Farmers seek DAR help for access to their lands

ILOILO CITY—For nine years, Eva Ala-an and other farmers struggled to occupy the lands granted to them by the government as agrarian reform beneficiaries.

On June 30 last year, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) finally installed Ala-an along with 43 other beneficiaries to their land covering about 50 hectares in Barangay Libertad in Banate town and Barangay Cag-an in Anilao town in Iloilo.

They were installed on their land, about 1.2 hectare each, after filing their complaints in the Office of the Ombudsman against DAR officials for the delay in the implementation of a writ of installation.

But since then, Ala-an said they have been allegedly harassed and their occupation made difficult by the previous owner of the property.

Ala-an, president of the Kaisahan sang Mangunguma sa Program sang CARP (KMPC), said they were seeking help from DAR and other government agencies so they could freely work on their farms.

She said the main access road between the farms and the main road has been blocked with a steel gate and guarded by security guards of the previous owner.

“What used to be a 20-minute walk has become two hours because we have to cross a creek, a dam and sugarcane fields. It’s difficult to bring fertilizers and other inputs,” she told the Inquirer.

Before the land parcels were awarded to them, they had free access to the road, which is part of the property of the former land owner, she said.

The farm of one of the beneficiaries, Rene Asong, was allegedly plowed and planted with sugarcane by workers of the former landowner.

“We do not want to claim or encroach on other people’s land. We only want to work on our farm and live peacefully,” she said.

The KMPC is seeking the intervention of DAR and other government agencies.

“It is not enough that they installed us. What use is the land if we cannot work on them?” she asked.

She said they were only asking that they be given right-of-way to their farms and that the ownership dispute be settled because the pieces of land have already been awarded to them.

Msgr. Meliton Oso, director of the Jaro Archdiocese Social Action Center, appealed to the DAR to address the plight of the beneficiaries.

“We will also provide legal assistance but they should be protected by the government,” Oso said. Nestor P. Burgos Jr., Inquirer Visayas