Hundreds of farmers, support groups and other peasant organizations arrive at the main offices of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in Quezon City in this file photo.
CLOSE to a hundred farmers from Barangay Sumalo, Hermosa, Bataan again converged in front of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) office in Quezon City.
Organized under the Samahan ng mga Nagkakaisang Mamamayan ng Barangay Sumalo (SANAMABASU), the farmers said that they are dismayed over botched efforts to survey and finally place under agrarian reform coverage around 154 hectares of agricultural land claimed by the Riverforest Development Corporation.
This is, despite an explicit Order from Secretary Bernie Cruz last May 06, 2022 to resume Land Acquisition and Distribution (LAD) activities, and with the said lands already placed under RP-Titling since March 2021. The land occupied by members of SANAMABASU was covered under the agrarian reform program in 2017.
In 2019, this was affirmed by the Office of the President (OP) by issuing a decision—which became final and executory—to distribute lands in the area. Last June 14, 2022, a surveying team tasked by the DAR to enter the disputed farmlands was barred from entry by several groups organized by the Riverforest who mobilized along with armed security guards.
The same groups have also filed a petition earlier this year to disqualify SANAMABASU as farmer- beneficiaries. The group cited the need to expedite and complete the distribution process as mandated by the agrarian reform law, a process that has already taken decades before coming into fruition.
Through the camp-out, Sanamabasu pushes for wider participation and involvement toward arriving at a plan for the distribution of agricultural lands to legitimate and duly recognized agrarian reform beneficiaries in the community, including strategies and timelines for all processes involved.
“We are, almost always kept in the dark, and told to just wait for updates regarding the DAR’s planned actions”, according to Fe Andulan, a Sanamabasu farmer leader. The botched attempt to survey the disputed farmlands “are leading us to believe that there might be connivance between some officials within the DAR and Riverforest to somehow stall and sabotage the LAD process,” Andulan added.
According to other members of Sanamabasu, attempts to survey the area failed amid structural enclosures and armed guards.
“With the recent survey attempt failing, Riveforest’s strategy to divide and conquer the community by turning people against our struggle has never been clearer”, lamented Clarissa Poblete, who further averred that the corporation is now resorting to “human shields” to protect their interests in the disputed property.
“This is not surprising at all, since over the years we have seen how Riverforest resorted to cunning and oftentimes vile tactics to assert their claim and power in the community.” In 2019, a young farmer leader, Jonathan Villete was shot and killed by an armed security personnel, who barred him from entry in a private security checkpoint installed by Riverforest.
“This is the same checkpoint that prevented the survey team from entering our barangay, although now it appears differently with other groups involved, but with the same intention,” said Oscar Villete, father of Jonathan Villete. “If only the DAR pushed through with the survey that day, my grieving heart would have felt justice, even if it is but an ounce.”
