FARMERS’ PROTEST CAMP. Agrarian reform beneficiaries from eight groups join hands to pressure government officials to expedite the release of their installation orders. The farmers have put up a protest camp outside the provincial office of the Department of Agrarian Reform since September 27, 2017. They plan to stay at their camp until the DAR officials meet with them on October 3. (Zea Io Ming C. Capistrano/davaotoday.com)
TAGUM CITY, Philippines – Farmers in this region are asking the government to declare the Davao Prison and Penal Farm as part of the country’s land distribution program.
Huel Hoyle, chairperson of the Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries One Movement (AOM), they are preparing their petition for government to include the prison establishment under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).
The property, commonly known by its former name, the Davao Penal Colony (Dapecol), is home to the 5,308.36-hectare banana plantation currently managed by the Tagum Agricultural Development Co. Inc. (Tadeco).
Hoyle said they also want the government to transfer all the landholdings of the Dapecol to the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) which will oversee the distribution of the land to farmer beneficiaries.
He said they are preparing their petition and added they plan to file it next week.
Another farmer, 55-year-old Diosdado De Jesus, a board member of AOM, said they have been asking for a Presidential Proclamation on the issue since the time of former President Corazon Aquino.
“We have petitions since the time of former presidents Corazon Aquino, Fidel Ramos, Erap (Joseph) Estrada, Gloria Arroyo, and PNoy (Benigno Aquino),” De Jesus said.
However, the Dapecol area has been exempted since it was intended for penitentiary use.
In May this year, Makabayan lawmakers filed House Resolution 953 directing the Committee on Agrarian Reform to conduct an inquiry to determine the actual remaining hectarage of the Dapecol and to urge for the transfer of deed from Dapecol to the DAR, particularly the “5,212.46 hectares land” under the Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) between the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) and Tadeco.
‘Lands can be distributed if deal proven anomalous’
In an interview with Davao Today, Anakpawis Partylist lawmaker Ariel Casilao said if the JVA between Tadeco and Bucor will be proven “anomalous,” the lands can be distributed to farmers.
Casilao said the actual coverage of Dapecol could reach 12,000 hectares, but only over 5,000 were cited in the JVA.
According to the Makabayan resolution, the farmer claimants started cultivating the lands since the 1960s. However, the Dapecol has been the subject of argument involving various agencies including BuCor, DAR, Department of Justice and the Land Management Services- Department of Environment and Natural Resources and Tadeco.
Pressuring government
Hoyle and De Jesus were among the protesters outside the DAR provincial office in Barangay Mankilam, this city on Friday, September 29.
They were expecting to meet with the national officials of DAR to resolve their demand for the release of the installation orders.
Hoyle said Provincial Agrarian Reform Officer Jocelyn Seno told them that the DAR central office committed to meet with the agrarian reform beneficiaries protesting here.
A handful of farmers from various organizations were staying outside the provincial office of the DAR in Barangay Mankilam since Wednesday, September 27.
In their initial dialogue with Seno, the provincial officer asked them to leave the area until a schedule of the meeting with DAR national officers is set. But he said they are willing to wait until the day the DAR officials will come here to meet them.
“This is to add pressure on them to immediately resolve our concerns,” Hoyle said in vernacular. (davaotoday.com)
