The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) expressed this fear after policemen arrested seven farmers for alleged possession of illegal drugs last Oct. 6 in San Jose del Monte City in Bulacan.
“This is the first case that the war on drugs was used against farmers fighting for their legitimate rights to their lands. It is alarming that landowners are exploiting the government’s ‘Operation Tokhang’ to harass and undermine farmers and their assertion to defend the land,” said KMP secretary general Antonio Flores.
Flores said a group of armed men raided the houses of the farmers at about 4 p.m. last Thursday in Sitio Karahume, San Jose Del Monte last Thursday. The men wore bonnets in raiding the houses of the farmers who were all members of the Karahume Farmers Association in Barangay San Isidro, also in San Jose del Monte.
The association has been asserting their rights over some 1,000 hectares of land in Bulacan being claimed by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
A quick response team dispatched by the KMP and the Tanggol Magsasaka to the site identified the arrested farmers as Rowel Reola, Alfredo Ravel, Lito Natural, Segundina Gaitero, Mel Grace Gaitero, Valentin Salceso, and Blas Gaitero.
Flores said the team later verified that the armed men were members of the San Jose del Monte police force.
“They did not have any search warrant and searched the homes of the farmers in the manner of Oplan Tokhang. Several women and children who witnessed the raid were traumatized by the incident, “ he noted.
Flores said Reola, Ravel and Natural were later tagged as members of the New People’s Army (NPA) but were charged with drug possession. They remained jailed as of yesterday at the city police headquarters.
Segundina Gaitero, her daughter Mel Grace Gaitero, Valentin Salceso and Blas Gaitero were later released from detention without any charges.
KMP asked the Department of Agrarian Reform to look into this case, saying “it could set a precedent in the rampant criminalization of agrarian disputes.”
“Farmers involved in land cases are often charged with grave coercion, qualified theft, murder, frustrated murder and similar cases. This is the first case of drug possession against farmers that we have documented,” said Flores.
He also said that “before the incident, numerous demolitions and illegal maneuvers attempted to displace the farmers in Sitio Karahume. The disputed land is also part of the ancestral domain of the Dumagat indigenous people.”
He said the contested lands in Sitio Karahume were originally owned by the Manila Brickworks Corp. of the Puyat family. In 1995, the said lands were mortgaged to the BSP. The old TCTs were cancelled and new nine titles, Transfer of Certifi cates of Titles (TCT) Nos. T-48694 to T-48702, were issued to BSP.
Flores stressed, however, that in 1996, at least 59 farmers were issued with Certificates of Land Ownership Award (CLOAs) covering parts of the area which also extends to Norzagaray town. The farmers have been paying amortization dues for the lands, as well as real estate taxes to the local governments of San Jose del Monte and Norzagaray.
But the CLOAS and Certificates of Land Transfers of the farmers were later cancelled by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) after it issued “exclusion” orders to justify the cancellation.
“Many farmer-beneficiaries have fully or partially paid their amortization dues under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program,” Flores said.
