MANILA, Philippines -- After three days of marching, 76 farmers from Calatagan, Batangas arrived in Metro Manila Wednesday to protest the conversion of 507-hectares of land in their province into a mining site.

The farmers arrived in Muntinlupa City early Wednesday morning and are expected to go to the De La Salle University on Thursday and the Ateneo de Manila University on Friday, where they will be met by Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales, before marching to Malacañang to seek a dialogue with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The farmers are disputing the conversion of the farmland in Barangay (villages) Baha and Talibayog in Batangas, which had alreadyb been awarded them by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) under the Comprehensive agrarian Reform Program (CARP) in 1989 and 1990, their spokesperson Virginita Malaluan said.

Despite this, the heirs of Ceferino Ascue, the former owner of the land, alleged managed to sell the property to Asturias Industries of Ramon Ang in 1995.

During a legal suit that followed this, the DAR allegedly backtracked and said it erred in distributing the land to the farmers because it was already “mineralized,” based on a 1965 Bureau of Mines study that found ample reserves of limestone and shale in the disputed property, Malaluan said.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) then issued a Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA) to Asturias Industries in 1997.

The farmers are calling on Arroyo to issue a proclamation affirming the agricultural classification of the land, Malaluan said.

Ten of the 76 farmers are expected to go on a hunger strike on December 6, when they march to the DAR central office in Quezon City.

“The DENR and the DAR who were supposed to protect our rights as beneficiaries of the agrarian reform program have betrayed the mandate that was given to them. Instead of protecting the gains of agrarian reform the DAR and the DENR are working to reverse whatever was won by the farmers. This walk and our hunger strike that will follow are our ways expressing our protest to the betrayal of the government to the spirit of agrarian reform and social justice” Malaluan said.

The farmers are also set to camp out of the DAR office until their demands are met.

This is the second march made by the farmers. The first one was April of this year.