DAR defers installation of 122 Negros farmers

LA CASTELLANA, Negros Occidental – Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman decided not to push through yesterday with the installation of 122 farmers affiliated with Task Force Mapalad (TFM) in the contentious 144-hectare property in Hacienda Velez-Malaga in Barangay Robles here.

Pangandaman, however, maintained that there are no legal issues preventing them from installing the farmers, saying the postponement was decided upon following reports that violence might ensue.

The situation was further aggravated by a pending petition filed by TFM against former landowner Roberto Cuenca before the Supreme Court. 

"The pendency of the petition has polarized the farmers – those with the petitioners and the rest who sympathize with the landowner," Pangandaman said.

The hacienda’s workers’ union, together with the Hacienda Malaga-Cuenca Multipurpose Cooperative, has requested the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to review the certificates of land ownership award given to the TFM farmers, insisting that only the real beneficiaries should take possession of the property. 

Gov. Joseph Marañon and fifth district Rep. Ignacio Arroyo were both relieved that no confrontation took place.

Marañon said the rule of law must prevail in the implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, adding that there must be no shortcuts in the case of Hacienda Velez-Malaga.

Arroyo said the DAR should wait for the final resolution of the Supreme Court on the case before installing the 122 farmers.

Pangandaman met with Marañon in a hotel in Bacolod City after the governor was reportedly irked when the DAR secretary failed to coordinate the farmers’ planned installation with his office.

Pangandaman said they opted to defer the installation because of police reports that supporters of TFM and the Hacienda Malaga-Cuenca Independent Workers’ Union were massing at the hacienda, clearly for a confrontation.

While he believed that the police and the military could handle the situation, Pangandaman said, "The possibility of physical harm or loss of life or limb is present, imminent and inevitable. As we value property, we value more the lives of people."

About 2,000 agrarian reform beneficiaries on board 20 trucks and buses from haciendas in the cities of La Carlota and Sagay and Pontevedra and Magallon towns arrived to throw their support behind the Malaga farmers and joined them in prayer at the entrance of the contested hacienda.

Men of the 612nd and 613rd Provincial Mobile Groups have been on standby since Tuesday for deployment in the contentious property to maintain peace and order there.

About 500 meters from the hacienda, TFM supporters gathered at the town plaza to show their support for their fellow members.

Romeo Baldevarona, provincial officer of the Commission on Human Rights, also went to the area to observe.

Pangandaman belied observations that the DAR is being pressured to install the 122 farmers as TFM members continue to stage a hunger strike in front of the department’s central office in Quezon City. 

"It is very unfortunate because they are pushing for the installation but the situation on the ground prevents us from doing so," he said. 

Pangandaman said the TFM has assured them that its members will not force themselves into the property.