MindaNews: Bukidnon farmers ask Pnoy’s help vs ‘goons’ in contested land

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/26 April) – A farmers’ group in Bukidnon has sought the President’s intervention to stop what they called a “reign of terror” by “goons” of the contested 502-hectare Villalon Ranch in this town.

In a statement, Alyansa Bukidnon chair Oscar Maniego said “armed goons deployed by the owner of the ranch have been running amok, and government inaction has emboldened them to commit human rights violations against members of the Panalsalan Dagumbaan Tribal Association (Padata) and even to murder a farmer last year.”

Maniego based his statement on the result of a fact-finding mission on March 29 that cited the alleged abuses perpetrated by the ranch guards against the farmers. The allegations included looting of farm animals and produce, firing at houses and damage to property, as well as harassment. Read More »

Group doubts DAR-South Bukidnon can deliver target by end-2011

MARAMAG, Bukidnon (MindaNews/04 December) – The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) of South Bukidnon believes it can meet its target to distribute the lands covered by the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) before the year ends.

But Task Force Mapalad (TFM), a national federation of farmers, farm workers and individuals working for agrarian reform, doubts the agency can meet its target given the current pace of the implementation of the program.

Norberto Paquingan, Provincial Agrarian Reform Officer (PARO) of South Bukidnon, claimed that they can meet the 2,126-hectare target before December 31. Read More »

Special Report: Agrarian reform beneficiaries reenter contested ranch in Maramag

MARAMAG, Bukidnon (MindaNews/03 December) – Gonzalo Pinuti held his hammer tight as he detached the barbed wire from a fence of a former cattle ranch amid the blistering heat of the sun. With help from a fellow farmer, it took him about five minutes to detach the barbed wires and put down three wooden posts and let his colleagues enter the ranch with carpentry tools, round timber and tents for their temporary shelter.

These farmers were not intruding into a private property but reoccupying a portion of the ranch where they used to dwell.

About 30 minutes later, 57-year old Pinuti, his frame silhouetted below the blue skies, scaled one of the posts to nail one of the frames for a makeshift tent. “For now, we will sleep under this tent while we are building our permanent houses,” the farmer who had worked in the sugarcane plantation in the same area in the 1970s said. Read More »

Murdered Lumad Farmer

Relatives of slain farmer Welcie Gica check the tarpulin to be posted at the wake in Maramag, Bukidnon. The farmer was allegedly shot by ‘goons’ of the owner of the contested Villalon Ranch in Maramag on August 24.