Three days after their release from jail, more than 50 farmers involved in the agrarian land conflict in Aloguinsan town returned to set up camp in the contested property of Hacienda Gantuangco.
Members of militant groups Bayan Muna headed by secretary general Arman Perez, Anakpawis, and Karapatan Central Visayas joined the farmers for a press conference yesterday.
Perez said they would organize a fact-finding mission with the Farmers’ Development Center (Fardec) to investigate the Aug. 29 commotion in the hacienda.
A total of 39 demonstrators, mostly farmers, were arrested when they tried to prevent a court sheriff from serving an order for the fencing of the 168-hectare hacienda by the Gantuangco claimants. The farmers clashed with over 100 anti-riot policemen who were pelted with urine, human waste, Indian pana darts and acid-like liquid.
The group will hold a “solidarity night” tonight with former senator John Sonny Osmeña, who provided the money to post their bail on charges of direct assault and disobedience to persons in authority.
Perez said private guards of the Gantuangcos continued to watch them and took photographs of the activities.
“We don’t want to start violence with them because it’s not their fault. They are just there because of orders,” Perez said.
No date has been set yet for a meeting, but Perez said he was glad that Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma told reporters on Sunday that he was willing to mediate in the land row.
Perez said the group would bring to the hospital for treatment a 59-year-old woman whom they believed was psychologically affected by her arrest last week. Perez said the woman refused to eat and speak since the arrest.
Meanwhile, the 36 farmers and three students in the Aloguinsan clash are asking the court to help ensure their safety. They filed a petition for a writ of Amparo before the Regional Trial Court in Toledo City, asking the court to issue a permanent protection order and restrain policemen and some private individuals “from doing further harm or even approaching” them.
A writ of Amparo is a court order aimed at protecting the constitutional rights of a person especially victims of extrajudicial killings.
The petitioners said they also want the charges of direct assault and resisting arrest filed against them to be dropped. Respondents of the petition include Senior Supt. Ager Ontog, PNP Central Visayas director; Senior Supt. Patrocinio Comendador of the Cebu provincial police; Chief Insp. Rusty Santos, Insp. Julius Ompad, chief Provincial Investigation and Detective Management Branch; and Senior Supt. James Tolentino, chief of the Aloguinsan police. /Ador Vincent S. Mayol and Candeze R. Mongaya, Reporter