Theft cases vs land reform beneficiaries in Quezon coconut farm withdrawn

LUCENA CITY—The criminal cases filed against 35 beneficiaries of the government’s land reform program for allegedly stealing coconuts in the Bondoc Peninsula district in Quezon province have been withdrawn by the provincial prosecutor’s office.

However, one of their leaders, Maribel Luzara, president of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Bondoc Peninsula (KMBP), is facing 13 new complaints involving theft and violation of the antifencing law. These were submitted to the San Francisco town police by caretakers of Hacienda Matias.

“I expect the flood of arrest warrants to follow unless concerned government agencies move fast to end this injustice,” Luzara said.

On Thursday, KMBP received a copy of the provincial prosecutor’s motion for the withdrawal of the cases against 35 land reform beneficiaries in Hacienda Matias.

“Upon review of the evidence… there is a need to withdraw the information and refer the same to the provincial agrarian reform office for appropriate action,” said Ramon Dominguez Jr., Quezon deputy provincial prosecutor, in his May 22 motion filed in the Regional Trial Court Branch 96 in Catanauan town.

Cornelio Villapando, head of Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Quezon II, said his office would certify that the cases were “not fit for trial.”

The farmers went into hiding after a court ordered their arrest.

Most of them are on the DAR’s list of land reform beneficiaries while some have been issued with certificates of land ownership award in the Matias estate.

One of them, Samuel Cuervo, 62, had a heart attack on June 4 and died while he was being taken to a hospital in Lucena City.