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A confrontation spotlights a bitter dispute over a 22-hectare property between a businessman and farmers who declare the farmland is rightfully theirs
NEGROS OCCIDENTAL, Philippines – Authorities stepped up safety in a village in Talisay Metropolis, Negros Occidental, the place tensions continued to escalate following a confrontation between a bunch of farmers and guards keeping track of an expansive space of agricultural land.
The confrontation spotlighted a bitter dispute at Hacienda San Antonio Dos – a battle over a 22-hectare property between a businessman, and farmers who declare that the farmland is rightfully theirs.
The transfer got here after Talisay Mayor Neil Lizares expressed alarm and directed metropolis police chief Lieutenant Colonel Salvador Trono to deploy legislation enforcers to the disputed property in Barangay Dos Hermanas in Talisay, a part metropolis of Negros Occidental.
Tensions rose when one of many guards, recognized as Jose Alonsaga, allegedly fired a warning shot and pointed a gun at Barbie Jane Salumag, the daughter of an agrarian reform beneficiary, throughout a confrontation with protesting farmers on Friday, January 31.
Police stated the guard was apparently angered when he noticed Salumag recording a video of them together with her cell phone.
Negros Occidental police provincial director Colonel Rainerio de Chavez stated he rushed to the realm when he noticed a video posted on social media, solely to seek out Alonsaga gone.
The dispute began in August 2024, when 15 farming households tried to take again management of the agricultural land, and asserted that they’ve the proper over it after a 22-year lease settlement expired.
The 15 households are amongst 26 awarded land possession certificates by the federal government in 2001 for a 50-hectare property beforehand owned by the Jison household.
After making an attempt to reclaim the property, farmers discovered their sugarcane crops bulldozed, allegedly on the orders of Paul Chang, a businessman from Bacolod Metropolis who leased the land.
Chang’s group has refused to yield, claiming that the property was purchased from the ARBs for P3 million. His group offered a certificates of sale allegedly signed by representatives of the 15 farming households in 2016.
The farmers, nevertheless, contest this, asserting they solely acquired P180,000, and that what they signed was a lease renewal legitimate till August 2024.
Gonzalo Lamig, 62, chief of the protesting farmers, “What we signed in 2016 was solely a renewal of their leaseback settlement for an additional eight years, not a sale.”
Lucresia Taberna Sumayo, officer-in-charge of the Division of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in Negros Island Area, stated the dispute between the farmers and Chang would have to be settled in courtroom.
Nonetheless, Sumayo stated that whereas the DAR was in a roundabout way concerned, the division maintains that the ARBs’ Certificates of Land Possession Award (CLOAs) stay legitimate, and the property granted to the households underneath the Complete Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) can’t be offered.
Tensions flared once more on January 15, when guards allegedly harassed a teenage lady and 82-year-old Margarita Murillo. The 2 had been allegedly mauled and hogtied, an incident reported to native police.
The January 31 incident alarmed Talisay officers, who acted after a video of the armed guard went viral.
Mayor Lizares denounced the incident as alarming and unacceptable, and ordered an investigation.
“I’ve all the time been clear that I don’t and won’t tolerate any type of violence towards any Talisaynon,” Lizares stated.
On February 3, complaints of grave menace, unlawful firearm discharge, and violation of the elections gun ban had been filed towards Alonsaga earlier than the native prosecutor’s workplace. – Rappler.com
