Tillers force their way into hacienda

BACOLOD CITY — A group of farmers forced their way yesterday into the property owned by the heirs of the late ambassador Roberto Benedicto in Barangay Nagasi, La Carlota City, 45.9 kilometers south of this city.

Tension broke out when the members of the Nagasi Reform Beneficiaries Multi-Purpose Cooperative were stopped from harvesting sugarcane by another group identified with the owners. A security guard was hurt in the scuffle.

Lito Estama, the cooperative’s chairman, claimed that 77 Nagasi members have been awarded 174 hectares of the Benedicto property. He cited a Court of Appeals’ order allowing them to harvest.

But Joemar Alonso, Malibu Agro Corp. executive assistant, said if such an order exists, it is still appealable. — Antonieta Lopez