Farmers against land settlement

A farmer’s group locked in a land dispute with the Gantuangco family reiterated yesterday that they won’t agree to a settlement over the 168-hectare lot in Bonbon, Aloguinsan town in southwest Cebu.

“We won’t be lulled into accepting a cash settlement because money can easily be spent,” said Roberto Engarcial, spokesman of the San Roque Farmers Association (SRFA) in a press conference yesterday.

He said their group is adamant about their claim as rightful owners of the lot based on their length of occupation and the certificate of cadastral survey issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in 1982.

“We lived here for so long already from the time of our forefathers,” said the 58-year-old Engracial in Cebuano.

Engarcial said they also received word that the Gantuangcos will fence their lot and use police to harass them.

“Kon ila koralon, asa naman mi paingon? Asa man mi agi? (If they corral the lot, where will we go? Where will we pass through?),” Engarcial said.

Lilia Yanong said she won’t allow another repeat of the 2011 incident in which she and others were harassed by police. “It’s like killing us little by little,” Yanong said. Aloguinsan town is located 73.2 kilometers from Cebu City. The Central Visayas Farmers Development Center (Fardec) lauded the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) adjudication board decision to dismiss the petition of non-tenancy filed by the Gantuangcos against the farmers.

Engarcial said the Gantuangcos planned to sell the lot and develop it for commercial or industrial use.

Despite the DAR decision, Fardec representative Patrick Torres said the farmers still face charges of harassment and malicious mischief for trying to prevent the fencing of the lot. Correspondent Tweeny M. Malinao