Negros Farmers Get More Supports

Farmer-beneficiaries and their families of the disputed 61-hectare former property of the Teves family in the villages of Caranoche in Sta. Catalina and Villareal in Bayawan City in Negros Oriental province cultivate a vacant portion of the land on Friday, November 07, 2008.

Rolando Flores, President of the Villareal-Caranoche Farmers' Association (VillaCARFA), says the entry of the FBs is an act of self-installation in view of repeated failure by the Department of Agrarian Reform to install them in the property which they already owned since ten years ago by virtue of their Certificates of Landownership Award issued in 1997 and 1999. (AKP Images / Buck Pago)



Partnershipfor AgrarianReformandRuralDevelopment Services, Inc.
STATEMENT OF SUPPORT
A JUST CLAIM!

PARRDS upholds the human rights of thirty farmers who peacefully occupied 61-hectare of agricultural lands in Villareal and Caranoche, in Bayawan city, Negros Oriental awarded to them through the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

The 30 farmers belonging to Task Force Mapalad (TFM) are all holders of Certificate of Land Ownership Awards (CLOA) that have been granted to them in 1997 and 1999. Former House Representative Herminio Teves however, questioned the legitimacy of the farmers’ claim through assortment of legal tactics.

He went to the Supreme Court but was denied of his appeal. The Supreme Court instead affirmed the legality of the farmers’ claim. On September 21, 2004 the High Court decision became final and executory after it was registered in the Entry of Judgment.

The law has spoken in favor of the farmers. The government therefore has no basis to further delay their installation to the stipulated area. International human rights standards like the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICCPR) to which the government has ratified affirms the peoples’ right not to be deprived of its means subsistence, the right to a standard of living through adequate food and the reforming of agrarian systems to deter hunger.

The continued denial of their rights constitutes a violation through act of commission on the government’s obligations to respect and protect human rights under ICCPR.

On October 18, 2008, for the second time, after the June 13, 2008 scheduled installation was postponed, the Teves estate ARBs were set to be installed but again was postponed after the PNP refused to comply with DAR’s request for police assistance.

We therefore hold the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) under the leadership of Secretary Nasser Pangandaman accountable to such violations and derogation of the farmers’ rights, some of whom are on their 10th day of Hunger Strike in front of the DAR Central Office.

We call on former Congressman Teves to comply with the law and stop harassing the farmers. Initial report received around 11:00 this morning indicated that armed goons allegedly fired their guns at the poor farmers.

We disapprove of the indecisiveness of the PNP to provide police assistance to agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) despite the appeal made by Lipa Archbishop Ramon C. Arguelles through a letter sent on October 17 and addressed to PNP Chief Jesus Versoza.

We demand that PNP Chief Versoza orders the disarming of the reported armed goons and to immediately ensure their safety and security of the ARBs.

Reports reaching our office bared that instead of going after the armed goons, the forty policemen who entered the former Teves estate instead harassed the ARBs and ordered them to leave the area that belongs to them. We challenge the Arroyo regime to make human rights a reality.