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.

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)

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)

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.

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)

Negros Farmers Gearing For Big March

CEBU, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Jan. 26, 2008) - At least 5,000 farmers from all over Negros in central Philippines will march across the island starting Monday to call on Congress and the Arroyo administration to pass a law extending the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) beyond 2008 along with its land distribution component.

Dubbed “Lakat-Negros: Lakbayan sang mga Mangunguma para sa Reporma sa Duta kag Katarungan” (Walk-Negros: Farmers’ March for Land Reform and Justice), the march will start from two convergence points—Sagay City in the North and Kabankalan City in the south—and will converge in Bacolod City on January 31 for a general mass action. Jose Rodito Angeles, president of peasant federation Task Force Mapalad, said that along the way, the marchers will be joined and reinforced by other farmers’ groups and support organizations that have formed themselves into a broad coalition called Negros CARP Reform Movement (NCRM).

“Lakat Negros intends to dramatize the demands of the Negros farmers for immediate extension of CARP with land distribution. We emphasize on land distribution because some groups, including those in government, are pushing for CARP extension with provisions only for support services component and none for land distribution,” Angeles said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.

He said it is very important for the farmers to ensure that the land distribution component remains intact in extended CARP because there are hundreds of land cases in the island of Negros that have yet to be resolved under CARP.

“Ini nagapakita sang determinasyon sang mga mangunguma agud angkunon ang duta sa idalum sang repormang agraryo sang gobyerno (This shows the determination of the farmers to have their own land through the government’s agrarian reform program),” said Jose Rodito Angeles. TFM-Negros spokesperson Edna Sobrecaray said that aside from land, Lakat Negros is also about justice.

“In a larger sense, this is also a campaign for social justice that has yet to be fully realized in the province,” she said.

Sobrecaray said the route itself is symbolic as the farmers in the south will pass through the towns and cities under the Fourth and Fifth Districts whose congressional representatives are “intent on delaying or scrapping CARP extension.”

The Arroyo properties in Negros Occidental, mostly owned by First Gentleman Mike Arroyo, have yet to be placed under CARP coverage.