Arrest of Quezon farmers suspended

LUCENA CITY — The enforcement of the warrants of arrest for 37 land reform beneficiaries in Quezon province had been suspended starting on Thursday.

“The implementation of all warrants of arrest and all proceedings before this court are suspended, pending the finding and certification of the Department of Agrarian Reform as to the existence of agrarian dispute,” said Judge Edilwasif Baddiri of the Regional Trial Court-Branch 62 in his order dated June 22.
Baddiri ordered the chief of police of San Francisco town to suspend the implementation of the warrants until further orders by the court.

Maribel Luzara, head of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Bondoc Peninsula (KMBP), personally received a copy of the court order after it was signed by Baddiri. She sent a scanned copy of the court order to the Inquirer.

“The court order is the answer to our prayers,” she told the Inquirer in a phone interview after receiving the copy.

Fugitives’ life

Since May 16, the farmers had been in hiding after being charged by the caretakers of Hacienda Matias in San Francisco with theft of crops that the farmers themselves had planted.

One of the farmers died of a heart attack while in hiding while another was arrested by the police.

Though not included among those with warrants of arrest, Luzara herself is facing 13 new complaints involving crop theft and violations of the antifencing law, which were also filed by the hacienda caretakers.

On Wednesday, after living like fugitives for more than a month, the farmers decided to return home and face arrest to protect their farms from being forcibly taken over by “outsiders.”

But when Luzara went to the San Francisco police station to arrange for the mass surrender of the wanted farmers, she was surprised when the town chief of police, Insp. Randy Buenaventura, waived the arrest.

“The farmers cried with joy. They did not expect it. As a matter of fact, they were just waiting for the arrival of the arresting policemen,” Luzara said.

No need for arrest

Senior Supt. Rhoderick Armamento, Quezon police provincial director, said he had ordered Buenaventura to forego the serving of the warrants of arrest against the farmers.

“I ordered him to just wait for the formal lifting of the warrant which I was informed was to be issued by the court soon. There’s no need to make the arrest,” Armamento said on Thursday morning.

Armamento also said that he was preparing for the creation of agrarian desks in police stations in municipalities with agrarian disputes.

Not fit for trial

Cornelio Villapando, head of the DAR office in Quezon province, had earlier declared that he would certify that cases against the farmers were “not fit for trial.”

“But that will happen only after the due of process of law had been observed. The farmers would still have to face the court,” Villapando said in a phone interview on Tuesday.