CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Philippines—A farmers’ group said a trespassing case involving five farmers and a company owned by relatives of President Benigno Aquino III should be treated as an agrarian dispute instead of a criminal case.
This is contained in a Nov. 7 letter by lawyer Jobert Pahilga, of the Sentro para sa Tunay na Repormang Agraryo (Sentra), to the Department of Agrarian Reform’s (DAR) Bureau of Agrarian Legal Assistance.
The Municipal Trial Court in Cities (MTCC) in Tarlac has asked the DAR to determine and certify if agrarian dispute exists in the criminal case that the Tarlac Development Corp. (Tadeco) filed against farmers Vicente Sambu, Jose Baldiviano, Rod Acosta, Mamerto Mandigma and Ronald Sakay in January.
Agrarian reform laws give the DAR exclusive jurisdiction over agrarian disputes.
The farmers stood their ground to protect their crops when Tadeco employees evicted them from contested land in the villages of Balete and Cutcut II in Tarlac City, said Pahilga.
In an e-mail interview, Anthony Parungao, agrarian reform undersecretary for legal affairs, said all that the DAR can do, through the provincial agrarian reform officer, is to determine and certify, in a summary proceeding, whether an agrarian dispute exists in this case.
Tadeco did not comment on the latest development.
But in an earlier statement, Tadeco said it protested the agrarian reform coverage of 358 hectares in December 2013, arguing that the property was not agricultural in nature.
It said all farm lots had been turned over to the Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI) in 1989.
Pahilga said Tadeco guards and police also sued the five farmers, all members of the Alyansa ng mga Manggagawang Bukid sa Asyenda Luisita (Ambala), for physical injuries and assault on persons in authority.
Pahilga said the Supreme Court had ordered the DAR to distribute agricultural lands in Hacienda Luisita, including those in Balete.
The MTCC had also asked the DAR to determine and certify as agrarian dispute the malicious mischief cases filed by Tadeco guards against 48 farm workers and Tarlac City Councilor Emily Ladera-Facunla.
The Unyon ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA), in a statement, said these cases are all agrarian in nature.
“DAR knows this and should invoke the courts to refer all cases to them and dismiss the charges against farm workers and their advocates in Hacienda Luisita,” UMA said.
But Parungao said UMA’s reference to the high court’s decision in the Hacienda Luisita case is “misplaced.” Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon