CAGAYAN DE ORO — A group of farmers and farm workers in Barangay Sinangguyan, Don Carlos, Bukidnon, was alarmed after the police allegedly called some of its members asking about the legitimacy of their association.
Jovencio Destor, president of the Don Carlos Bukidnon United Farmers Association Incorporated (DCBUFAI), told Bulatlat that the questioning of him happened on June 10, the day the government was commemorating the 38th year of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), a program that would give farmers ownership to the land they till.
He said a woman who introduced herself as a police officer from Don Carlos Municipal Police Station asked where he was located and if their association was legitimate. He, however, could not remember the name of the caller.
Based on their conversation, Destor said the call allegedly stemmed from a “memorandum” received by the police station from its provincial headquarters in Bukidnon. No further information regarding the alleged memorandum, however, was provided.
Bulatlat reached out to Major Al-Nico Haman, Don Carlos police chief, through texts and calls since June 23 for comments, but there was no response as of this writing. However, a desk officer of the Don Carlos police station told Bulatlat via a phone call that there was no such memorandum.
The call from an alleged police raises questions on the part of DCBUFAI members because a day before the incident, on June 9, they visited the office of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Northern Mindanao in Cagayan de Oro, a few hours from Don Carlos town, to personally deliver their letter, asking for follow-ups on the decades-long delayed issuance of their certificate of land ownership award (CLOA) titles.
Destor claimed that other group members who accompanied him to the DAR office were also contacted by the police, asking if they staged a protest.
“Who would not be afraid of that situation? Is the PNP (Philippine National Police) aware of DAR matters? Of course, we are just human. We felt terrified,” he told Bulatlat in the vernacular, recalling the case of its previous president, Franklin Cabiguin Labial, who was gunned down in 2007 by two unidentified assailants in front of his house in the same town.
DCBUFAI members have been pressing DAR Northern Mindanao to resolve their concerns. Last year, they held a protest in front of the agency’s office to push for their demands.
Association members are claiming a total of 109 hectares of land that was reportedly part of the 4,000-hectare Bukidnon Farms Incorporated (BFI) previously owned by the late business tycoon Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco Jr., a known Ferdinand Marcos Sr. crony. BFI was reportedly sequestered during the Corazon Aquino government, and part of it was ordered for distribution for qualified agrarian reform beneficiaries.
Lawyer Farrahmila Mala of DAR Region 10 told reporters in an interview on June 9 that they have been waiting for the budget approval from their central office in order for the Task Force BFI’s validation to start.
Destor, meanwhile, criticized Mala’s response, claiming that they have been repeatedly revalidated and surveyed, but their CLOAs remained unissued. He also said that they, especially their parents, have been cultivating the land even prior to the enactment of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law.
“They are not serious with their work,” the DCBUFAI president said.
CARP’s failure
The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) stressed that the landlessness of farmers has remained widespread in the country despite the implementation of CARP nearly four decades ago.
“Thirty-eight years after CARP was enacted, millions of farmers remain without land tenure or security of the land they cultivate. This is clear proof that the program has failed to resolve the centuries-old problem of land monopoly,” KMP said in a statement.
Read:CARP deceives peasants, benefits landlords
The 2022 data of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) revealed that only 21.8 percent (4.30 million individuals) of the total agricultural population in the country of 19.68 million individuals aged 18 and above—who were members of households with at least one agricultural operator—have reportedly owned or secured rights over the land they till.
The regions of Bicol (16.8 percent), Eastern Visayas (17.6 percent), and Western Visayas (18.2 percent) were among the lowest proportions.
In an earlier report by Business Mirror, a DAR official had reported that since the CARP’s implementation, a total of 4.9 million hectares of agricultural lands had been distributed to 2.8 million agrarian reform beneficiaries as of June 2020.
However, KMP pointed out that the accomplishment remained low compared to the program’s reported original target of 10.3 million hectares when the agrarian reform law was enacted in 1988, which was later adjusted in 1996 to 8.1 million hectares following drastic cuts in coverage of both private and public lands.
“Even after 38 years, CARP has failed to complete its already reduced coverage. The backlog reflects the government’s absence of political will to confront landlord power,” KMP said.
During a street forum held in front of the DAR Central Office on June 10, former Anakpawis representative and Agrarian Reform Secretary Rafael Mariano said some of the principles of a genuine land reform include ending the social injustice in the ranks of farmers, distributing for free the agricultural lands that are actually tilled by them, and no retention for landlords.
However, Mariano stressed that these would only be achieved through the abolition of land monopoly. (RVO)
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