Historical injustice should warrant talks with residents living around Bao Gong Temple (包公廟) in New Taipei City’s Wugu District (五股) before forced evictions are initiated, rights campaigners said yesterday.
The 2,000 ping (6,612m2) parcel of land is all that remains of the 7,000 ping that was purchased collectively by migrants from Yunlin County’s Sihhu Township (四湖) in 1976 for NT$7 million (US$228,870 at the current exchange rate), Taiwan Anti-Forced Eviction Alliance member Jia Bo-kai (賈伯楷) said.
The migrants were originally from the same temple community and pooled their resources to build a new communal temple and develop the surrounding land, putting the deed in the name of the temple’s elder.
The elder later sold several parcels without authorization before eventually being sued and sentenced to three years in prison for fraud in 1986.
“The court used a simple method to handling this: ordering the return of residents’ money without recognizing their rights to the land. However, the market had already changed by the time the ruling was handed down — it was no longer possible to purchase a similar parcel of land,” Jia said.
The migrants refused to accept the settlement and continued to reside on the remaining parcel of land, Jia said.
Three years ago, the temple elder’s son sold the plot to Land King Realty for NT$160 million, with NT$40 million set aside for resolving the ownership dispute, he said.
“There were not any specific terms for how the company should use the funds and they appear to have decided to allocate them to legal fees,” he said.
The company has sued the about 40 remaining residents around the temple so it could evict them, he said..
As long as the residency rights of remaining migrants is respected, residents would be open to a temporary settlement allowing the company to eventually assume full control over the land, he said.
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