Jail Instead of Land Certificates for 6 Negros Farmers

Six farmers in La Castellana, Negros Occidental were supposed to be awarded land but what they got instead were warrants of arrest. They were accused of arson; Negros bishops condemned the charges.

BY KARL G. OMBION
Bulatlat

BACOLOD CITY – Six farmers were supposed to be awarded land but what they got instead were arrest warrants.

Last Sept. 16, Armando Panagsagan, Teodorico Panagsagan, Silverio Panagsagan, Hernando Panagsagan, Jose Arca and Numeriano Saligumba, all of Manghanoy, municipality of La Castellana (60 kms southeast of this city), were arrested for arson.

To this day, the six remain in jail and not hearing on their case has been set.

Together with their relatives, on the day of their arrest the six farmers went to the Municipal Agrarian Reform Officer’s (MARO) office to receive their certificates of land ownership award (CLOAs). They were met at the office, however, by police officers who arrested and detained them at the La Castellana Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) center.

One of those included in the warrant of arrest, Rio Panagsagan, had left for a job elsewhere early this year.

Silverio’s wife Marissa Panagsagan, 32, told Bulatlat that the six farmers were innocent. She stressed that the accusation was just the landlord’s way of preventing them from completely taking over the awarded land.

Bishops from various dioceses of Negros condemned the arrest and came to their rescue.

Regular workers

The six were regular workers of the 26-hectare hacienda originally owned by Petronila Garcia-Feria. The latter is an heir of the late Gen. Pedro Garcia, a landlord in central Negros.

In 1997, a certain Julia Mapa-Infante claimed that she leased the land from the Garcias, and brought in her own workers. But the six farmers maintained that they did not see any legal papers of the lease contract.

Marissa said that since then they were hired only as seasonal workers.

In 2002, the contract with the Infantes ended and there was a voluntary offer to sell (VOS) the hacienda to the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR). The Infantes pushed for their own workers to be the priority beneficiaries of the land, displacing the six farmers and their families. The MARO of La Castellana came out the same year with a master list placing the six as the last priority.

Nevertheless, the Panagsagans were eventually acknowledged by the DAR La Castellana as qualified beneficiaries, as evidenced by the DAR Certification of Recognition issued in July 2003. However, it was only on May 17, 2004 that they became CLOA holders.

Frame-up

Marissa said that their recognition as qualified beneficiaries threatened the Infantes. The latter then decided to set them up.

Last May 14, three days before their inclusion in the CLOA, Eddie Aquino, the encargado (overseer) of the Infantes, allegedly burned the cut bananas in a portion of the hacienda.

According to Marissa, Aquino advised the Panagsagans to occupy the remaining portion, saying in Ilonggo, “Tapos na ang arendo, puwede na kita mag-okupar” (The lease contract is already over, so we can position already in the lot.). The following days, the Panagsagans planted corn on the cleared portion of the land.

Aquino then reported the burning to a certain Boy Mirasol who then asked last May 29 the La Castellana police that the incident be recorded in their blotter.

Last June, Francisco Capaneda Jr. of the La Castellana Bureau of Fire investigated the incident and named the Panagsagans, Arca and Saligumba as the culprits.

In the same week, a case of arson was filed against them by the Bureau of Fire. But last July 25, Judge Erwin Javellana dismissed the complaint for lack of evidence. He said that arson was not committed since there was no damage to property. He added that the Bureau of Fire cannot present mere allegations as solid evidence.

On Sept. 10, despite Javellana’s decision, Assistant Provincial Prosecutor James Antequera pursued the case decision, saying the “defense of the accused which was denial cannot prevail over positive identification, and that the accused are not yet CLOA holders at the time of the incident.” Antequera then recommended that the arson case be filed against the six farmers. Immediately, a warrant of arrest signed by Judge Reynaldo Alon was issued.

Criminalizing CARP

Last Oct. 5, close to a hundred farmers including the victims’ kin led by the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP, Peasant Movement of the Philippines), picketed the DAR La Castellana office and the town hall to demand the immediate release of the six farmers.

Richard Sarrosa, KMP Negros chairman, said , “(The) DAR should remove all pretensions because no matter what they say, they are in cahoots with the big landlords.”

Sarrosa also accused the DAR of instigating violent conflicts among the farmers, and conniving with the landlords in criminalizing agrarian-related disputes.

During the picket, Marissa said in Ilonggo, “Naghinulsol kami nga magpati kag mag-entra sa (Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program)…madulom man lang gali ang amon maabtan sa sining programa ng gobyerno” (We regret that we believed and joined the CARP…after all there is no future in this program of the government.).

Bishops support farmers

Meanwhile, bishops of the dioceses of Negros, Bacolod, Kabankalan and San Carlos issued a joint position paper calling on the landlords to respect the implementation of CARP and stop the use of violence against the farmers.

Citing Bulatlat reports, the bishops said that from 2000 to September 2004, 39 farmers were illegally arrested, while 15 and 57 were killed and wounded, respectively. Several criminal cases were also filed against some 3,000 farmer beneficiaries. Bulatlat

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