MANILA, Philippines – Nineteen farmer-beneficiaries have denounced the alleged harassment perpetrated by armed men in the employ of the father of a senior member of the Arroyo Cabinet, who owned the land that was awarded to them under the government’s Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (Carp).
The farmers claimed they are in constant fear as armed men allegedly kept terrorizing them since they were installed by the Department of Agrarian Reform (Dar) in the property owned by former congressmen Herminio Teves of Negros Oriental province in the Visayas, the father of Secretary Margarito “Gary” Teves of the Department of Finance.
The property, located in a “barangay” (village) in the sleepy town of Santa Catalina, Negros Oriental, was turned over to the beneficiaries by Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman himself in November 2008, said Rolando Flores, the head of the farmers.
Another Teves property, located in Bayawan City also in Negros Oriental, was also placed under the land reform program, according to Flores.
What worsened matters, Flores said, was that Pangandaman issued an order on March 12 disqualifying the 30 current holders of the certificates of land ownership granted them under Carp – 19 from Santa Catalina and 11 in Bayawan City.
According to Flores, Pangandaman issued the order in favor of pro-Teves farmers despite a Supreme Court decision in 2005, which had affirmed the legitimacy of their claim over the former property of congressman Teves.
“Secretary Pangandaman is like a Roman centurion who keeps on inflicting harm against the farmers who are supposed to be his constituents,” Flores said, apparently referring to the hardships and problems they have encountered as the predominantly Catholic Philippines observed Holy Week which marked the passion and death of Christ.
In particular, Flores claimed that Arnee Teves, the son of the former congressman, allegedly sent his own men, escorted by private security guards and the police, to harvest their crops and to cultivate their land for replanting to sugar cane.
In addition, Flores pointed out that they were slapped with legal cases, including forcible entry and petitions for court injunction by the Teveses despite the High Court’s decision in 2005 that they were the legitimate owners under the land reform program.
He also said the Dar regional office allegedly ignored their appeal for legal assistance because the personnel were afraid especially of Arnee Teves.
Flores claimed the fear of the Dar personnel stemmed from the killing on January 30 of one of their colleagues, identified as lawyer Eleazen Casipong, who was shot dead by still unidentified men along the national highway near the Dumaguete City domestic airport also in Negros Oriental.
Casipong was one of the Dar personnel who helped the farmers in their struggle for the award of the Teves property to them, Flores disclosed.
Two months earlier, on December 3, 2008, Flores said the son of one of the farmer-beneficiaries, was also gunned down near his house in Santa Catalina.
Flores said that aside from the killings, there have been sporadic incidents of individual shooting and spraying of bullets against the farmers.
Flores said the farmers and their families are afraid to resist because they might also be killed.
But more than that, they could not go to and seeks assistance from the local police who are allegedly on the side of the Teveses, Flores said.
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