By CRISPIN LABORE
Bulatlat.com

BACOLOD CITY — Farmers in Negros island revealed recent incidents of land-use conversion during the two-day “Sakbayan” or protest caravan held April 21-22.

In a press conference, April 22, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW), Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA), AMIHAN, Gabriela and Makabayan coalition Senatorial bet Danilo Ramos, Gabriela Partylist second nominee Cathy Estavillo highlighted Negros farmers’ demand for genuine agrarian reform. 

One of the cases they presented is the purchase of 74 hectares of lands in Barangay Granada by the Bacolod City government. 

KMP Negros spokesperson Dan Tabura said that the lands have been certified by Municipal Agrarian Reform Office as up for distribution to 330 peasant families but the city government has justified their purchase as part of their land banking program. 

Tabura said the case in Barangay Granada is likewise happening in other towns and cities in the island. “This is a form of state land grabbing,” Tabura added. 

Meanwhile, in the municipality of Candoni, 720 families of barangays Agboy, Gatuslao and Payawan are now threatened with displacement from their farms to the ongoing operations of Hacienda Asia Plantations Inc. (HAPI) for the palm oil plantation project covering 6,652 hectares.

Felix Tolentino, leader of the Gatuslao Agro-Forestry, Banana and Sugarcane Farmers Association (Gabasfa) said that they are now caught in fear because the Araneta-Consunji joint ventures are reportedly bent on pursuing the project at all costs. 

KMP questioned how HAPI was able to secure a 25-year Integrated Forest Management Agreement (IFMA) with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and continue to operate despite alleged incomplete permits.

“We have initiated countless dialogues and sent appeals to the local government yet they didn’t show any interest, insisting that the project is already there and that it will bring more progress for the community and local government,” Tolentino said.

Tolentino further said that they also appealed to the provincial government but to no avail. 

“We have already experienced threats and harassment from the military deployed in the area. So what do we do? Where is the government that is supposed to be with us?” Tolentino lamented.

UMA revealed that the case of HAPI is part of the implementation of the Philippine Palm Oil Industry Road Map 2024-2033, a policy initiated by Duterte, and reaffirmed by the Marcos Jr. administration. According to the road map, 20 percent of the country’s agricultural lands shall be subjected to the plantation system. 

When asked by the local media what their immediate actions are, Estavillo encouraged Gabasfa to file a Writ of Kalikasan against HAPI because of the project’s impacts on the environment and food security. 

Solar farms 

The groups further revealed that solar energy projects also threaten the livelihood of Negros farmers.

According to scientist group AGHAM, since 2015, a total of six solar power farms or plants have already been set up in Negros La Carlota City , Manapla, San Carlos City, Silay City, Cadiz City in Negros Occidental, and Bais City in Negros Oriental. The solar farms cover a total of 362.2 agricultural lands.

Negros has been touted by its provincial officials as the renewable energy center of the country given the numerous solar power farms established in the island.

Three other solar power plants are reportedly underway, with a projected land coverage of 105 hectares. AGHAM said that there could be more than 500 hectares of land for this project alone. 

“This is more or less, equivalent to at least 20,000 cavans of rice lost,” Ramos stressed.

Eugene Catalan of AGHAM-Negros pointed out that despite the increase in energy production due to solar power plants, the cost of electricity continues to increase.  He explained that solar power producers sell electricity to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines at a low price, then the NGCP sells this to the power distributors and electric power cooperatives at a higher price. All the service charges are passed on to the consumers, making the price of electricity much higher. 

“It is quite obvious that these solar energy power plants cater only to the interests of big energy capitalist corporations. Just look at the financiers, owners, and contractors of the projects, they are the big names also in the energy and power sector in the Philippines,” Ray Maido, also of AGHAM-Negros said.

Ramos said, “We are not against development, but the question is what kind of development and for whom?”

Ramos said the situation in Negros is also experienced by farmers in other parts of the country. He called for the strongest condemnation of the massive land conversion and reclassification, land grabbing, environmental destruction, militarization, killings of peasants and harassment of NGOs supporting the farmers. 

Ramos reiterated that farmers need genuine land reform, subsidy for food production and national industrialization. (RVO)