? On the afternoon of November 5, we contacted Mr. Sam Van Lan - Deputy Head of the Propaganda Department of the Quy Chau District Party Committee to verify. Mr. Sam Van Lan confirmed that on the morning of November 5, in Chau Binh commune, there was a chaos between the people of Poom Lau village and the officers and employees of Co Ba Forestry Farm. "I was on a business trip but I was aware of this content. The incident happened in the morning, immediately after that, the Party Committee and the authorities of Chau Binh commune were present in time to avoid any unfortunate problems. In the early afternoon, the Standing Committee of the District Party Committee returned to work, the people left the scene and returned home. Tomorrow morning, the Standing Committee of the District Party Committee will chair a dialogue between the parties to clarify the incident..." - Mr. Sam Van Lan said.
From the information of the Deputy Head of the Propaganda Department of the Quỳ Châu District Party Committee, we connected with the Chairman of the People's Committee of Châu Bình Commune, Mr. Lê Văn Toàn. Mr. Toan also confirmed that the disturbance that occurred on the morning of November 5 was in Châu Bình, between some people from Poom Lâu village and Cô Bá Forestry Farm, on Băng Mét Hill. Mr. Lê Văn Toàn added: “This afternoon, the Standing Committee of the District Party Committee worked with the commune and went to the scene. After hearing the explanation, the people returned home to participate in the dialogue organized by the district tomorrow. Up to this point, I know that the land where the disturbance occurred has a roadmap to be returned to the locality in 2023. In 2017, the District People's Committee and the Forestry Farm had a document reviewing this content. However, recently, after exploiting the acacia, the Forestry Farm organized burning, and intended to replant, so the people were upset." At the same time, he said: "This incident will be discussed more thoroughly if discussed directly."
On November 5, Co Ba Forest Enterprise also sent Report No. 366/BC-LT on "People of Poom Lau village - Chau Binh commune illegally encroaching on forest land managed by Co Ba Forest Enterprise" to the District People's Committee, Quy Chau District Police, and Chau Binh Commune People's Committee. Accordingly, at 7:30 a.m. on November 5, 2023, about 30 people of Poom Lau village gathered at the Ban Da tree intersection of Poom Lau village carrying hoes. After that, the people went to Bang Met area at plot 10, sub-area 193, which is a newly exploited forest planted in 2016 managed by Co Ba Forest Enterprise to dig holes with hoes. A short time later, about 30 more people brought acacia seedlings to dig holes and plant acacia trees. Therefore, the protection force of Co Ba Forestry has taken measures to repel and prevent according to the functions, duties and powers prescribed by law, not allowing people to commit illegal acts. However, the people did not listen and still deliberately encroached on the forest land managed by Co Ba Forestry.
“This is an act of illegal land grabbing by Co Ba Forestry Enterprise, organized by bad elements inciting and inciting the people. It has a negative impact, disrupting political security in the area, and causing bad public opinion in society. Therefore, Co Ba Forestry Enterprise respectfully requests the People's Committee of Quy Chau district, the police of Quy Chau district and relevant agencies to intervene to prevent and strictly handle the case according to the law" - Co Ba Forestry Enterprise requested in Report No. 366/BC-LT.
Poom Lau village is located next to National Highway 48, about 3km from Chau Binh commune center in the direction of Tan Lac town, Quy Chau district. The economic life of Poom Lau households is still very difficult. Of the 157 households in the whole village, there are about 60 Thai households, the rest are families of farm and forestry workers and their children. According to the head of the Women's Association of Poom Lau village, Ms. Lo Thi Xuan, Poom Lau has 50 poor households, and about 25 near-poor households.
Regarding the incident that occurred on the morning of November 5, Ms. Xuan admitted that she was slow to receive information, because "she was concentrating with the commune's committees to establish poor household records for the people." However, when the commune informed her, she, along with the Party Committee and the village executive committee, immediately went to the scene to persuade the people to return home. Ms. Xuan said: "That day, the villagers at the scene were mainly women. We propagated to them but they did not listen. They replied that until today they would not listen to anyone, they were determined to get the land. It was not until the afternoon, when the district's superiors came to explain, that the people listened and agreed to return...". Asked more about the land production documents of the people of Poom Lau village, she sighed: "The hardships of the villagers cannot be fully described. In the village, there are also households with one or two plots of land of 3,000 - 5,000m22Some households grow sugarcane and peanuts, and some have 1 hectare of forestry land growing acacia, but this number can only be counted on the fingers. There is not much housework, so people mainly work for hire. The reason is also due to lack of knowledge. In the past, everyone thought that a small piece of land to grow peanuts and sugarcane was enough. Now, thinking differently, the land is under the management of the forestry farm. We only hope that the forestry farm will return the land so that people have land to produce, and life will be less difficult...". Asked Ms. Xuan: What do the cadres and people of Poom Lau village want now? Ms. Lo Thi Xuan answered: "The people's earnest wish is to be cared for by their superiors so that they have land to produce. The cadres also hope so because they don't have land, and the cadres also have to eat...".
On November 15, we were taken by the Chairman of Chau Binh Commune People's Committee, Mr. Le Van Toan, to Bang Met area, where the incident occurred. This is a low hill area planted with acacia and mesquite trees and has some natural forest areas; in which, there are about 4 hectares of acacia trees that have been harvested and burned cleanly. Here, Mr. Toan recounted the incident.
On the evening of November 4, Mr. Le Van Toan received a phone call from the leader of Co Ba Forestry Farm saying that there was information that the next morning, people in Poom Lau village would go to the location that the Forestry Farm had exploited to plant trees, asking the commune to grasp the situation and propagate so that people would not violate the law. Upon receiving the news, he immediately contacted the Party Secretary and the Head of Poom Lau village to grasp the situation. However, neither the Party Secretary nor the Head of the village had grasped the content. At nearly 6 a.m. on November 5, the leader of the Forestry Farm called again to inform that people were preparing to plant trees. At this time, the Head of Poom Lau village was driving to Que Phong to collect acacia, but the Party Secretary still replied that he had not heard any information. Therefore, he hurried to Poom Lau village to summon the Party Secretary and the Village Management Board to request coordination with the commune forces to go to the scene to grasp the situation.
At this time, people gathered near Bang Met area. Here, the commune and village propagandized and mobilized, but the people did not listen. The reason was because they had information that Co Ba Forestry Farm had to return this land to the locality in 2023; however, after exploitation, the Forestry Farm hired the people to burn and dig holes to plant acacia. However, the people hired by the Forestry Farm did not accept the job, but informed each other to plant acacia together and fight for the land. Initially, there were about 30 people at the scene, all of them women. On the Forestry Farm side, at this time, they also organized a force to protect and not allow people to plant trees. Whenever people planted a tree, the Forestry Farm immediately pulled it out, so there was chaos and fighting as in the clip posted on social networks.
Also on the morning of November 5, because of a scheduled meeting in the district, Mr. Toan went to report the incident. The district leaders asked him to return immediately to stabilize the situation. Returning to the scene, he directed the commune's forces to continue to mobilize people to stop tree planting activities and return home. However, the people asked Co Ba Forestry to stop replanting trees on the disputed land area; requested the local authorities of the commune and district to clarify the land management in the disputed area so that the people could understand. It was not until about 11:00 a.m. that the people left the scene. A meeting was organized by the Chau Binh Commune People's Committee later at the house of the Party Secretary of Poom Lau village. Everyone agreed: the land is under the management of Co Ba Forestry, has not been returned to the locality, so it is necessary to propagate and mobilize people to understand, restrain people from being upset, agitated and leading to violations of the law.
In the early afternoon, people returned to the scene. After receiving the report from the commune, the Standing Committee of the District Party Committee and the district forces immediately returned to work. With the view that the origin of the land needs to be clarified to resolve the matter, the district has determined that the Bang Met area has a roadmap to be returned to the locality, which has been reviewed by relevant parties in 2017. After that, everyone returned to the scene to propagate and explain so that people can understand. On the people's side, there are many opinions at this time. But basically, their actions are to make the government take action, not allowing the Forestry Farm to replant trees on the land. Also here, Secretary of the District Party Committee, Chairman of the District People's Committee Nguyen Thanh Hoai promised that on November 6, he would invite Song Hieu Agricultural Forestry Company Limited and Co Ba Forestry Farm to organize a dialogue with the people. After hearing this exchange, the people agreed and left the scene.
On the morning of November 6, the district organized a dialogue. Through that, the issues of reviewing and committing to return land to the locality before were revealed. The General Director of Song Hieu Agricultural Forestry Company Limited directed Co Ba Forestry Farm to urgently submit a report to return the land; the land return must be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2024 at the latest. In that spirit, Secretary and Chairman of the District People's Committee Nguyen Thanh Hoai also made a concluding speech...
On November 7, 2023, Co Ba Forestry Farm submitted Document No. 368/TT-LT on the request to return land to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment and Song Hieu Agricultural Forestry Company Limited. The land area that Co Ba Forestry Farm requested to return includes plots No. 71, 85, 89, 112 on map sheet No. 1, Chau Binh commune, Quy Chau district, with a total area of more than 81.5 hectares. This land area, located in the area agreed to return to the locality according to Decree No. 118/ND-CP; was reviewed and agreed to make a record on January 14, 2017 by Song Hieu Agricultural Forestry Company Limited, Co Ba Forestry Farm, Quy Chau District People's Committee, Chau Binh Commune People's Committee.
With the Report No. 368/TT-LT, the actual situation and the account of the Chairman of Chau Binh Commune People's Committee, the Head of the Women's Union of Poom Lau Village, we contacted Mr. Dang Van Nghi - Director of Co Ba Forestry Farm. At this time, the Director of Co Ba Forestry Farm realized that the incident on November 5 was the Forestry Farm's fault. Mr. Nghi also said that Song Hieu Agricultural Forestry Company Limited had submitted a report to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment; and the Department had also sent a document requesting the People's Committee of Quy Chau District to preside over and coordinate with relevant units to organize a review and report in detail to have a basis to advise the Provincial People's Committee to reclaim the land. "After the Department of Natural Resources and Environment had a written response, the People's Committee of Quy Chau District assigned the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, the People's Committee of Chau Binh Commune to coordinate with the Forestry Farm to organize a review and report. We are currently waiting for coordination to implement this content..." - Mr. Dang Van Nghi discussed.
Through many years of practical work, we know that not only in Chau Binh, but also in some other areas of the province, the issue of agricultural and forestry land is still "hot". Therefore, we have discussed with the leaders of the Party Committee and People's Committee of Chau Binh commune and Poom Lau village to clarify the cause and draw lessons from the Party Committee and the government on this issue. According to the Secretary of the Chau Binh Commune Party Committee, Mr. Kim Van Duyen, the Forestry was at fault when the Bang Met area had a roadmap to return to the locality, but when it was time to harvest the trees, it did not proactively notify the commune. He said: "The Forestry should have provided full information, where the land was returned after exploitation; where it was not returned, it would continue to produce, so that the commune could notify the hamlets, villages, and people so that encroachment and violations of the law would not occur...". As for the commune, he assessed that it had intervened promptly, but it also needed to learn from experience. “It is necessary to thoroughly inform Party cells, management boards, and organizations in villages and hamlets to promptly grasp the people's thoughts and feelings, promptly resolve arising issues to avoid bad situations. We cannot let people think that using pressure from the majority will solve the land issue, leading to violations of the law…” – Chau Binh Commune Party Secretary, Mr. Kim Van Duyen emphasized.
Sharing the same view, Chairman of the People's Committee of the commune Le Van Toan acknowledged that it was fortunate that no unfortunate incident occurred on November 5. Mr. Toan reminded the head of the Women's Association of Poom Lau village, Ms. Lo Thi Xuan: "Through meetings, it is necessary to grasp the issues that members still have questions about and need to be explained. To pass through the association, through the Party cell, the village executive committee, or request superiors to explain to the people. We cannot let the recent incident happen again, the land has not been resolved but people are violating the law...". After listening to the discussion, the head of the Women's Association of Poom Lau village, Ms. Lo Thi Xuan acknowledged that the fact that the villagers occupied the forestry land, creating chaos leading to spreading on social networks has created an unsightly image. Very sincerely, she said: "This is the content we would like to accept...".
