ANGELES CITY- Farmers from the Alyansa ng mga Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luson (AMGL) and the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) held yesterday a protest at the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) in Quezon City to press Sec. Manuel “Mar” Roxas to dismantle “private armies” lording over Hacienda Dolores in Porac, Pampanga.
The AMGL accused private armed groups hired by real estate giant Ayala Land, LLL Holdings Inc., and FL Management Development Corporation of “employing violence and human rights violations” against farmers insisting on land reform at Hacienda Dolores where the three are building a high-end residential community.
AMGL Chair Joseph Canlas said “the DILG is fully aware that the armed men operating in Hacienda Dolores are the private army of the Ayalas. Yet, Roxas plays blind and deaf to the farmers’ demands to dismantle the armed group.”
Canlas cited a recent report by the Enforcement Management Division of the Philippine National Police confirming that the Arsenal Security Agency and Earthsaver Security Agency, Inc. had violated laws and rules at the hacienda.
The report was allegedly signed by PNP Director General Allan Purisima and submitted to Roxas last Sept. 16. The report noted that the security guards had high-powered firearms such as AK-47 assault rifles and did not wear uniforms.
It also reported that the detachment commander of Arsenal Security Agency, Darius P. Manieva, has an expired security officer’s license, while Earthsaver Security Agency had “an expired temporary license to operate.”
“In spite of these glaring violations, the DILG and PNP has failed to disarm and demilitarize Hacienda Dolores,” Canlas said. Canlas lamented that “these armed goons are being used by the land-grabbers to inflict terror in Hacienda Dolores.”
He recalled that two peasant leaders, Arman Padinio and Nemelao “Ka Melon” Barcia, were killed last January 12 and May 2, respectively, by suspected members of the security agencies hired by the real estate firms.
He noted that “the more than 2,000-hectare Hacienda Dolores lands remains under agrarian dispute.” “The Ayalas employment of private armies in Hacienda Dolores is an attempt to fortify their illegal claim over the lands. It is brazen land-grabbing and assault to the farmers’ rights over the lands,” Canlas said.
Canlas also noted that “out of the more than 2,000 hectares of Hacienda Dolores, Ayala Land is claiming 1,125 hectares to be converted into Alviera, or the conversion of Hacienda Dolores into a commercial district, business and industrial park, university zones, retail centers, a country club, recreational areas, and residential neighborhoods.”
