Bishop to claimant: Stop harassing farmers

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO— Archbishop Emeritus Paciano Aniceto on Sunday urged a land claimant to stop the harassment of 97 farmers who, in 2005, were granted land reform titles to a 130-hectare lot here.

The land, however, was exempted from the agrarian reform program during the administration of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and their titles were subsequently canceled by the administration of President Aquino.

Aniceto made the appeal in a Mass, saying six farmers were wounded when security guards in the disputed property shot them on July 18 and on July 28 as the farmers were meeting in Barangay Maimpis here.

One of the farmers, Jessie de la Peña, was left blind when a bullet pierced through his eyes, village chief Romeo Dizon said.

Farmers Inocencio Galang, 65; Alfredo Catacutan, 67; Jaime Gulapa, 56, and Jun Jacinto, 44, were also wounded on July 28 and had undergone treatment. Another farmer was shot and wounded on July 18.

“Let’s pray that the claimant would settle the matter legally,” said Aniceto, outgoing head of the Archdiocese of San Fernando in Pampanga province.

Records showed that the claimant is a former Commission on Human Rights official. The Inquirer tried but failed to reach the former official for comment.

The 130-ha land, however, had been sold to  Zam-Bat Mining Corp. in 2012, a document in the city assessor’s office showed.

Dizon said security guards involved in the shooting incidents were employed by the firm Great Star. No company representative wanted to answer questions from the Inquirer.

The guards arrived at the property on July 9 when a sheriff served a writ of demolition issued by the Regional Trial Court Branch 42.

The farmers’ relatives filed a case for frustrated murder and attempted murder against guard Anthony Gliban and 61 others. Gliban is detained at the city jail.

Supt. Edilberto Pitallano, city police chief, on Sunday disputed reports that policemen were with the security guards when the latter opened fire.

“The shooting happened in the middle of a sugarcane field. My men responded when they heard a shot,” he told the Inquirer.

Pitallano had been relieved but Senior Supt. Marlon Madrid, Pampanga provincial police director, said his relief was not a result of the land dispute.

Farmers continued to oppose the demolition in court. They and their relatives also set up barricades whenever possible.

The farmers, who are tenants of the late Roberto Wijangco, and the Philippine National Bank (PNB) lost in a redemption case when the Supreme Court reversed its order in 2004. The Department of Agrarian Reform in Central Luzon favored their request for coverage, with the PNB selling the land to the government.

The Land Bank of the Philippines had issued certificates of full payments and titles to several farmers when former Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman exempted the land from agrarian reform because it had allegedly been reclassified before the effectivity of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law.

Agrarian Reform Secretary Virgilio de los Reyes canceled the certificates of land ownership award in 2011.

But the farmers’ lawyers said the property remains agricultural and is planted to rice and sugarcane.  Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon