EVEN MEDIA practitioners are not spared from terror sown by powerful hacienderos in Negros Occidental, dubbed as "final frontier" in implementation of agrarian reform due to government's weakness to implement its laws amidst strong resistance from former landowners.

At 6:00 AM of November 9 in Barangay Robles, La Castellana town, some 80 km south of Bacolod City, 29-year-old cameraman Edmund Lasala of the ABSC CBN News Channel (ANC) was mobbed and beaten by twenty (20) guards and farmers supporting Negros landlord Roberto Cuenca as he was taking footages of land entry of 200 farmer beneficiaries from Task Force Mapalad (TFM) into a five-hectare portion of Hacienda Velez Malaga which Cuenca, a known Marcos crony, formerly owns.

In a phone interview, Lasala said he was taking footages of the farmers' entry with his video camera when he suddenly felt a blow on his back. As he turned around, he saw a pack of bamboo and sugarcane-wielding men ready to assault him. "Hindi po ako kalaban. Media po ako. Nagko-cover lang po ako (I am not an enemy. I am from media. I am just covering)," Lasala, wearing his press ID, recalled as telling the mob, but to no avail. The men took turns in hitting him on his head, arms, back, and legs. He said he was trying to protect his video camera, but had to let go of it when he suddenly felt a painful prick on his right hand; he later learned that one of the attackers pricked his right hand with sharp-edged bamboo.

Lasala recalled that before he was attacked, he was already hearing successive gunshots as he was taking video footages from afar. TFM farmers later said that other armed guards of Cuenca were the ones firing their M-16 rifles on air to harass farmers entering Hacienda Velez-Malaga.

La Castellana mayor Enrique Elumba, whom the ANC crew asked for help to recover their camera, however raised doubts on the incident. The mayor was quoted as saying that farmers are just using media to highlight their issues. Lasala said that even the two (2) local police whom Elumba sent to the scene failed to pacify the mob. "Pinagbabato kami, pati ang mga pulis (They threw stones at us, even at the police)."

Lasala, working at ANC since 1995, sustained bruises and scratches on his arms and legs and contusions in the head due to successive blows from bamboo and sugarcane sticks, and a swollen right hand due to the prick from sharp-edged bamboo.

ANC's visit to Negros Occidental is part of the network's documentary on the national situation of agrarian reform, in coordination with another non-government organization Kaisahan tungo sa Kaunlaran ng Kanayunan at Repormang Pansakahan (KAISAHAN) and TFM. Before arriving in Negros on November 8, ANC crew has already visited agrarian reform communities in Mindanaw for the documentary, to be aired this month.

Condemnation
In a press statement, the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines (NUJP) condemned the attack on ANC crew.

"We condemn in the strongest terms the assault against the ANC crewmen which is also an assault against freedom of the press," says Negros-based veteran journalist Edgar Cadagat, NUJP chairperson, calling on other colleagues nationwide to denounce the act. NUJP is a nationwide media organization that works for journalists' welfare and protection.

In a text message, running priest Fr. Robert Reyes said that harassment of even media practitioners is going to be "too bad for (landlord) Bob Cuenca."

Last month, Reyes led some 100 holders of Certificate of Land Ownership Award (CLOA) from lands formerly owned by Marcos cronies Eduardo Cojuangco Jr. and heirs of the late Roberto S. Benedicto in Negros Occidental in a rally in front of Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in Bacolod City to demand for the farmers' immediate installation in their lands.

Reyes also called on President Arroyo: "Please concentrate on land reform, since it is not only good for landless farmers but good for all."

TFM national spokesperson Jose Rodito Angeles says that yesterday's assault on media and agrarian reform beneficiaries reaffirms "DAR under President Arroyo is flimsy, coward and powerless to landlords' incessant sow of terror to stall CLOA holders' claim to the lands that is already theirs."

Last month, TFM initiated a simultaneous occupation of lands by CLOA holders in Negros Occidental since DAR is weak to do install them in their lands. To date,

382 CLOA holders from eight (8) hacienda covering 624 hectares in Northern and Central Negros Occidental have occupied and cultivated their lands amidst tension from former landowners, including the
97-hectare Hacienda Manolita formerly owned by First Gentleman Mike Arroyo.

Promotion
In light of the assault, KAISAHAN raised alarm on recent news reports at the national daily Philippine Daily Inquirer that DAR secretary Hernani Braganza would be revamped as agriculture secretary as a "promotion," in part of the Arroyo cabinet's reshuffling to achieve strong republic starting November 30. The report also said that agrarian reform post would be given to current agriculture secretary Montemayor, with whom Arroyo is allegedly unsatisfied for his low-key management style.

Lia Esquillo, KAISAHAN policy advocacy officer, says Braganza's "promotion" is a big question since he has performed poorly, as shown in the growing discontent among peasant groups on the former Pangasinan congressman's performance. Esquillo added that putting a person whom the Cabinet "perceives" to be perform poorly performer in the DAR post indicates that agrarian reform is least priority in the Arroyo administration's agenda.

KAISAHAN, TFM and other agrarian reform groups have been calling the Arroyo administration to prioritize agrarian reform by putting the "best and the brightest" executives in DAR, increasing national budget and national targets for land acquisition and distribution, especially private landholdings in Negros Occidental. Government still has a balance of 1.19 million hectares to distribute under the agrarian reform program, almost half of which are private agricultural lands in Negros Occidental province.

November 10, 2002

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