Roberto Mantilla of Hearbco-1 denies that it was their group which hired the plantation guards, saying all the allegations are baseless and untrue. PHOTO BY JAYCEL VILLACORTE / DAVAOTODAY.COM
DAVAO CITY, Philippines — A representative of the Hijo Employees Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Cooperative – 1, denied on Monday that they have had a hand in the recent shooting incident and the forced eviction of the Madaum Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries, Inc. farmers.
Speaking at the Kapehan sa Dabaw, Roberto Mantilla of Hearbco-1 also denied that it was their group which hired the plantation guards, saying all the allegations are baseless and untrue.
“Nia ko diri agig pagtubag sa maong pasangil nila nga kami kuno maoy naghire sa gwardiya sa Lapanday, ug kami daw nagsugo ipapusil ng mga tawhana, kanang mga tao na taga Marbai. Dili na tinuod. Wala mi mag-hire anang mga tawhana”(I’m here to answer the allegations that we were the ones who hired the guards of Lapanday, and that we were the ones who ordered the shooting of the Marbai farmers. That is not true. We did not hire them,” Mantilla said.
Mantilla also rebuked the claim of Lapanday Foods Corporation that the land dispute ensued because of the “internal conflict” between the two faction farmers’ cooperatives.
He said that Hearbco-1 and Marbai maintained a “good working relationship” even after 2011 when then Hearbco-1 President Mely Yu and a score of farmer-members bolted out from Hearbco-1.
Mantilla said they saw LFC plantation guards beat several farmers last Dec. 31. He also pointed out that they did not participate when Marbai farmers were evicted from their territory.
“Dili na tinuod nga kami nag-away away sa mga kauban sa maong coop” (It is not true that there we were fighting), Mantilla said.
Last Dec. 12, at least seven were hurt after guards allegedly hired by LFC open fired against Marbai farmers who were staging a camp protest. The farmers were calling for their reinstatement to the 145 hectare land that was awarded to them by the Department of Agrarian Reform in 1997.
Read: ‘We were unarmed’, injured farmers say in land dispute shooting
The Marbai farmers occupied their 145-hectare of land after the Dec. 19 cease and desist order from the Department of Agrarian Reform came into effect but they were forcibly removed by LFC guards last Dec. 31.
Read: On New Year’s eve, Tagum farmers forcibly evicted from disputed land
In a statement, LFC said it was the members of the Hearbco-1 who brought the security guards with them to conduct a “security sweep” and an inventory of equipment. LFC said that Hearbco-1 discovered that many of their equipment had gone missing.
Mantilla denied this as well.
“Mao nang dakong bakak nga gipasangil sa Lapanday sa amoa. Mao nga nianhi ko agi’g tubag anang isyu” (That is a big lie that Lapanday has accused of us. That is why I came here to answer the issue,” Mantilla said. (davaotoday.com)
