Hacienda Looc: The Next Hacienda Luisita?

Even before the dusts have settled in Hacienda Luisita, site of the recent massacre of protesting plantation workers, another peasant community is up in arms, this time, in Nasugbu, Batangas.

BY GERRY ALBERT CORPUZ
Bulatlat

"Ayaw naming maulit ang trahedya ng Hacienda Luisita sa Hacienda Looc. Pero pag pinilit ng gobyerno iyong proyekto nila, wala kaming pagpipilian kung hindi lumaban kahit na mangahulugan pa ito ng kamatayan para sa amin" (We don't want a repeat of the Hacienda Luisita tragedy in Hacienda Looc. But if the government insists their project, we have no other choice but to fight even if this would mean death to us), says 58-year old and fourth generation Hacienda Looc farmer Leonardo Sevilla.

Sevilla, chair of the Ugnayan ng Mamamayan Laban sa Pangwawasak ng Kalupaan sa Hacienda Looc (Umalpas-Ka), an affiliate of the militant Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP or Philippine Peasant Movement), is one of the peasant leaders leading the fight against the national government road project in Nasugbu, Batangas, south of Manila.

Sevilla and other farmers of Hacienda Looc are locked in a land dispute against the Manila SouthCoast Development Corporation and its subcontractor Fil-Estate Corporation which seek to turn Hacienda Looc into a tourist resort. A pending case in the Supreme Court (SC) filed by the farmers and a Court admonition prevents any of the parties to take any action that will violate the status quo. The road project, according to the farmers, defies the status quo order.

Sevilla’s group also complained about the presence of 200 troops and policemen from the 730th Combat Group of the Philippine Air Force (PAF) and the 401st Mobile Group of the Philippine National Police in the hotly contested Hacienda Looc.

"Siguro gusto ng gobyerno at mga debeloper na maulit muli ang masaker sa Hacienda Luisita sa Hacienda Looc kaya sila naglalagay ngayon ng tropa para makapatay ng maraming magsasaka sa erya" (Perhaps the government and the developers want a repeat of the Hacienda Luisita massacre in Hacienda Looc that's why they are deploying troops to score another mass murder of poor peasants in the area), the peasant leader said.

Land dispute

Hacienda Looc has been the subject of an agrarian dispute since 1993 between farmers and the Manila Southcoast and Fil-Estate Corporation. The 8,650-ha estate is located about 90 kms  south of Manila. Some 1,700 hectares of the hacienda are devoted to production of rice, corn, vegetables and sugar cane, while the mountainous part is planted with jackfruit, mango, banana and star apple, wild rice and root crops such as cassava and sweet potato.

In 1993, the Dolor family, former owner of the 3,432 hectares of Hacienda Looc failed to settle its debts with the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP). The bank decided to dispatch the lands through public bidding and the Bellevue Properties Inc. and its co-investor, the Manila Southcoast Development Corporation, won in the bidding, paying the national government the sum of P215 million (US$3.839 million at US$1=PhP56).

According to Umalpas-Ka, it was during this time that farmers started losing their Emancipation Patents (EPs) and Certificates of Land Ownership Award (CLOA) because of what they described as super anomalous and illegal sale of Hacienda Looc farmlands.

Tourist road project

In 2000, the national government through the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) started the ambitious Nasugbu-Ternate Tourist Road Project, a vital segment of Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) road project despite protests mounted by farmer-residents of Hacienda Looc. The project would go through both the mountains and plains, affecting four barangays (villages): Papaya, Looc, Calayo and Balaytigue, stretching to 43 kms.

The government paid an undisclosed sum of money to Manila Southcoast Development Corporation for the right of way, recognizing the latter as the real owner of Hacienda Looc, despite a pending SC case over the land ownership.

The group Umalpas-Ka filed a case against the developer in 1998 which the high tribunal has not decided on yet. The high court has however reminded both parties that the status quo shall be maintained while the matter is still in the hands of the judiciary.

The DPWH hired the services of contractors 310 Construction and LRTK Construction to implement the project, which has already cleared 35 kms of the 43-km road project. The construction was halted Oct. 13 this year after farmers and residents prevented the company's bulldozers from operating in the remaining eight kilometers stretching to the town of Ternate. The move, according to Umalpas-Ka, would cut not less than 4,000 trees. 

Harassment

On Nov. 10, Nasugbu Mayor Tony Barcelon, caving in to pressures from Hacienda Looc farmers, issued a 48-hour cease-and-desist order, asking the government contractors to refrain from bulldozing the road site.

The farmers are demanding 310 Construction, the LRTK and the DPWH to compensate the farmers whose trees and farmlands were destroyed. They said the two contractors were actually dummies of Fil-Estate and Manila Southcoast.

On Nov. 19, another cease-and-desist order was issued by the local government but the Philippine Air Force (PAF) and the Philippine National Police (PNP), deputized by the DPWH Region IV-A under Regional Director Bonifacio Seguit, dismissed the mayor's order, saying that the road project was a national government project and therefore exempted from any delay or intervention.

The following day, 35 farmers, all members of Umalpas-Ka, went to the site to prevent the contractors but were reportedly harassed instead by PAF and PNP elements, headed by a Captain Fierro of the PAF and Colonel Santiago of the PNP Mobile Group. The victims included Sevilla, Roniel Asahan, spokesperson of Umalpas-Ka, human rights worker Katherine Reyes and Isaac Bautista, a barangay councilor.

“Unlawful and illegal”

On Oct. 26, the law group Public Interest Law Center (PILC), which represents Hacienda Looc farmers in their case against Manila Southcoast wrote DPWH Region IV-A office, discussing the violations it committed against their peasant clients in pursuing the road project in Nasugbu, Batangas.

PILC's resident lawyer Rachel F. Pastores said given that the case between Hacienda Looc farmers and the developer is still pending before the Supreme Court, "It is a matter of procedure that no party can take any action that will violate the status quo while the matter is in the hands of the judiciary."

Pastores said the construction of the Nasugbu-Ternate road project was unlawful and illegal for the following reasons:

·         “ The implementation of the construction of project prior to any genuine consultation with the farmers violates the rights of the farmers over the land;

·         “It is highly erroneous for your office to rely upon the dubious title of the developer-the Manila SouthCoast Development Corporation over the land and use said dubious title as basis for proceeding with the project. To reiterate, there is a pending case regarding the issue of ownership over the land between the farmers and the developer filed before the Supreme Court

·         “Your office violated the farmers' right of ownership and possession in permitting the bulldozing of the fields in the subject area for the clearing of the road as this has caused the destruction of adjacent farm lots and trees without the requisite authority from the owners

·         “The use of soldiers from the 730th Combat Group of the Philippine Air Force likewise violates the human rights of the farmers and citizens in that this engages in activities that unnecessarily vex the people's day-to-day lives and intimidate them in the quest for meaningful dialogue

·         “Your office acted improperly and in bad faith when you asked Milagros Blancas for permission to proceed with the project knowing fully well that she has no personality to give such consent in their land is prejudiced because of this project.”  Bulatlat

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