FORMER HACIENDA workers in Negros Occidental get a boost in their
bid to make agrarian reform work in lands they now own, with the agriculture
department's awarding of a PhP 5-million loan package of farm equipment
and post harvest facilities to help them manage and profit from their
farms.
Task Force Mapalad (TFM), a 15,000-strong national peasant federation
of farm workers pushing for agrarian reform in large Negros Occidental
hacienda, formally receives today from Department of Agriculture (DA)
Secretary Luis 'Cito' Lorenzo farm equipments for 1,200 farmer beneficiaries
from ten (10) Negros hacienda distributed under the Comprehensive
Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).
Around 300 TFM farmers participate in today's awarding in Barangay
Busay, Bago City, as TFM President Gregorio Paclibar receives a token
check from the DA secretary. Governor Joseph Marañon, proponent of
a recent agreement with influential Negros landowners to have a control
in CARP here, is also expected to attend the event.
"We take pride in the gains of our collective work for agrarian reform,"
says 66-year-old Paclibar. He commends DA for acknowledging TFM's
long-time call for sufficient support to CARP beneficiaries, especially
after they have legally claimed their lands.
Gains
The farm equipment package is part of DA's PhP 10-million assistance
project resulting from TFM's call to government agencies to complete
agrarian reform in Negros Occidental by providing support to farmers
even after they have legally claimed their CARP lands. The ariendo
system is prevalent in Negros Occidental, wherein farmers are forced
to lease their lands to former landowners due to lack of financing
support to cultivate their lands; farmers in effect lose control of
their lands.
In July 2001, then DA secretary Leonardo Montemayor approved assistance
to TFM through agricultural production, trading, marketing, and capability
building.
Awarded farm equipment include one (1) unit of agricultural tractor
worth P 1.8M; five (5) units of rice mill worth P 810,000; three (3)
hand tractors worth P 227,400; two (2) turtle power tillers worth
P 176,000; ten (10) shallow tube wells worth P 819,000; and five (5)
rice threshers worth P 299,000.
Jeracleo Teruel, a Certificate of Land Ownership Award (CLOA) holder
in the 36-hectare Hacienda Refugio Lot B in Barangay Purisima, Manapla,
says the DA-TFM project has helped them continually manage their farms,
thereby giving them stable income. Enough production capital has also
helped them resist offers of several ariendador and has also lessened
their dependence from loan sharks or usurers.
By April last year, a year after claiming their lands, Refugio farmers
posted a net income of P 90,000 from their first harvest. They were
also able to buy a second-hand tractor for their organization. "We
now have extra money to repair our houses and buy enough food for
the lean months," Teruel says.
DA's awarding falls two weeks after the provincial government headed
by Governor Marañon proposes a Memorandum of Agreement with heads
of government agencies and presidents of three (3) influential landowners'
groups here for a "peaceful, fair and participative" CARP implementation
in the province. "The MOA, however, is hook, line and sinker of landowners'
ultimatum to resist CARP in their lands," says TFM spokesperson Jose
Rodito Angeles.
To date, 26 hacienda covering around 2,000 hectares await installation
from DAR. Farmers' claims to most of these lands are delayed due to
resistance from former landowners such as Mario Villanueva, heirs
of the late ambassador Roberto Benedicto, Gustilos, Cuenca, Rene Espinos,
Lizareses, and Lopezes.
On top of these, around 1,852 beneficiaries from 69 hacienda covering
4,617 hectares are await generation and distribution of their CLOA
within 2003.
TFM says these private landholdings serve as an acid test both to
DA secretary Lorenzo and to newly appointed DAR secretary Roberto
Pagdanganan. Angeles says Pagdanganan should implement CARP in these
lands despite resistance from former landowners. DA's Lorenzo meanwhile
should also make a dent in his term by providing sufficient support
to CLOA holders whom are set to legally claim their lands within the
year.
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