CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Three farmers’ groups have petitioned the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to stop a survey of some 1,000 hectares of land in San Jose del Monte in Bulacan that would allegedly pave the way for landgrabbing by relatives of Interior and Local Government Sec. Mar Roxas.
The farmers’ groups Tungkong Mangga Upland Farmers Association (TMUFAI), Sandigan Samahang Magsasaka (Sasamag), Samahang Magsasaka sa Dalandanan (Samagda) asked DAR to stop the land survey being done by Rasa Surveying Company reportedly hired by Araneta Properties owned by relatives of Roxas.
The three farmers groups, allied with the militant Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), urged the DAR to “immediately issue a cease and desist order” against the surveying firm.
The farmers insisted that the land should remain agricultural as it has always been productive and thus be subject to land reform with its long-time tillers as beneficiaries. The survey was reportedly to pave the way for the development of the 1,000-hectare area into a residential and commercial project.
“Our petition for the immediate cancellation of conversion order granted by the DAR to the Aranetas is still pending.
It is evident that these illegal acts by Araneta Properties are backed by no less than their family’s political representative in the Aquino administration Sec. Mar Roxas,” said TMUFAI Vice-Chair Eriberto Peña.
Peña reported that “the illegal surveying was coupled with harassments and human rights violations by private guards of SECURICOR security agency hired by the Aranetas.” “The surveyors are accompanied by more than 10 security guards armed with high-powered rifles and are harassing farmers who are questioning and opposing their illegal surveying,” said Peña.
He noted that already, some 100 hectares of the controversial area in Barangay Tungkong Mangga have been bulldozed for conversion into a housing and commercial project. KMP Secretary General Antonio Flores said that the new conflict in Tungkong Mangga “is a testament to the failure of the bogus Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) to defend peasants’ rights over the land.”
Flores recalled that in 1998, the DAR ordered the coverage of 311 hectares of land under the CARP. The Aranetas opposed the decision, filed a petition for exemption from CARP coverage, and deployed private security guards to keep away the farmers.
Now, the Aranetas have been claiming ownership not only of the 311 hectares but more than 1,000 hectares of lands in Tungkong Mangga, he noted. “Ironically, while the agrarian dispute is still pending before the DAR, the DAR itself issued a conversion order in favour of the Aranetas.
Obviously, there is connivance between Roxas’ relatives and the DAR,” Flores added.
