Filipino farmers hold protest outside DAR office

Filipino farmers protest Thursday, October 14, 2010 outside the main office of the Department of Agrarian Reform in Manila. (Photos by Jimmy Domingo)

QUEZON CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Oct. 14, 2010) – Disgruntled Filipino farmers held a noise barrage Thursday in front of the Department of Agrarian headquarters in Quezon City and demanded that government accord them their rights to own lands they till.

Most of the farmers are beneficiaries from the 61-hectare former property of the Teves family in Negros Oriental province. They demanded that Agrarian Secretary Virgilio de los Reyes fulfill his promise to reinstall them from the land now occupied by the Teves family.

They said Delos Reyes promised them that they would be reinstalled after a 15-day
study period to process their earlier demand had lapsed.

The farmers are locked in bitter land dispute with the Teves family they alleged had driven them out in 2008 despite the land awarded to them under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program in the 1990s. (With a report from Jimmy Domingo)

Rural road renews farmers’ faith food production in Sarangani town

A highland farmer in the village of Tuyan in Sarangani’s Malapatan town rides a motorcycle to deliver his produce at the market. Through farm-to-market road established by the Department of Agriculture - Mindanao Rural Development Program and the local governments of Sarangani Province and Malapatan, this farmer is expected to benefit from lower transport cost and minimal post-harvest losses. (Photo by Noel Provido)

SARANGANI, Philippine - One option to address food security is to maximize upland areas for food production. The upland farmers in the village of Tuyan in Sarangani’s Malapatan town had long seen the huge potentials of their farms to help in securing enough food in their town. However, they need better infrastructure for them to be productive.

“Although we have fertile lands, farmers in our barangay (village) cannot go full blast in food production because they cannot easily bring their produce to the market,” said Wahid Musa, the barangay’s chief official.

Allan Malagante, one of the farmers in locality affirmed their difficulty in transporting their produce to the markets.

“Following a very small trail, we carry our produce either by riding horses or simply on foot which usually takes several hours before we can reach the market. That is why the quality of our produce usually deteriorates resulting to cheaper price from the traders,” Malagante said.

“When I assumed as the barangay captain of Tuyan, I prioritized the establishment of farm-to-market road (FMR) which has been the clamor of my constituents for a long time. Since it would not be possible for our barangay budget to fund, we sought the help of our town officials and we are glad that they responded to our need,” Musa said.

Mayor Aida Singcoy, for her part, said the local government had seen the need to open up road network in the said barangay not only in boosting food production but also in fast tracking the delivery of basic services in the area.

Through the FMR project under the Department of Agriculture - Mindanao Rural Development Program (DA-MRDP), as well as the Provincial Government of Sarangani, a road network was opened early this year and about to be completed within this month.

“Like other developing towns, there a lot of infrastructures that must be put in placed here in Malapatan. We are glad that through DA-MRDP we were able to save a least 50 percent of the construction cost which can be used in extending other needed services to my constituents,” Singcoy said.

Singcoy added that the provincial government through Governor Miguel Dominguez has also provided a bulk amount of their local counterpart.

MRDP program director Roger Chio said the investments on the construction of rural infrastructure form part of the government’s agenda to boost food productivity and make farming more profitable for small stakeholders.

“In implementing food security projects, DA-MRDP is mere facilitators as our local leaders are the lead implementers. We are glad that LGUs like the Province of Sarangani and Malapatan town had been our active partner in enhancing capability of our farmers in food production,” Chio said.

“With the FMR addressing the need to lower transport cost and postharvest losses, our highland farmers can are now encouraged to expand their production areas,” Musa said.

“Just recently, the provincial government has delivered 200 bags of corn seeds which is a big boost to the potential of our barangay to be one of the major corn producing areas. We are confident that more assistance will be poured in our area,” Musa said.

The establishment of the at least 8-kilometer FMR do not only benefited 6,000 residents, but also opened up other economic and social activities.

“There is already a regular motorcycle that ferries residents to the downtown area not to mention that enthusiasm among school children of going to school safely. More importantly, farmers in the areas have renewed their confidence to contribute in securing their families and community enough and affordable food,” Musa said. (Noel Provido)

Violations of rights under failing Filipino land reforms

A written statement submitted by the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC), a non-governmental organization with general consultative status.

When the 1988 Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARL) was enacted, there were expectations that landless farmers would be able to obtain land, which they could use to cultivate crops to provide for their subsistence, and build their homes.

However, over two decades after the land reform law was enacted, thousands of hectares of land have yet to be distributed to landless farmers.

A local organization helping the farmers, Task Force Mapalad (TFM), has reported that at least 24,115 hectares of land, all of which are owned by wealthy and influential persons, have not been distributed to farmers. This figure, however, only concerns the lands under the TFM’s area of concern, and does not include the land that for distribution that other local organizations are dealing with. The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), the agency tasked to implement the land distribution, reportedly has a backlog of at least 1.2 million of hectares of land that needs to be given to farmers.

The government’s failure to ensure that land that was intended for distribution is promptly given to the qualified beneficiaries, has since resulted in conflict, often resulting in violent clashes, between farmers and armed men that the landlords have employed. In most cases, the landlords use violence against the farmers, once the latter begin asserting their rights of ownership of the land they have been provided under the CARL.

In the 21 years of the existence of the CARL, hundreds of land reform and farmer activists have been killed, either in individual targeted extra-judicial killings due to their work in helping farmers to claim land, or in incidents in which violent confrontations took place with armed men that the landlords have employed. Such armed confrontations occur when courts rule that the farmers can occupy the land that they are already allowed to farm.

The failure of the authorities to protect such persons and ensure their rights under the CARL are guaranteed and implemented have led to problems for such farmers concerning their abilities to be able to have, inter alia, food to eat, medication for illness, a house to live in and to send their children to school to receive education, while legal procedures in court concerning their cases drag on for years.

Farmers have engaged in marches that are hundreds of kilometers long to travel to the central government offices in Manila, in an effort to get attention. Others have gone on hunger strike, held daily demonstrations, and have been arrested and been charged in courts for holding such demonstrations.

In December 2008, when the budget and the implementation of the CARL was about to expire, hundreds of farmer beneficiaries, land reform activists and others concerned for the farmers’ welfare, held demonstrations to petition the Congress to have the implementation of the land reform law extended. Although the Congress did extend it for another six months, from January to June 2009, it did not include the provisions concerning Land Acquisition and Distribution (LAD).

Under the LAD, the government has the authority to compel the landowners to sell their properties to the government. The Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) conducts evaluations to determine the cost of the property that is for distribution and subsequently pays for it on behalf of the farmer.

Since the money used in buying the land comes from budget allocations for this purpose, the farmer beneficiaries are expected to repay the government through a mode of repayment that is affordable to them. The absence of LAD provisions renders the implementation of land reform meaningless in the period in question.

Firstly, there is no more budget to pay to landlords or multinational corporations whose lands are being subjected to land distribution. Even if they are qualified beneficiaries, farmers therefore don’t have the means to acquire the land concerning which they claim ownership. Although the budget for technical support to farmers had been retained, it is not sufficient to ensure that the farmers can acquire the land.

The government, in particular the legislative body, who is supposed to ensure the welfare of these farmers, has therefore decided to use their authority deliberately against these farmers’ interests. It is a common knowledge that several members of Congress own land that is also to subjected to distribution.

Secondly, wealthy and influential landowners have been exploiting the delay in adjudication of cases in court to frustrate the farmers. These also include properties owned by the family of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s husband in Negros province, Jose Miguel Arroyo; the property owned by the family of President Arroyo’s secretary, Francisco T. Duque III in Pangasinan, amongst others. Arroyo’s property has not been distributed to farmer beneficiaries, while the landless tenants in Duque’s property are struggling to claim ownership of the land.

The landlords exploit the judicial process by subverting procedures in regular courts to file charges against the farmers. For example, they have file criminal complaints concerning qualified theft or trespassing. Under such charges, the farmers and their families are effectively being charged for harvesting crops that they cultivate, and charged for trespassing on the land on which they built their homes and have lived all their lives. Such actions are usually taken when the farmers attempt to claim ownership of the land.

In one case, in Bondoc Peninsula in March 2006, villagers occupying the land of a wealthy and influential land-owner family, were charged with numerous questionable criminal offences in court. Although the regular courts are not supposed to have jurisdiction or to adjudicate cases related to disputes in the implementation of land reform, local courts ignore this.

The prosecution service and judicial process has been exploited to attack farmers attempting to claim ownership over the land they cultivate. (AHRC)

Hunger strike physically costly to farmers

Peasants continue protests in the Philippines.

MANILA, Philippines (AHRC / Dec. 5, 2008) - After three days of running and hunger strike, the effect had unfortunately been physically costly to some of the farmers.

One of the eight farmers on hunger strike, 22-year-old Aireen Celis, had to be taken to a nearby hospital, East Avenue Medical Center (EVMC), after she fell ill. Before she was taken to hospital she told her colleagues that she was feeling weak, dizzy and her head was aching while tightly holding her stomach.

What she had the past three days was only water and no food.

Aireen's colleagues and Fr. Robert Reyes, a staff member of the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), took her to the hospital for treatment. Later, she was diagnosed to have suffered from dehydration and her sugar count was low.

Aireen is the daugther of Jose Celis, one of the farmer beneficiaries of the land of President Arroyo's husband, Jose Miguel Arroyo, in Isabela, Negros Occidental. She was also one of those 30 farmers arrested and briefly detained at a police station in Kamuning, Quezon City on November 27, for holding a protest at the Land Registration Authority (LRA).

At the time, the group of farmers were demanding the LRA to intervene by taking action to the refusal of the Registry of Deeds (ROD) in Bacolod City to have ownership of the 157 hectares of land transferred from the Arroyo family to the Philippine government after the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) paid about P42 million (Approximately US$ 85,000) for the property on behalf of the farmers.

Aireen's brief detention and the suffering her sickly father had to endured, has left her no choice, according to her colleagues, that prompted her to take part in the indefinite hunger strike together with seven other farmers. Since her sickly father could not be physically present in Manila, she took this on in his stead. She is the youngest person and the only woman in the group.

Also, even though her colleagues were at first reluctant to let her join the hunger strike as she was having fever days after she and her colleagues were released from detention Aireen nevertheless decided to carry on.

Apart from the toll on Aireen's health, some of the farmers from Ugnayan ng Mga Nagsasariling Lokal na Organisasyon sa Kanayunan (UNORKA) and Task Force Mapalad (TFM), both people's organisation helping farmers to claim ownership of land under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), who joined the run since December 1 had to reconsider joining on the fourth day.

Farmers from UNORKA, including the elderly, decided not to join; and some of whom began to suffer severe muscle pain, and their legs began to swell and became numb. While the farmers from TFM are themselves ready to resume the run on the fourth day they had to reconsider due to concerns that their health may deteriorate if not given a day rest.

Also, heavy downpours prevented the overly exhausted farmers from resuming the run.

Though the farmers has not been able to make it on the fourth day Reyes pledged to complete the run of 157-kilometres even the farmers would be not able to join him.

"Naiintindihan ko ang paghihirap ng magsasaka dahil sanay sila magbanat ng buto sa sakahan, at hindi tumakbo sa lansangan, ngunit nangako ako na tapusin ang 157 na kilometro kaya tatapusin ko; kung kinakailangan hanggang Hong Kong, (I understand what farmers had to endure because they are use to working hard at farms and not to run on streets. However, I have promised to complete the 157 kilometre even if it means completing it in Hong Kong)” Reyes said.

Reyes is also the programme officer of the AHRC's Religious Groups for Human Rights (RGHR) in Hong Kong.

Philippine Farmers Seek Intervention Vs. Landlords

Philippine farmers protest.

MANILA, Philippines (AHRC / Dec. 4, 2008) - On its third day of run, farmers from two of the country's influential landlords -- the Arroyos and the Yulos -- sought urgent intervention from members of the Senate and the Houses of Representatives to address their desperate plight.

Apart from the farmers in Hacienda Bacan in Isabela, Negros Occidental -- which is owned by President Arroyo's husband, Jose Miguel -- farmers from Hacienda Yulo in Laguna province, have also been deprived from owning the land they have been cultivating.

Of the 7,100 hectares of land in Hacienda Yulo, about 3,256 of it is being claimed by the farmers whose ancestors have been occupying and cultivating the land since 1905. It was first given to the Madrigal Family during the Spanish Colonization, however, it was later transferred to Jose Miguel Yulo, whose family is the present owner.

At least 1,354 farmer beneficiaries are seeking ownership to the land. Even before the law obligating the government to distribute lands to landless farmers, the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Programme (CARP), was made into law as early as 1960s, the ancestors of the present claimants and the claimants themselves, who were young then, have began their fight to own the land.

In 1990, three years after the CARP was made into law, the farmer beneficiaries applied for inclusion in the land for distribution under the CARP. However, surprisingly despite the farmers' pending applications three years later the land has been declared exempted from CARP, on the pretext that it is industrial and commercial land. Under the CARP, lands of this classification are exempted from distribution.

However, the process of the conversion of the land, which resulted in the lands exemption from distribution, has been highly questionable. At the time, the municipal mayor Jesus Miguel Yulo, the son of the owner and the zoning administrator -- who have had connections with the Yulos -- have deliberately abused their authority.

They have used their influence by converting the contested land to industrial, to ensure that it would be exempted from distribution.

It was learned though that since 1993 the land has been idle, neither used for industrial nor for commercial purposes. The municipal government of Calamba have likewise issued a certification which affirms that the contested land has been idle.

The said certification was submitted to the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) for them to reconsider the earlier decision exempting the land; however, the DAR nevertheless stood firm to its previous decision exempting the land for distribution.

In 2006, after learning the irregularities in the process of the exemption, the farmers filed a petition seeking to revoke the land's classification which remains pending. Also, Nasser Pangandaman, the DAR secretary, has also repeatedly denied the farmers' petition to revoke the earlier decision exempting the land from CARP citing its questionable conversion, on several occasions.

The DAR has stood firm on its earlier decision. In 2007, the Yulos instead offered to distribute home-lots to farmers, which measure about 150 square meters, to each beneficiary and cash worth PHP13,000 (USD263) supposedly as “disturbance compensation”; however, expectedly the farmers have refused their offer. One of the farmers said that what they needed is not home-lots, but land to farm and somewhere they could build their homes.

To date, the farmer's petition asking the DAR to reconsider its earlier decision is not showing any progress. This was the issue the farmers brought as they run from the head office of the DAR towards the House of Representatives.

Not only the farmers from Hacienda Yulo have sought for legislators' intervention, farmers from the Arroyo's have also sought the help from members of Senate.

After the 7-kilometre run from DAR to the House of Representatives was completed, a separate run, this time farmers from the Arroyo land, also took place which began from the Baclaran Church in Coastal Road, in Manila, towards the Senate building.

Shortly after the farmers arrived, led by Catholic priest Fr. Robert Reyes, a staff member of the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), at the Senate some of them also joined the Senate committee hearing on the Arroyo land. The Senate's committee on agrarian reform was conducting an inquiry, in aid of legislation, as to why the Arroyo farmer's land in Negros Occidental have not been able to acquire the land under the CARP.

After the committee hearing was concluded it still failed to come out with a concrete resolution to immediately address the Arroyo farmers' demand to ensure the speedy distribution of the contested land to them. About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation monitoring and lobbying human rights issues in Asia. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.

Gunman Kills Farmer Who Fought For Peasants' Rights In The Philippines

NEGROS ORIENTAL, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Dec. 4, 2008) - A Filipino farmer was shot dead by an unidentified gunman while outside his house in the former property of former Negros Oriental Rep. Herminio Teves in the village of Villareal in Santa Catalina here.

Edna Sobrecaray, spokesperson of the peasant group called Task Force Mapalad said Arnaldo Hoyohoy, 40, was shot at around 6.30 p.m. on Wednesday. He left behind his wife and four children.

Hayohoy's father, Romualdo, is a CLOA (Certificate of Land Ownership Award) holder and his brother Alexander was among a group of farmers who joined the two-month camp out in front of the Department of Agrarian Reform in Quezon City to press for the distribution of the 61-hectare Teves property.

Hoyohoy also was among those who led the land entry on November 6 in the former Teves estate while other farmers who camped in front of DAR Central office held a two-week hunger strike.

Sobrecaray condemned the murder. She said that while they still have to establish the motive for the killing, “the death of Hoyohoy underscores the need for authorities to provide protection to farmer-beneficiaries.”

Hoyohoy’s wife Lorna said they were inside the house near the property’s gate, together with Hoyohoy’s father and brother Alexander when they heard a gunshot.

They said they rushed outside the house and saw Hoyohoy sprawled on the ground with a wound on his right cheek, and on inspection found an exit wound on the neck.

They immediately brought Hoyohoy to Bayawan City Hospital but due to lack of equipment, the hospital dispatched an ambulance to bring Hoyohoy to Dumaguete City.

Hoyohoy succumbed to his wound at around 8:30 p.m. while on the way to Dumaguete City.

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel, who was one of the personalities who helped the farmers acquire the Teves property, condemned the killing. “I fear that this might be connected to the recent installation of the farmers in the property, but I hope it’s not,” Pimentel said.

Witnesses, including Caranoche Councillor Dennis Sales and Carlos Magli told the Santa Catalina police that he saw the gunman wearing a green shirt pointed his weapon and fired at Hayohoy who was about to close their house’s gate. The unidentified gunman escaped with another companion, who acted as his lookout. The assailant also left his slippers.

Initial police report said the suspects fled toward the Negros Oriental State University where a student spotted them.

Hoyohoy’s father, who was granted CLOA by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in 1997, is among the 30 CLOA holders installed in the property by agrarian officials on November 12 after almost 11 years of legal battle with the landowners. (With a report from Lani Factor)

Solo protest seeks land reform extension in the Philippines

MANILA, Philippines - A Filipino priest, known in the Philippines as the "running priest", held a solo protest inside the Philippine Congress in Quezon City on December 2 calling upon legislators to consider as a priority, the extension of the land reform law.

Before he resumed his daily 15-kilometre run together with farmers, Fr. Robert Reyes, went inside the Congress' main lobby where he offers his daily prayer for the farmers and reaffirmed the latter's demand that a bill which seeks for the extension of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) with reform be passed promptly before the year end.

There are serious concern that once the year ends without passing a law extending it and by including reforms, the plight of landless farmers will hang in the balance; and that those who are supposed to be beneficiaries under the CARP, would have no other means or legal remedies at all to seek ownership of the lands they till.

Although the implementation of the law itself is inadequate and ineffective; however, either not having or losing the legal obligation on part of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), the implementing agency of the land distribution programme, to pursue land reform ownership would become even more extremely difficult.

Two decades after the land reform law took affect; thousands of hectares of land all over the country have failed to have been awarded to farmers.

In Negros Occidental alone, a local group called Task Force Mapalad (TFM), said the claims of a total of 11,239 hectares of land covering 134 haciendas by about 5,731 farmer beneficiaries remain pending at all levels of the CARP process. This includes the 157 hectares of land owned by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's husband, Jose Miguel Arroyo, in Isabela.

The DAR's huge backlog in the distribution of lands under the Land Acquisition and Distribution (LAD) claims has also since been aggravated by the needless and the deliberate delays in the processing of farmer's applications, landlords either using their political influence upon the government agencies or threatening them with legal action; and political interference to subvert the supposed to be ordinary process of land distribution.

Before leaving the Congress lobby to resume his daily run, Reyes, also a staff member of the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), displayed his placard on which the demands for the CARP's extension is written.

Reyes also offered a short prayer on behalf of the farmers in front of a wall where the pictures and names of the members of the Philippine Congress are displayed.

On his way out, Reyes joined several other farmers who were waiting for him at the gate outside the Congress compound; and shortly after they resumed their run towards the head office of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR). It was Reyes' and the farmer's second run as part of their daily 15-kilometre run in ten days.

One of those joining Reyes and the farmers in their run was Reiko Sembad, a 22-year-old student of Cultural and Tourism Studies from a university in Tokyo. Reiko, like other farmers who joined the run, did not mind the scorching heat and exhaustion during the run.

The farmers, including the elderly, who joined the second day run were even wearing flip tops and trousers. However, despite not wearing running gear and not prepared, their endurance and willingness to complete the run was moving.

In the afternoon, Reyes held a mass inside the farmers' makeshift tents where they apparently been staying on protest for the past several weeks in front of the DAR. It is also the place where eight farmers from the Arroyo land are holding their indefinite hunger strike.(The Asian Human Rights Commission)

Philippine Farmers Stage Hunger Strike, Demand Distribution Of Land Owned By President's Husband

Farmers march, shave heads and stage hunger strike in Manila to press equitable distribution of lands to beneficiaries under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.

MANILA, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Dec. 1, 2008) – Eight Filipino farmers, including a woman, staged a hunger strike Monday in front of the Department of Agrarian Reform office in Manila to press the government to look into the plight of peasants in Negros Occidental province.
The farmers were all from Hacienda Bacan, owned by President Gloria Arroyo’s husband, Jose Miguel Arroyo, in the village of Guintubhan in Isabela, Negros Occidental.

They resorted to an indefinite hunger strike to press for registration of their Certificate of Land Ownership Award (CLOA). The farmers are encamped outside the DAR office since November 8. They already shaved their heads, nuns assisting them, to protest the government failure to register their CLOA.

The eight farmers were among some 30 peasants who were arrested by the police last week for protesting in front of the Land Registration Authority (LRA) office in Manila. They were later freed after the LRA dropped the complaint it filed against them.

The farmers said they wanted only to seek an audience with LRA Administrator Benedicto Ulep for registration of their CLOA.

The police rounded up the farmers and filed charges of illegal assembly and serious disobedience to authority, but the Commission on Human Rights Chairperson Leila De Lima convinced the LRA to drop the charges.

The farmers said they were forced to bring the issue to LRA after the Register of Deeds (ROD) in Bacolod City repeatedly refused to do so due to alleged pressure from the hacienda owner.

Jose Rodito Angeles, president of the peasant federation called Task Force Mapalad, is among those who are on hunger strike. Angeles, also a petitioner for distribution of another Arroyo land, the 196-hectare Hacienda Grande in the village of Robles in La Castellana, said he is in solidarity with the Bacan farmers.

“Once again we are putting our lives at stake to convince the First Gentleman to uphold and obey the law, stop resisting the Comprehensive Agrarian reform Program and allow his hacienda to be distributed to the farmer-beneficiaries,” Angeles said.

Angeles said the registration of CLOA is the final step prior to installation of 67 farmer-beneficiaries in the 157-hectare Hacienda Bacan, which had been awarded to them under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

“The farmer-beneficiaries deserve to be given their land. They had fought for almost 10 years. They had overcome all obstacles put up by the landowner. Now they are in the final battle for registration of their CLOA,” Angeles said.

He said among the obstacles the farmers had to hurdle were alleged attempts by the landowner to delay or stop the processing of claim folder, the issuance of memorandum of valuation, and the issuance of certificate of cash deposit.

Father Robert Reyes, who is supporting the farmers, led Monday the start of a 10-day, 157-kilometer run in support to the distribution of Hacienda Bacan to its beneficiaries.

Reyes said the run is also a symbolic call for Congress to hasten the passage of a law extending the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.

“I support the Negros farmers because their cause is just, and I call for extension of CARP because it is the only legal instrument by which poor farmers can hope to own land,” Reyes said.
Reyes said the 157 kilometers that he and other participants from civil society will complete in 10 days represent the 157 hectares that comprise Hacienda Bacan.

The priest and the other runners started in San Miguel town in Tarlac province to remind how CARP was compromised when the hacienda, owned by the family of former President Corazon Aquino, moved for stock distribution option instead of directly distributing the land to farm workers, thus practically evading land distribution. (With a report from Lani Factor)

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.

Peasant Leader Killed In Southern Philippines

Militant labor leader Celso Pojas, of the Farmers' Association of Davao City, during a rally May 12, 2008 in Davao City in southern Philippines. Pojas, also the vice chairman of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, was killed by two motorcycle gunmen May 15, 2008 just outside the FADC office. (BAYAN photo)

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / May 15, 2008) - A militant labor leader was gunned down Thursday in the southern Philippines, where security forces are battling communist insurgents.

Celso Pojas, leader of the Farmers’ Association of Davao City and spokesman for the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, was killed by two motorcycle gunmen outside their office in Davao City.

Pojas, 45, was also the vice chairman of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN), tagged by the Philippine military as a front of the communist New People’s Army rebels.

“He is a good man who had been fighting for the rights of the oppressed. We condemn the killing of a good man and we accused the military as behind his murder,” Jeppie Ramada, BAYAN Secretary-General, told the Mindanao Examiner.

He said Pojas had been receiving death threats from suspected military men who had been tailing the militant leader since last year. “Armed men, sporting military haircut, had previously warned Ka Celso that he would be killed because of his activities as a peasant leader,” Ramada said.

“The killing of Ka Celso is politically motivated because he was a staunch supporter of human rights and his being against continued militarization in many parts of Davao and Compostela Valley provinces and other areas in southern Mindanao” Ramada said.

No group or individual claimed responsibility for the murder and the military flatly denied any involvement in the killing of Pojas.

“We have nothing to do with it. We respect human rights. Let us wait for the investigation of the police,” Major Raymundo Aguada, a spokesman for the Army’s 10th Infantry Division, said in a separate interview.

The Philippine military previously tagged Pojas’ groups as fronts of the New People’s Army rebels fighting for the establishment of a Maoist state in the country. (Mindanao Examiner)

Negros Farmers Appeal To Arroyo

Negros farmers and their families hear mass Wednesday, January 30, 2008 at the San Diego Cathedral in Silay City. The farmers, who march around the provinces beginning Monday, have appealed to Philippine leader Gloria Arroyo to prolong Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program. (Photos by VJ Villafranca)

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Jan. 30, 2008) - Peasant federation Task Force Mapalad (TFM) has called on President Gloria Arroyo to certify as urgent the bill that will extend the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) to compel Congress to stop delays and hasten its enactment.

Some 3,000 people, mostly farmers, marched on Wednesday for third straight day to dramatize their appeal for extension of the CARP law.

“President Arroyo should certify the bill as urgent. Some congressmen are making alibis to delay CARP extension. Some have proposed to hold a series of public hearings. All they wanted was to delay, so that when CARP expires in June, they can forget about the legislation,” TFM president Jose Rodito Angeles said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.

Farm workers and advocate groups, including representatives from the religious sector and civil groups and the youths from all over Negros island joined the 200-kilometer march to Bacolod City.

Farmers called on the three Negros solons, Representatives Monico Puentebella of Bacolod City, Jeffrey Ferrer of 4th District, and Ignacio Arroyo of 5th District to help in the passage of the bill. (Lani Factor and Heidi Fernandez)

Peasants March In Negros, Seek Longer CARP Life

Task Force Mapalad farmers in Negros Oriental and Negros Occidental march to dramatize their calls for the immediate passage of a law extending the government’s agrarian reform program which will end this year. (Photos by V.J. Villafranca)

BACOLOD, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Jan. 29, 2008) – Close to one thousand farmers and their families and supporters marched for the second day in the central Philippine province of Negros Oriental to dramatize their calls for immediate passage of a law extending beyond 2008 the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

Jose Rodito Angeles, president of the peasant federation called Task Force Mapalad (TFM), which spearheaded the pilgrimage, said more and more people were joining four-day march which began Monday.

“The enthusiastic reception to the march is attributed not only to its being the first of its kind to be held in Negros but also to the strong desire of the rural community for extension of CARP with reforms,” Angeles said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.

He said many of the marchers are holders of certificate of land ownership award (CLOA) who remain uninstalled in their land because of landowner resistance.

“Uninstalled CLOA holders are quite a phenomenon in Negros. That is one of the reasons why CARP must be extended. Otherwise, the fate of these CLOA holders would be left hanging,” he said.

Edna Sobrecaray, TFM-Negros spokesperson, said: “Our congressmen should see for themselves how the people in Negros are desirous to own land under CARP. It would be a disservice to them if the three solons representing Negros continue to delay or work against its extension.”

Sobrecaray was referring to Representatives Monico Puentebella of Bacolod City, Jeffrey Ferrer of the 4th District, and Ignacio Arroyo of the 5th District whom the farmers have accused of campaigning against extension of CARP, which expires on June 30.

Two groups of marchers, one coming from the north and the other from the south, will converge on Thursday in Bacolod City to hold various mass activities that dramatize their call on Congress for the immediate passage of CARP extension law. “Owning land through CARP is the farmer’s last hope to feed his family, send his children to school, and finally break the cycle of poverty” Sobrecaray said.

In the north, some 400 marchers stopped for lunch at Eusebio Lopez Elementary School in the village of Pabrika in Sagay City, then proceeded to Cadiz City, around 24 kilometers away. At the boundary, they were joined by a group of some 150 farmer and farm workers.

Three marchers – Amparo Caontoy, 66, of Hacienda Minakalao; Milagros Estrada, 54, of Hacienda Caridad; and Narciso Canete, 48, of Hacienda Rose Marie --collapsed from exhaustion due to heat and were immediately given first aid by the medical team. By mid-afternoon the marchers reached Central Cadiz where the municipal agrarian reform officer sent them 500 plastic bags of ice-cold water.

Before dusk, some 20 youths, mostly high school students, joined the march along with their parents, who were also farmers. By the time the marchers reached the municipality of Manapla at around 9 p.m., they had walked 38 kilometers. They spent the night at the municipal gymnasium.

On Tuesday, the marchers, now numbering almost 500, proceeded toward Silay City. At around 9 a.m., the marchers stopped at the public plaza in Victorias to take breakfast. Several policemen arrived to tell them they could not eat at the plaza, but the marchers argued that they were in a public place and their assembly was peaceful.

In the south, some 100 farmers from contentious lands in Negros Oriental gathered in Kabankalan City where they were joined by 30 farm workers from Negros Occidental, mostly from Arroyo-owned Haciendas Bacan, Grande, and Paraiso.

The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) provincial office in Negros Oriental donated two sacks of rice, noodles, and packs of cigarettes. The DAR municipal office in Hinigaran, through MARO Myrna Mercano and her staff, also sent 3 kilos of dried fish, 500 sandwiches, 4 boxes of juice, and 5 boxes of iced water.

Fr. Robert Cermona of Kabangkalan Parish held a liturgical service and blessed the group before they started to march at around noon. After an hour, they stopped at Barangay Tuoy to take lunch and proceeded afterward to Himamaylan.

Two women marchers from Elizalde Roxas (ELRO) landholding fainted under the sun’s heat and were immediately assisted by paramedics. They were identified as Carmen Raydan, 52, and Elizabeth Balingit, 49.

In Isabela, where the 157-hectare Hacienda Bacan owned by First Gentleman Mike Arroyo is located, the marches were joined by another 100 farmers. Some 20 children came to deliver prayers for their parents then later joined the march.

After walking 30 kilometers, the marchers stopped to spend the night at Plaza Miranda in Hinigaran, where they were joined by 70 more farmers. Some 320 marchers from south represented farmers and farm workers from Montenegro , Goni, Lagpasan, and Tirambalo lands in Negros Oriental, and the Arroyo lands, Tunsay, and Manalo in southern Negros Occidental.

The next day, the marchers were joined by 35 farmers from Payao and 10 CLOA holders from Hacienda Dumancas. Before they resumed the march, Hinigaran Mayor Hermie Lou Aguilard gave them 5 kilos of sugar, 3 kilos of ground native coffee, 5 kilos of dried fish, and 300 pieces of breadl, TFM said. (Lani Factor and Heidi Fernandez)

Batangas Farmers To Rally In Manila

MANILA, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Jan. 22, 2008) – Dozens of farmers are threatening to stage a rally in front of the Philippine agrarian reform headquarters in Manila to demand that government place more than 100 hectares of lands under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

Vic Ayap, president of Laiya Ibabaw Samahang Magsasaka (LISAMAG), asked Agrarian Reform chief Nasser Pangandaman to act on the plight of the farmers over the 123-hectae lands owned by Hennessy Development Corporation (HDC).

Pangandaman last year ordered the provincial agrarian reform office “to immediately proceed with the acquisition and distribution of subject property to qualified farmer-beneficiaries.” But until now the Department of Agrarian reform failed to act on the matter.

Ayap said the property owner allegedly failed to comply with the conversion order issued on June 17, 1998 by then DAR Secretary Ernesto Garilao. He said some 50 farmers from the village of Laiya-Ibabaw in San Juan town will set up a camp in front of the DAR headquarters in Quezon City.

He said HDC had five years from issuance of the order to undertake development in the property for eco-tourism, including the construction of a five-star hotel, but it was not able to construct a single road or structure.

“The conversion period had lapsed in 2003. Some former tenants and a number of new tillers had already planted crops to the property. We are asking DAR to immediately issue a notice of coverage for the property so that it can be distributed to the current tillers,” Ayap said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner newspaper.

He said all petitions by HDC for extension of the conversion period had already been dismissed by DAR.

On September 5, 2005, HDC had filed a request for extension of time to develop the property, but DAR denied the request in an order issued on December 21, 2006.

In denying HDC’s request, DAR said that: “no substantial development was made on the property, thus violating the conversion order; the subject property remains agricultural; and iii) the request for extension was filed beyond the period allowed by law, or two years after the conversion period had lapsed.

HDC filed a motion for reconsideration in January 2007, but Pangandaman dismissed the motion on August 21, saying that aside from the lapsed period, HDC also failed to meet some requirements, including the posting of performance bond, submission of the joint venture agreement between landowner and developer, proofs of financial capability of the developer, profile of the developer, and financial statements, among others.

Ayap said that they are willing to “walk on our knees if necessary to compel DAR to issue the notice of coverage for the disputed property.” (Lani Factor)

Filipino Farmers Hold Anti-Government Protest In South

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Oct. 19, 2007) – Hundreds of farmers on Friday held a rally in Davao City in southern Philippines to protest the government’s failure to help alleviate the worsening poverty condition in the countryside.

Celso Pojas, regional spokesperson for the militant Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, said farmers were also protesting the proposed extension of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

About 900 people joined the protest, which coincided with the commemoration of the Peasant month, he said.

The government’s agrarian reform program may be extended after President Gloria Arroyo certified as urgent a bill seeking a 10-year extension of the CARP, which is set to end in June 2008, ten years after it was passed.

The CARP is primarily a social reform measure and addresses the need for a more equitable distribution of land ownership. Its end-goal is to improve the standards of living of beneficiaries and promote greater economic activity in the rural areas.

But Pojas said extending the CARP would only exacerbate the plight of the farmers who, until now, suffers from landlessness and usurpation from big landlords and multi-national companies.

“We never benefited from the CARP. Our farmers remain landless,” Pojas told the Mindanao Examiner newspaper.

“The big landlords and multi-national corporations are the ones who have benefited from the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, not us farmers. The CARP's distorted definition of agrarian reform and the law's actual provisions reveal its unmistakable bias in favor of landowners and agribusiness. This program has never been a solution to our problem.”

“Most of the benefactors do not have the security of owning the lands they tilt due to the imposition of heavy amortization of Land Bank. While some of us were forced to enter ‘growership’ contracts and leasehold arrangements with big plantations due to the lack of support from the government,” he said.

Pojas said the poor implementation of the CARP is worsened by feudal exploitation as many landlords continue to wield power in the countryside. “We call for the scrapping of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program not for its extension,” he said.

In Zamboanga City, Filipino agrarian expert Julita Ragandang the CARP extension would benefit more farmers. “There are still many things to do,” Ragandang, who heads the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in Western Mindanao, said.

Some seven million hectares of agricultural lands, from more than four millions all over the country, have already been distributed. More than four million farmers benefited from the CARP, according to DAR, which is the lead implementing agency of the agrarian reform program.

It undertakes land tenure improvement, development of program beneficiaries, and the delivery of agrarian justice. DAR conducts land survey in resettlement areas. It undertakes land acquisition and distribution and land management studies. The DAR also orchestrates the delivery of support services to farmer-beneficiaries and promotes the development of viable agrarian reform communities.

The passage of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARL), Republic Act 6655, in 1988 was hailed as a historic occasion. CARL promised to redistribute agricultural lands -- in several phases -- to those who actually till them.

Most of the government funding for CARP came from the recovered P50-billion of the so-called Marcos' ill-gotten wealth; however, only P10 billion was allocated to the DAR, the rest of the money was distributed to other agencies, including P8-million for human rights victims under then President Ferdinand Marcos.

Belgium, Spain and Japan among the countries that are supporting the CARP. (Mindanao Examiner)