Farm worker seeks refuge in Manila amid harassment

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—A farm worker in Hacienda Luisita has taken refuge in Metro Manila after he was allegedly coerced into signing an agreement that required his group to leave disputed lands in the estate lost by the Cojuangco family to agrarian reform.

The conflict involved 111 farm workers, who have been tilling lands in Barangay Mapalacsiao in the Tarlac City side of the estate, which the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) awarded to 50 farmers in 2014.

Renato Mendoza, 46, secretary general of Alyansa ng mga Manggagawang Bukid sa Asyenda Luisita (Ambala), said he talked with village councilman Abelardo Galang to ease the tension that flared up on Dec. 3 between Ambala members and recipients of certificates of land ownership award (Cloa).

But 30 men encircled him as he sat inside an Ambala hut in Barangay Mapalacsiao on Dec. 4, he said, adding that 100 more men surrounded the hut.

Some of the men inside the hut wielded bolos, said Mendoza, who also serves as coordinator of the party-list group Anakpawis in Central Luzon. “By their actions, I felt harassed so I signed the agreement,” he said.

He identified the men as “residents of Texas (Barangay Lourdes), non-beneficiaries of agrarian reform and people of Lourdes barangay captain Edison Diaz.”

Mendoza said he had no part in crafting the agreement with a Cloa beneficiary identified as Melanie Salas.

Because he signed it under duress, Mendoza said the agreement is void.

Diaz claimed he was not around during the signing of the agreement, and insisted that Mendoza was not threatened. “No force was used to make Mendoza sign [the document],” he said.

On July 1, Ambala filed a complaint in court against Diaz for destroying crops grown by Gerry Catalan, a farm worker. Last year, Ambala brought to the Department of Justice a case against Diaz. —TONETTE OREJAS