Bulacan farmers in land dispute nabbed in ‘Tokhang’-style ops - KMP

From InterAksyon (Oct 11): Bulacan farmers in land dispute nabbed in ‘Tokhang’-style ops - KMP

The activist Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas accused police in San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan of using the government’s anti-drug campaign as a pretext to harass and arrest farmers embroiled in a land dispute.

“This is the first case that the war on drugs was used against farmers fighting for their legitimate rights to the lands,” KMP secretary general Antonio Flores said of the arrest and detention on drug charges of Rowel Reola, Alfredo Ravel and Lito Natural, members of the Karahume Farmers Association, during a raid on their homes in Area 1, Sitio Karahume, Barangay San Isidro on October 6.

Flores said they have asked the Department of Agrarian Reform to look into the Bulacan case, saying it could “set a precedent in the rampant criminalization of agrarian disputes,” citing other instances where farmers have been charged with grave coercion, qualified theft, murder and other criminal offenses.

In Manapla town, Negros Occidental, at least a dozen farmers have also been arrested and detained on theft charges.

Agrarian Reform Secretary Rafael Mariano is a former KMP chairman and also used to represent the Anakpawis party-list. InterAksyon.com has sought a reaction from the agency but has yet to receive a response.

According to the KMP and Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Bulacan leader Eriberto Pena, the Karahume Farmers Association have long been resisting alleged efforts by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to “land grab” more than 1,000 hectares of agricultural land in the province.

Before the October 6 raid, “numerous demolitions and illegal maneuvers attempted to displace the farmers in Sitio Karahume,” which Pena said “is also part of the ancestral domain of the Dumagat indigenous people.”

Quoting information from a fact-finding team on the October 6 incident, the KMP said around 4 p.m. that day, armed men the organization said it later learned are members of the San Jose Del Monte police force, raided several houses in Area 1 and arrested Reola, Ravel, Natural, Segundina Gaitero, her daughter Mel  Grace, Valentin Salceso, and Blas Gaitero.

The KMP said the gunmen showed no warrants.

Nevertheless, Reola, Ravel and Natural “were later on vilified as members of the New People’s Army and were charged with drug possession.” The four other farmers were released without charges after a brief detention.

According to the AMB’s Pena, the BSP has been seeking a survey of lands in Karahume formerly owned by the Puyat family’s Manila Brickworks Corp. that were mortgaged to the central bank in 1995.

In 1996, certificates of land ownership award were issued to only 59 Karahume farmers, even if the rest of the farmers were paying real property taxes to the local governments of San Jose Del Monte and Norzagaray and had also “fully or partially paid their amortization dues under the CARP (Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.”

Eventually, he said, DAR cancelled the CLOAs and certificates of land transfer to the property.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/133197/bulacan-farmers-in-land-dispute-nabbed-in-tokhang-style-ops---kmp