68 farmers take over Arroyo land in Negros

MANILA, Philippines -  Sixty-eight farmer-beneficiaries finally took over Hacienda Bacan in Isabela, Negros Occidental on Tuesday despite the objections of one of the former landowners, Negros congressman and former presidential brother-in-law Ignacio “Iggy” Arroyo.

The farmers were installed in 148.22 hectares covered by the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

In a statement, Charito Celis, head of the Hacienda Bacan Farmer-Beneficiaries Association, said the installation was long overdue and took place despite the legal manipulations of the Arroyos whose Rivulet Corp. was the formal owner of the land.

Provincial agrarian reform officer Felix Servidad led the installation, accompanied by 40 policemen and 52 soldiers from the 3rd Infantry Division of the Army’s 47th Infantry Battalion.

Celis said farmers loyal to the Arroyos tried to stop the installation. “Thirty of them set up a bamboo gate serving as a barricade in front of the main entrance to the hacienda. They also parked a tractor near the barricade,” she said.

During the roll call, the farmer-beneficiaries held up copies of their Certificates of Land Ownership Award (CLOAs), waving the documents in the air.

They also held their CLOAs aloft during the march toward the installation area, about half a kilometer from the gate.

Also present during the installation were members of the German group International Peace Observers Network.

Celis said, “We are extremely happy that after 10 years of struggle, we can now start our lives with peace and with the land that we own.”

He added: “We dedicate our victory to Rogelio Salva who was with us throughout the long struggle. I can feel he is with us.”

Salva died in November last year while he and his fellow farmers were holding a protest camp in front of the Department of Agrarian Reform office in Quezon City.

The farmers were pushing President Aquino and Agrarian Reform Secretary Virgilio de los Reyes to distribute the properties of the Arroyos and other big problematic landholdings.