Farmers’ structures removed in Negros hacienda

BACOLOD CITY—The rejoicing was short-lived for a group of land-reform beneficiaries who were installed in portions of an estate that the family of former First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo denies owning.

Barely a week after the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) installed at least 63 farmers on Hacienda Bacan in Isabela, Negros Occidental, the shacks and fences that 20 of the farmers built to mark what they thought was now their property had been forcibly removed.

At least 10 armed guards of the Rivulet Agro Industrial Corp., the firm which was listed as owner of the estate, entered the farm about 4 p.m. on July 3 and destroyed structures built by farmers belonging to Task Force Mapalad (TFM).

Shacks and fences built by 43 members of another group, Negros Occidental Federation of Farmers Association (Noffa), were not touched, said Noffa head Enrique Tayo.

TFM spokesperson Edna Sobrecanay said TFM beneficiaries were asking the DAR and police for help as tension had risen following the demolition.

She said on Wednesday that a guard house had been built in the area where the structures were demolished.

Sobrecanay said the farmers were preparing affidavits against the 10 guards involved in the demolition.

Felix Servidad, provincial agrarian reform officer, and Senior Supt. Allan Guisihan, provincial police director, on Tuesday said they would investigate.

Guisihan said he instructed Insp. Jayson Manguilimotan, Isabela police chief, to determine if there was a need to deploy more policemen to the area.

Ruy Rondain, lawyer of Rivulet and also lawyer of the Arroyos, said the firm maintains that the installation of the farmers was illegal because the Supreme Court had issued a temporary restraining order against it.

“We consider them squatters,” Rondain said. He said the guards were brought into the farm to watch over the property.

The DAR installed the farmers in 148 hectares of the 157-hectare sugar plantation on June 28.

The farmers believe the property was owned by former First Gentleman Arroyo and his brother, Negros Occidental Rep. Ignacio Arroyo of the 5th district.

DAR records had shown that the capital gains tax computation of Jose Miguel Arroyo as buyer of the property had been secured from the revenue district officer on Oct. 3, 200l.

But Representative Arroyo said the land does not belong to him, or his brother but to Rivulet.

The installation of the farmers came amid a continuing campaign by groups of farmers for President Aquino to allow land reform to cover Hacienda Luisita, the estate that his family owns.