Agraaa.docx

MANILA, Philippines - Four sugar estates in Negros Occidental have been acquired and distributed by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to 244 farmerbeneficiaries. The almost 500-hectares of property are located in the cities of Cadiz and Sagay. The biggest landholding distributed was the Hacienda Cana-an in Barangay Mabini, Cadiz City, which covers 386.85 hectares. Of the total area, 352 hectares were divided among the farmer-beneficiaries. The rest were retained to the owners. DAR assistant secretary for field operations Teofilo Inocencio said each of the 123 farmer-beneficiaries in Hacienda Cana-an were given almost three hectares of farm lots. The beneficiaries belong to four farmers groups, including the Task Force Mapalad and Katarungan. We hope this level of cooperation among stakeholders in the agrarian reform program will help fast-track CARP (Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program) implementation in Negros Occidental and be replicated in other parts of the country, Inocencio said. The DAR official said the installations were meant to assist farm worker-beneficiaries in identifying and occupying their CARP-awarded lands. Installation is crucial only in areas where tension may arise between previous landowners and qualified beneficiaries, as well as among farm workers who are affiliated with different farmers organizations. In most part of the country, the beneficiaries given Certificates of Land Ownership Awards (CLOAs) to assume possession of the land without the need of installation. We only resort to installation to prevent the possible outbreak of violence as a result of the land distribution, he said. As of January, there were still 93,000 landholdings covering 870,000 hectares that remain undistributed under the agrarian reform program. Read more at https://www.philstar.com/nation/2013/06/30/959793/dar-distributes-4negros-sugar-estates-farmers#VISD2XjeFKb0sowu.99

L and in four big haciendas in Negros Occidental province covering almost 500 hectares has been distributed to 270 sugar farmers under the country’s Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), officials of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) said on Friday. In a news release, DAR said it had finished installing the farmers in the four sugar estates in the cities of Cadiz and Sagay in Negros Occidental. T he biggest landholding distributed to farmers was that of Hacienda Cana-an in

Barangay Mabini, Cadiz City, with a total area of 386.85 hectares, of which 352 hectares were covered by CARP. The rest of the land was composed of the retention area for the landowner, as well as roads and eroded portions excluded from agrarian reform. Five hectares max Under the law, a landowner may retain only a maximum five hectares of land. The three other estates portioned out to farmers were Hacienda Vicente, with 26.7 hectares distributed, Hacienda Susan, with 37.7 hectares, and the 50-hectare Hacienda Rosemarie, all in Sagay City. DAR Assistant Secretary for Field Operations Teofilo Inocencio, who flew in from Manila to supervise the two-day installation event, explained that the activities were meant to assist agrarian reform beneficiaries in identifying and occupying their CARPawarded lands. “In most parts of the country, the beneficiaries given certificates of land ownership awards (CLOAs) assume possession of the land without the need of installation. We only resort to installation to prevent the possible outbreak of violence as a result of the land distribution,” Inocencio said. Tension

“In some areas, tension is still high between previous landowners and beneficiaries. In other areas, the tension comes from different farmers’ groups that have conflicting claims on individual farm lots,” he added. Unlike rice lands where tenants occupy specific farm lots, Inocencio said that farm workers in haciendas have no permanent farm lots to claim as their own. “We (also) embark on installation activities to help farm workers identify the specific

farm lots that they will now own,” the DAR official said. ‘Fiesta’ In its news release, the DAR described the new landowners as erupting in cheers and shedding tears of joy when they were escorted by DAR officials and employees to the apportioned haciendas on Monday and Tuesday to identify their individual farm lots. The two-day installation event turned into a “fiesta,” the DAR release said, as the farm workers celebrated their transformation into land owners by butchering pigs and chickens and serving them as simple meals shared by the community. The DAR said it was seeking to distribute all CARP-covered lands before President Aquino’s term ends in 2016. As of January, there were still 93,000 landholdings covering 870,000 hectares that remained undistributed. Of this number, more than 15,558 landholdings covering a gross area of more than 162,000 hectares have been tagged as “problematic” due to pending cases or technical problems. An estimated 175,000 hectares of land are considered retention areas for landowners. According to DAR, the remaining 694,181 hectares are targeted to be distributed to agrarian reform beneficiaries within the next three and a half years under the following schedule: 160,000 hectares in 2013; 240,707 hectares in 2014; 180,707 hectares in 2015, and 112,767 from January to June 2016.

Negros Farmers on Hunger Strike to Oppose Killings, ‘Criminalization of Agrarian Struggle’ Farmers and fisherfolk groups in Negros Occidental have been holding protests outside the capitol to denounce the mounting harassments experienced by Negrense farmers and farm workers. They also denounce a series of moves by landlords to file common and trivial offenses against peasants who demand land reform. CEBU CITY — Farmers and fisherfolk groups in Negros Occidental have been holding protests outside the capitol to denounce the mounting harassments experienced by Negrense farmers and farm workers. More than 50 members of the Negros chapters of progressive groups National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW), Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), Pamalakaya, and Anakpawis Partylist participated in a protest action beginning Tuesday and to culminate in a program tomorrow, Jan. 22, the anniversary of the Mendiola Massacre in Manila. The protest also coincided with the holding of the 10-day national peasant caravan to demand land and justice for the Philippine peasantry. “We have targeted up to 3,000 Negrenses from different sectors to join us in the final program, but the date is yet to be finalized,” Isidro Castillo, provincial chairman of NFSW, informed Bulatlat in a phone interview. Nine of the 50 protesters are on hunger strike, refusing to take any sustenance except for water. Castillo said that until the provincial government would act on their grievances they will be forced to continue with the hunger protest. The protesters are calling for the passage of House Bill 3059 (Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill) principally authored by the late Anakpawis Partylist representative Crispin Beltran; the end of extrajudicial killings on the island; and a stop to the criminalization of agrarian cases in the province, particularly those involving land holdings covered by the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) and its progeny, the CARP Extension with Reforms (CARPER). Agrarian Problem, Criminalized Castillo revealed that in the morning of Tuesday, Jan. 19, Governor Isidro P. Zayco met with leaders of KMP, Anakpawis, and NFSW to discuss the issues presented by the group. Castillo said the governor had asked them to submit a list of criminal cases which the group believed to have taken root from the sugar workers struggle for land, the names of the people who filed the cases and the respondents. This, Castillo said, will be used by the Governor to initiate a dialog between the two parties. As of this writing, the group recorded a total of 374 criminal cases, which it claimed were “baseless,” filed in the last quarter of 2009 against members of NFSW and KMP. Of this, 51 are of malicious mischief, 17 for libel, 103 for grave coercion, 17 for unjust vexation, 51 for usurpation of real property, 31 for forcible entry, 41 robbery in band cases, 52 qualified theft, and 11 ejectment cases. Presently, 80 individuals have pending warrant of arrests while 13 are already detained in various detention centers in the province.

This, according to Castillo, reflects how government has reduced the issue of landlessness on the island to common and trivial offenses. The properties that prominently figured in the sugar worker’s struggles are Hacienda Clauden in Cadiz City owned by Renato Lacson; Hacienda San Jose (Cadiz City); Barangay Bug-ang in Toboso where a certain Rowena Lumayno filed criminal cases against 17 of the groups’ members; Hacienda Filomena, which implicated 51 workers on different criminal charges; and Hacienda Kalumanggan of Bago City. Zayco advised the group to file a “petition of recognizance,” which he said he would sign before it is given to the mayors of the cities and towns where the cases were filed. Once filed, the governor promised to help in the immediate release of those detained, Castillo said.

http://bulatlat.com/main/2010/01/21/negros-farmers-on-hunger-strike-to-oppose-killingscriminalization-of-agrarian-struggle/

The success story of Dalayapan ARB BACOLOD City – Critics of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) claim that the government has failed to empower the farmer-beneficiaries. But for the Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARBs) of the Hacienda Dalayapan in Cadiz City, Negros Occidental, their situation is ideal in form and in substance. The Dalapayan ARBs is comprised of 94 beneficiaries who collectively farm and manage the 246-hectare land awarded to them by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR). They availed of the Agrarian Productivity Credit Program loan amounting to P6 million which they used in last year’s cropping. They generated a net profit of P4 million for the 86 hectares of land they used for sugarcane planting. “The second loan was already released for this crop year which is bigger as we have increased the area for sugarcane production,” said Dalayapan ARB Association Chairman Gilbert Abayon. Farm manager Manalo Porre said they got a tractor from DAR’s support services eased their farming operations. The group has also purchased a second-hand tractor with implements worth P800,000 taken from their income. “Each crop year, we set aside P100,000 for hospitalization funds and another P100,000 for educational fund so that members can borrow money for their children’s education,” Porre added. At DAR’s prodding, the group agreed to place their land under the collective farming scheme which is advantageous as it will mean easier access to loans, services and other livelihood programs and benefits.

Their expectations were met as they progressed with their operation with assistance from the Sugar Regulatory Administration for their farm inputs, a crash course on agriculture and trainings of their children in TESDA-accredited schools. “We never get hungry anymore as we never run out of work. Work in the farm were run in rotational scheme,” Abayon said. Dalayapan’s success did not escape the attention of both the Cadiz City government and the DAR as it was made a model farm for newly installed beneficiaries. ARB’s from other areas frequent Dalapayan to study and learn from their success. To cap their success, Mayor Patrick Escalante facilitied the construction of a farm-to-market road with help from the World Bank and the provincial government. The project is set to start next month. The road project costs P132 million and stretches 13 kilometers from the farm to the national highway. An agro-eco project is also underway to include other crops, an orchard and an organic vegetable farm complete with amenities to take advantage of the paved road soon. https://thedailyguardian.net/negros/the-success-story-of-dalayapan-arb/