Four farmers plead not guilty to charges

FOUR of the 36 farmers who clashed with the police last year to stop the fencing of the disputed Hacienda Gantuangco in Aloguinsan town in southern Cebu pleaded not guilty during their arraignment yesterday.

Terry Obtina, Lilia Engracial, Aljenadra Pañares and Librado Manzano were arraigned on charges of resisting arrest and direct assault before Regional Trial Court Judge Hermes Montero of Branch 59 in Toledo City.

They were assisted by lawyers Ian Manticajon, Kim Mendoza and Alfonso Cinco.

The other accused were arraigned last year but the four were not around. One more accused, Romeo Cordanesa, who is still confined in a hospital, has yet to be arraigned.

After the arraignment, the four farmers voluntarily surrendered to the police as they have a pending arrest warrant for a grave coercion case on a separate land dispute.

The case is pending before the Municipal Trial Court in Pinamungahan, Cebu.

Their co-accused, Roberto Engracial, Randy Deroy, Restituto Manzano and Jonathan Olbinario, also surrendered.

In an interview, Manticajon said he will request the court to reduce the amount of bail for the accused who are detained at the Aloguinsan municipal jail.

“We have long wanted to to possess the land. Without the farmer, you have nothing to eat. We struggle because of our system of governance. We just want to protect the land that we till,” one farmer said in Cebuano.

In August last year, 36 farmers and three college students were arrested after they clashed with policemen who enforced the court order to fence a parcel of land in Bonbon, Aloguinsan, owned by the Gantuangco family.

Police said the farmers attacked them with pieces of wood, bamboo lances, scythes, bolos, slingshots, Indian arrows and knives./Reporter Ador Vincent S. Mayol