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)

Filipinos rally to preserve country's organic farming capital

Greenpeace volunteers unfurl a banner during a protest action in front of the Negros Occidental Provincial Capitol on to press members of the Sangguniang Panglalawigan (SP) to uphold the ban on GMOs. Greenpeace is encouraging the Provincial Council to look into real solutions like organic farming, instead of unreliable, unproven techno fixes like agrochemicals and GMOs, to address food security and safeguard public health. (Photos by Greenpeace/Gigie Cruz - AKP Images)

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines – Some 150 farmers and members of church and civic groups trooped to the Negros Occidental provincial capitol to press members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) to uphold Provincial Ordinance 007, which bans the entry of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and secure the future of Negros as the organic farming capital of the Philippines.

Greenpeace also put up two doors Wednesday signifying an organic, GMO-free Negros and a GMO-contaminated future, and requested members of the SP to take a stand and pass through the door that signifies their position.

Negros Occidental pioneered the ban on GMOs when it passed the ordinance, also called the “Safeguard Against Genetically Modified Organisms,” in 2007. The province, along with Negros Oriental, has been putting measures into place to turn Negros into an organic food island. Last April, the local government upheld the ban by rejecting shipments of illegal GMO corn at the capital’s port in Bacolod City.

This prompted GMO producing companies to field lobby groups to challenge the ordinance. The provincial government reiterated that it is maintaining the ban. Last month, however, anti-organic farming parties were able to sway the SP into holding hearings to reconsider the ordinance.

"It is now time for members of the provincial council to show their support for a future of agriculture that provides real solutions to food security and does not depend on unreliable, unproven techno fixes such as agrochemicals and GMOs" said Daniel M. Ocampo, Greenpeace Southeast Asia Sustainable Agriculture campaigner. "We are calling on the SP to look into lasting solutions that provide income and growth for the province without compromising the health of people and the environment."

Organic farmers in Negros are looking towards the SP to uphold the ban protecting their means of livelihood – and their way of life – from contamination. “We are spending less on materials to get the same yield of crop when using organic means rather than the chemicals that some entities are pushing,” Jose Winston Cordoba of the Canaan Farmers Association (CFA) said in Ilonggo, his native tongue.

“We, and especially our children, are also safe from harmful chemicals when there are no GMOs,” added Arturo Artucilla, also a board member of CFA, an organization of grassroots farmers in the Municipality of Magallon in Negros Occidental.

Greenpeace has documented projects on millions of farms in more than 50 countries around the world, and findings reveal that switching to sustainable farming methods increases harvests by an average of 73% -- showing that the world’s poor can feed themselves by using cheap, locally-available technologies that will not damage the environment.

Greenpeace is an independent, global campaigning organization that acts to change attitudes and behaviour, to protect and conserve the environment, and to promote peace.

World’s rarest deer found on Philippine Island

Visayan Spotted Deer at Wien Zoo.

The Negros Interior Biodiversity Expedition (NIBE) has confirmed that it had found evidence of two groups of the Visayan Spotted Deer alive and well in the North Negros Natural Park (NNNP) in the Philippines.

The team of experts recently returned from the first scientific exploration of the park interior where they recorded the presence of many endangered and endemic species, with several new species records for the NNNP.

The Visayan Spotted Deer (Cervus alfredi) is endemic to the Visayan islands of the central Philippines, formerly reported on only seven islands (Cebu, Guimaras, Leyte, Masbate, Negros, Panay, and Samar), but now thought to remain only on the islands of Panay and Negros.

It is a small deer found only in tropical rainforests up to about 1500 metres and has been hunted from 95% of its range. The population within the NNNP was believed to be one of the few viable breeding groups left in world with possibly no more than a couple of hundred individuals surviving.

Heavy hunting pressure has led to the deer not being recorded in the NNNP for many years until the NIBE team found fresh deer droppings in several locations, deer tracks and significant evidence of feeding activity. (Wildlife Extra)

Two Extrajudicial Killings Still Unresolved: Report

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is deeply concern over the delay in the conclusion of the investigation into the deaths of two farmers who were last seen alive taken by soldiers in Sta. Catalina town in Negros Oriental province in central Philippines on February 2, 2009.

Their bodies had been discovered when the investigators exhumed a gravesite after the witnesses had accompanied them to locate it; however, the investigation in this case has not reached into a conclusion in order to file charges in court. 

CASE DETAILS: (According to information received from the Alliance for the Advancement of People's Rights (KARAPATAN-Central Visayas)) 

The two victims, Julito Quirante and Ronel Raguing were last seen alive on January 31 and February 1 respectively. 

Julito left from his house to loan corn from his cousin, Francisco Namoco, who lives in Sitio Buwang, Barangay Milagrosa, Sta. Catalina. On the other hand, Ronel, had gone to his farm to harvest pumpkins and other vegetables that he intended to sell in Sitio Lag-asan, Barangay Nagbinlod, of the same municipality. 

Prior to this, however, Julito's wife, Alejandra, has said that on 15 January 2009, the soldiers attached to the 79th Infantry Battalion (IB) of the Philippine Army (PA) already had her husband taken into their camp where they had him subjected to questioning. The soldiers were allegedly accusing him of having been involved in the New People's Army (NPA). 

Though the couple were not harmed; however, the soldiers had them taken to a police station in Sta. Catalina where they were subjected to investigation. The soldiers' actions, however, is contrary to the existing rules on criminal procedures; firstly, soldiers had no authority to summon any individuals for questioning; secondly, only the police has the authority to subject an individual into investigation but there should be sufficient reason of their suspicions before they could do; and that the person must be accompanied by a counsel. 

However, in remote areas, the soldiers had developed the practice of routinely summoning individuals over mere suspicions they were involved in illegal activities, in particular with a rebel group. In these places, once a person refused to comply with the soldier's order it would result to needlessly discriminating against a person and emboldens their biased suspicion a person is indeed involved in illegal activities. Thus, it results to persons and their families being forced to submit themselves, for lack of choice, against their will. 

This is what has happened to Julito and his wife Alejandra. 

However, the soldier's alleged involvement into Julito and Ronel's death was also a result of witnesses having seen them being taken by the undetermined number of soldiers in Sitio Kalabasaan, Barangay Nagbinlod, Sta. Catalina. They were last seen being taken to a forested area but when the soldiers emerged from the forested area the two victims, whom the witnesses had seen together with them, were already gone. 

On 20 February 2009 the victims' families though had asked assistance from a police station in Sta. Catalina, who had jurisdiction where the incident took place, but they did not take action into the victim's case, who were at that time reported disappeared. When the families approached the KARAPATAN, the latter held a fact finding mission on 27 February 2009 in Sitio Kalabasaan, Barangay Nagbinlod, which resulted to them having been able to speak to witnesses who had come forward. 

The witness pointed to the site where soldiers had the victims taken. An inspection of the area generated a suspicion of a possible gravesite. It was on 9 March 2009 when a team of investigators from the National Bureau of investigation (NBI) in Region VII have provided assistance to the fact-finding team which prompted then to exhume the gravesite located in Sitio Junob, of the same municipality. The place is about an hour walk from Sitio Kalabasaan. At about 4pm that day, two male decomposing bodies had been exhumed with their hands tied behind their backs. 

The dead bodies, however, were identified by their relatives as belonging to the disappeared victims through the dress they were wearing and the sack that belongs to Julito. At about 6pm of 9 March 2009, the bodies were brought to Clarin Funeral Parlor in Poblacion, Sta. Catalina for an autopsy, however, the NBI Region VII is yet to release the result of the autopsy. 

The victims' wives, Virginia Raguing and Alejandra Quirante, has already sought the appropriate assistance in a letter from the regional office of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) in Cebu City requesting them of affording possibility of financial and other assistance that could facilitate in pursuing their complaint. However, so far there has not been information whether the victims' wives had been given assistance. 

On 20 March 2009, the same unit of soldier had Julito's son-in-law, Noli Bendersin, forcibly taken from his house in Sitio Lukdo, Barangay San Pedro. The soldiers took him to the camp of the 79th IB headquarters in Siaton of the same municipality where they had him forced into signing a sworn statement exonerating the soldiers from any involvement in the killing of his father-in-law, Julito and Ronel. 

After the incident, Noli had to leave the place to elsewhere for fear of his safety. He told his wife, who is pregnant, that he needed to leave as the soldiers, should he continue to remain, would return to get him back. Noli's absence from his family has already affected the emotional and mental condition of his pregnant wife, who is due to give birth soon. 

Photo: Filipino Farmers March In Negros Province, Demand Genuine Land Reform

Some 150 Filipino farmers from the Task Force Mapalad march in Negros province in central Philippines to dramatize their plight and to call for the Arroyo government to implement genuine land reform in the country. They urged Arroyo to take a firm stand in asking Congress to extend the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.

There are still 1.2 million hectares of land to be distributed which would benefit some 800,000 farmer beneficiaries most of whom are in the Negros province. The farmers are expected to join others from other haciendas from North Negros who are also marching, in Bacolod City on late Sunday, February 8, 2009. From there, the farmers will all take a boat to Manila the next day after a concelebrated mass by Catholic Bishop Vicente Navarra. (Photos by Task Force Mapalad)

Poor Filipino Farmers Knock On Palace Door

Cabinet Secretary Silvestre Bello assures farmers, who stage a hunger strike from President Gloria Arroyo’s husband Jose Mihuel Arroyo’s 157-hectare sugar land that the Palace will act on their issue. A meeting with Land Registration Authority administrator Benedicto Ulep, Department Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman, Task Force Mapalad chairman Christian Monsod, and the group’s president Jose Rodito Angeles is set next Monday, December 8, 2008. Bello appealed to farmers to lift their 5-day hunger strike as they negotiate. Farmers are calling for the distribution to farmers-beneficiaries under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program of Arroyo’s Hacienda Bacan in Negros province as promised by the President in 2001 when President Joseph Estrada was ousted.

MANILA, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Dec. 5, 2008) – Poor Philippine farmers who are now on their fifth day of hunger strike in front of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in Quezon City have gathered in front of Malacañang on Friday to seek audience with President Gloria Arroyo and ask her to keep her promise to distribute Hacienda Bacan and other landholdings owned by the family of her husband Jose Miguel Arroyo in Negros Occidental province.

Jose Rodito Angeles, president of the peasant federation Task Force Mapalad, said they have decided to go to Malacañang after the government agencies which are supposed to look into their plight ignored their pleas.

“We have been asking the Register of Deeds (ROD) in Bacolod City for over a month now to register the CLOA (Certificate of Landownership Award) of farmer-beneficiaries in Hacienda Bacan. We have gone to the Land Registration Authority, only to be arrested by police. We have urged Mike Arroyo to obey the law and stop resisting the distribution of his hacienda. Our pleas have fallen on deaf ears,” said Angeles, a former farm worker of the Arroyos in Hacienda Grande in the village of Robles in La Castellana town.

“Now we go to the President herself. She made a promise not just once, but several times in the past, to distribute the Arroyo landholdings. We want her to keep that promise. We want her to tell her husband to stop pressuring the ROD to delay the registration of the CLOA for Hacienda Bacan,” Angeles said.

TFM had earlier called for the relief of lawyer Romulo Gonzaga, chief of the ROD in Bacolod City, for allegedly obstructing the process of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform (CARP) in the 157-hectare Hacienda Bacan, located in the village of Guintubhan in the town of Isabela.

The farmers also called on LRA Administrator Benedicto Ulep to process the registration of their CLOA in the wake of Gonzaga’s adamant refusal to register it. Angeles said they will also ask President Arroyo to ensure the distribution of another Arroyo hacienda—the 10-hectare portion of the 197-hectare Hacienda Grande.

He said the 10 hectares were the only piece of land left for CARP coverage after the hacienda was subdivided into 42 titles to evade distribution. (With a report from Lani Factor)

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)

Filipino farmers ask President Arroyo: "Where is your promise to distribute hacienda lands?

NEGROS OCCIDENTAL, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Nov. 22, 2008) - Philippine farmers seeking the distribution of the Arroyo-owned Hacienda Bacan in the village of Guintubhan in Negros Occidental's Isabela town have reminded the President of her promise to distribute hacienda lands under the agrarian reform program.

But until now, Arroyo has not acted on her promise and peasants were demanding equatable distribution of the farm lands.

Jose Rodito Angeles, president of the peasant federation Task Force Mapalad (TFM), said Arroyo publicly made assurance last July that the 155-hectare hacienda would be distributed under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

Arroyo made the announcement after a group of farmers slipped past Malacañang security and held a lightning rally demanding the distribution of “Arroyo lands.”
Angeles, however, said that despite Arroyo’s public announcement, the family-owned Rivulet Agro-Industrial Corporation, which manages the hacienda, put up a strong resistance against CARP.

“Rivulet Corporation tried every step of the way to stop the CARP process in Hacienda Bacan. It tried to stop the Land Bank [of the Philippines ] from issuing a memorandum of valuation of the property. Then it tried to stop the bank from issuing the certificate of cash deposit. Now, it is trying to prevent the registration of CLOA [certificate of landownership award) of farmers with the Register of Deeds (ROD).

He said the ROD in Bacolod City refused to register the CLOA generated by the DAR provincial office unless the Land Bank revokes the certificate of cash deposit (COD) it issued in favor of Rivulet Corporation and issue another COD in the name of First Gentleman Mike Arroyo.

Angeles said ROD’s refusal to register the CLOA was uncalled for because its function was ministerial and that it should defer to the authority of DAR as far as agrarian reform matters are concerned.

Meanwhile, Sen. Aquilino Pimentel said he had asked Sen. Gregorio Honasan to invite Atty. Romulo Gonzaga of the ROD-Bacolod City to the Senate hearing on Wednesday next week to shed light on why they refused to register the CLOA issued by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) for the 60 farmer-beneficiaries of Hacienda Bacan.

The Senate committee on agrarian reform, chaired by Honasan, is currently investigating how DAR is using the fund for land acquisition and distribution (LAD) of CARP amid complaints that DAR had suspended the CARP process after the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARL) expired in June.

In a previous hearing held last Nov. 10, DAR Secretary Nasser Pangandaman had admitted that some P200 million of CARP fund had been transferred to the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Pimentel urged the Senate to dig deeper into the said fund transfer, saying it was anomalous because ARMM is not covered by CARP and has its own general appropriations.

“We are surprised that DAR could issue P200 million of CARP Funds to the ARMM when it had only allocated some P1.6 million for support services alone for Negros Occidental. Paro Depenoso of DAR Negros Occidental told us this is not even distributed to farmer beneficiaries directly as these funds are used for training of local DAR officials, and supplies,” Angeles explained.

Angeles further stated that Negros Occidental has the biggest backlog in the Land Acquisition and Distribution (LAD) component of CARP.

Pimentel also said that among the issues to be investigated in Wednesday’s hearing is the problem of land distribution in Hacienda Bacan. (Lani Factor)

Peste nagbabanta sa Negros!

Photo of mealybug - from Answers.com

NEGROS ORIENTAL – Nanganganib ang mga taniman ng niyog at sagingan dahil sa mga pesteng sumisira ngayon sa mahigit 200 ektarya sa lalawigan ng Negros.

Ayon sa mga magsasaka ay napeste ng husto ang kanilang mga tanim ng mga insektong mealybug. Ilang barangay na ang apekatdo ng peste at dahil dito ay natatakot ang mga magsasaka at kooperatiba na tuluyang buimagsak ang ani ng niyog at saging, partikular sa bayan ng Valencia.

Ipinarating na rin umano kay Valencia Mayor Rodolfo Gonzales ang naturang problema at ito ngayon ang pinagtutunan ng atensyon ng punong-ehekutibo. Maging lokal na agriculture office at ang Philippine Coconut Authority ay umaksyon na rin upang pigilin ang pagkalat o paglaganap ng mealybug sa ibang mga bayan.

Sa ulat naman ng pahayagang Sunstar sa Negros ay sinabi umano ni Valencia agriculturist Rescil Vincoy na halos lahat ng mga taniman ng niyog sa Barangay Lunga at Apolong ay na-expose na sa mga peste at maging mga sagingan at ibang taniman sa Barangays Sagbang, Bongbong, Jawa, West Balabag at Mampas ay nahagip na rin ng peste. (Mindanao Examiner)

After 10 years, 30 Negros Farmers Finally Get Justice

The Task Force Mapalad farmer-beneficiaries and their families inside the 61-hectare farms in the village of Caranoche in Sta. Catalina town and the village of Villareal in Bayawan City. (AKP Images / Buck Pago)

BAYAWAN CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Nov. 12, 2008) – Philippine agrarian officials on Wednesday finally installed 30 farmers who are beneficiaries of the 61-hectare land in Negros Oriental province and this after almost a decade since they were issued their Certificates of Land Ownership Award (CLOA).

The farmers had been fighting for their rights to the lands they have tilled for many years now. The land in Bayawan City was formerly owned by the family of Herminio Teves, an ex-member of the House of Representatives.

The farmers earlier held a hunger protest and camped out of the property and office of the Department of Agrarian Reform with their families and supporters for more than two months over the government’s failure to install them as beneficiaries despite their land ownership certificates under the land reform program.

Rodolfo Inson, regional director of the Department of Agrarian Reform, escorted by policemen, has formally installed the farmers without any untoward incident.

Bayawan City Mayor Herman Saraña and Sta. Catalina Mayor Ruben Melodia together with the Teves lawyer witnessed the ceremony.

Rolando Flores, chairman of Villareal-Caranoche Agrarian Reform Farmers’ Association (VillaCARFA), said that the former solon after trying for 10 years to prevent distribution of the property finally relented and had also agreed to relinquish the standing crops to them.

“After all is said and done, everything ended just fine, at least for us. We can now leave the animosity and bitterness behind and move on,” Flores said.

The farmers’ organization called Task Force Mapalad, of which VillaCARFA is a member, said the victory of the farmer-beneficiaries proved that the only hope of the landless rural poor is through the process of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

“The farmer-beneficiaries of the former Teves property won because they fought with determination for the CARP process. Without CARP and the laws that guarantee their rights to own land, they could not have won the battle,” said Jose Rodito Angeles, the TFM president.

TFM farmers last week also trooped to the Philippine National Police headquarters in Manila and sought protection for their colleagues and families they were harassed by armed men.

Angeles said Congress should work diligently for the immediate passage of a law extending CARP beyond 2008. He said, however, that even if Congress fails to extend CARP, the peasant struggle for land will continue.

“We will find new grounds of engagement. The battle for land rights will not end with the demise of CARP,” he said. (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.

Farmers Hold Picket In Central Philippines

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Nov. 5, 2008) - Filipino Farmers demanding government action on several long-pending land cases have laid “siege” Tuesday on the provincial office here of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and painted its gates with the notice: “Closed until further reforms.”

“We are declaring the office of the DAR closed until further reforms,” said Jose Rodito Angeles, president of Task Force Mapalad, during a symbolic “shutdown” ceremony outside the gates, which gave way to the onrush of protesting farmers, prompting the security guards to fire warning shots.

Angeles said that DAR had stopped processing the pending land cases after the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARL) expired last June.

“DAR has become a warehouse of non-performing assets. No matter what we do, despite our repeated pleas and protests, and despite the fact that the CARP process can still continue until the end of this year, the DAR simply ignored our demand for installation of farmers who have been holders of Certificate of Land Ownership Award (CLOA) and for protection of farmer-beneficiaries (FB) who are being harassed, threatened and evicted by former hacienda owners,” Angeles said in a statement.

Among the pending land cases which the TFM farmers want DAR to immediately resolve are the generation and issuance of CLOA for FBs of Hacienda Bacan in the village of Guintubhan, Isabela; the installation and protection of FBs in Hacienda Canaan in the village of Mabini, Cadiz City; and protection of FBs in Hacienda Victoria in the village of Camangcang, Isabela, among others.

Angeles said that the 155-hectare Hacienda Bacan, owned by the family of First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, had long been valued by the Land Bank of the Philippines but the bank, for unexplained reasons, had refused to issue a certificate of cash deposit in favor of the landowner.

TFM had earlier demanded that DAR already proceed with the generation and issuance of CLOA for FBs of the Arroyo-owned hacienda in view of Land Bank’s non-compliance with DAR’s repeated order for issuance of certificate of deposit.

In the case of the 533-hectare Hacienda Canaan and the 133-hectare Hacienda Victoria, the farmers are waiting for installation and are being subjected to harassment and intimidation from armed men who are either alleged members of the Revolutionary Proletarian Army (in the case of Hacienda Victoria) or the Philippine Army soldiers and hacienda security guards (in the case of Hacienda Canaan).

Last week, the farmers padlocked the DAR office in a show of protest, but TFM-Negros spokesperson Edna Sobrecaray said: “We are now sending the message that we will go on protesting, we will not stop protesting, CARP or no CARP, until our just demands are met.”

Sobrecaray added: “We know that DAR cannot and will not anymore pursue its CARP mandate. We cannot hope from this agency now because it has become hostage to the power politics of influential people in government. Malacañang and its allies are stalling and waiting for 2008 to end to finally kill CARP, but we will go on with the struggle for land even beyond 2008.”

In Manila, peasants were also protesting the government's failure to grant them the lands they till. Six of the farmers are in hunger strike, but one of them collapsed recently and rushed to hospital. (With a report from Lani Factor)

Negros Farmers Stage Hunger Strike In Manila

Negros farmers stage hunger strike in Manila.

Manila, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Oct. 28, 2008) – Six farmers from the central Philippine province of Negros went on a hunger strike to protest the government’s failure to grant them control over the lands they till.

The farmers, Antonio Torres, Alexander Barroca, Rolando Flores, Wilfredo Beljot, Ronilo Flores and Victoriano Cordero, have been camping out the past seven weeks in front of the Department of Agrarian Reform headquarters in Manila.

They had previously not touched food, but water for 12 days and decided to go on hunger strike after DAR officials failed to heed their appeal to grant them their lands, about 61-hectares, which was formerly owned by Negros Oriental Rep. Herminio Teves.

All farmers were granted their land certificates in 1997, but DAR failed to install them as landowners since then.

“We have waited since our Certificates of Land Ownership Awards (CLOAs) were awarded to us in 1997 and 1999 respectively for DAR to install us and yet, we are unable to enter our properties and cultivate our land.”

“We have been deprived of our very means of survival by DAR and the Teves family for ten years, if that is not patience, then what do you call that?” Rolando Flores, 54, leader of the Caranoche-Villareal Farmers Association, said.

The farmers said their lands are located in the villages of Caranoche, Sta. Catalina and Villareal in Bayawan City, all in Negros Oriental. The properties covered by two collective CLOAs were awarded to 30 farmers, who are members of the peasant group called Task Force Mapalad (TFM), under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

The property, which is currently being controlled and managed by the politician’s family, is planted with sugarcane and rice for the past ten years.

“DAR is a big disappointment, it could not truly protect farmers’ rights to own land under CARP.

On the other hand, it had repeatedly shown us that landed families with big political names and positions could easily frighten them and prevent them from implementing CARP,” Antonio Torres, 64, the oldest farmer among the six, said.

The farmers said there are no more legal impediments to their installation after all cases filed by Teves to prevent them from owning the land had been dismissed by the courts and the DAR.

They said the DAR Adjudication Board (DARAB) upheld that CARP acquisition proceedings covering the property and awarded the CLOA to them.

Farmers Harassed In The Philippines

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines - Peasant federation Task Force Mapalad has condemned the filing of "inciting to sedition" charges against five farmers from the Arroyo-owned Hacienda Bacan who were arrested Wednesday while trying to hold a protest rally in front of the Bacolod City Plaza as President Gloria Arroyo delivered her speech at the opening of the Maskarra Festival.

TFM president Jose Rodito Angeles said the police originally intended to file charges of public scandal against the farmers but they were informed by police chief Luisito Acebuche, Station 1 commander, that the Presidential Security Group insisted on the filing of sedition charges.

"We strongly condemn the filing of sedition charges. Reading the fine print of what had been done to us; this government has shown its blatant disregard for the rights of landless farmers to own and till their land. There is no basis in law to rationalize sedition raps against landless farmers calling for legitimate demands such as the implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Programme," said Angeles.

He added: " We strongly urge the President to make good her public promise last May to distribute Hacienda Bacan, which is owned by the family of her husband," he said.

Angeles clarified that, contrary to reports, they were not part of the group that jeered and heckled President Arroyo during her speech at the opening of the Maskarra Festival.

"We were at the Bacolod Plaza and immediately dispersed and arrested after we put up our placards calling for the immediate distribution of the 157-hectare Hacienda Bacan owned by the family of the First Gentleman Mike Arroyo," said Angeles.

Angeles said they had not called for the ouster of President Arroyo contrary to media reports.

"It is high time that the President order the Agrarian Reform Department to continue CARP processes in the distribution of Hacienda Bacan by issuing Certificates of Land Ownership Awards (CLOAs) to qualified farmer beneficiaries. The Land Bank of the Philippines must now issue a cash deposit in the name of the landowner, the Rivulet Development
Corporation after a property valuation was finished more than two months ago," he said.

Angeles decried the continuing detention of the five farmers as a result of the filing of sedition raps. “The charges must be dropped immediately and our farmers must be released soonest,” Angeles stated.

They were identified as Hermigildo Padilla, Everlito Algona, Bonbon Algona, Noel Estaris Jr., and Gerry Batalla. A sixth farmer was earlier reported arrested but was able to slip away from his captors. (Lani Factor)

Philippine Police Tracks Down Missing Briton

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / May 10, 2008) – Philippine police have tracked down a British national who was reported missing in the southern port city of Zamboanga, officials said Saturday.

Police mounted a search Friday for James David Rowe after failing to return to his hotel. “He was tracked down in San Carlos City in Negros Occidental province,” said Senior Superintendent Laurimer Detran, chief of the Zamboanga City police force.

Negros province is near Cebu in central Philippines.

Local radio reports said Rowe went missing Thursday after he left the Amil Hotel with a Filipino man. A hotel clerk said they reported to the police that Rowe was missing, although his things are still in the room.

Detran said the foreigner fled to evade his Chinese business partner named Fong who was expecting the delivery of motorboat engines in Zamboanga City.

The engines, he said, were to be shipped to their owners in Tawi-Tawi province.

“From the reports we received, James Rowe owes his partner some four hundred thousand pesos and that he fled to San Carlos City where he has a Filipino girlfriend.”

“Our counterparts have made contact with Rowe, but police has nothing with him unless his partner, Mr. Fong, filed charges against the Briton to recover his money,” Detran told the Mindanao Examiner.

Police said it was Rowe’s partner who reported that he went missing after the foreigner failed to deliver the cargo. No other details were available about Rowe.

Mayor Celso Lobregat has ordered the police to search for Rowe after hearing radio reports. His spokesperson, Sheila Covarrubias, said Rowe is engage in buying and selling of automotive spare parts and authorities were investigating whether his business has anything to do with his disappearance.

The United States and Australia last month warned their citizens not to travel to Zamboanga City because extremists could be planning to kidnap Americans or other foreigners at hotels or other public places in Zamboanga City.

Zamboanga had been targeted in the past by Abu Sayyaf militants whose group is tied to al-Qaeda terror network.Two homemade bombs exploded in Zamboanga City a week after the US and Australian issued the warnings. (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)