Justice for Massacre of Peasants Due to State Terrorism in Negros

The Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) today demanded that justice be given for the killing of 14 peasants in three towns in Negros Oriental yesterday due to state terrorism.

According to Antonio “Ka Tonying” Flores, newly elected chairperson of UMA, the deaths of the 14 is similar to what happened in Guihulngan and nearby places late last year in which six peasants were killed ala “tokhang style” because they allegedly fought it out with police and military elements.

Ka Tonying added that even Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo called for an impartial investigation to the Guihulngan killings because he said, “it is contrary to experience that an individual who is allegedly armed with a .38 caliber revolver will fight it out with more than 20 or 30 fully armed personnel of both the PNP and the army while serving the search warrants simultaneously during that time in Guihulngan, La Libertad, Mabinay, Sta. Catalina and other areas.”

We call on the Governor, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and other independent bodies to call again for an impartial investigation in the killings of the 14 peasants.

The 14 who were killed yesterday include 8 farmers from Canlaon City: Avelino brothers Ismael, 53, and Edgardo, 59, of Sitio Carmen, Barangay Panubigan; Melchor Panares, 67, and his son, Mario, 46, of Sitio Tigbahi, Barangay Bayog; Rogelio Recomono, 52, and his son Ricky, 28, of Sitio Manggata, Barangay Masulog; Gonzalo Rosales, 47, of Barangay Pula and Genes Palmares, 54, of Barangay Aquino. Edgardo Avelino was the chairman of HUKOM or Hugpong Kusog sa Mag-uuma sa Canlaon City, a local chapter of the national peasant group, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP).

Aside from the killings, authorities also illegally arrested around 12 other farmers, including Nestor Kadusale, 58, of Sitio Kambugtong, Barangay Bantolinao, also a local leader of the KMP in Manjuyod town. Four of those killed in Manjuyod included two barangay captains: Valentin (“Eric” in police report) Acabal of Barangay Kandabong and Sonny Palagtiw of Barangay Panciao; and two farmers, Steve Arapoc and Manulo Martin. Two others were in killed in Sta. Catalina town, were identified as Franklin Lariosa and Ano Enojo Rapada.

The perpetrators of the massacre include the Philippine National Police (PNP)-Region 7, its Special Action Forces (SAF) and Regional Mobile Force (RMF), along with elements of the 94^th Infantry Brigade Philippine Army.

They conducted a similar anti-crime synchronized enhanced management of police operations or SEMPO like what they did in Guihulngan earlier.  The whole Negros Island was also placed under a state of lawlessness through Memorandum Circular 32 by President Duterte after the Sagay massacre.

It seems though that it is the PNP and the military which is conducting a state of lawlessness against the people of Negros. Besides the massacres in Canlaon, Guihulngan and Sagay, police and military operations are continuing in Northern Negros Occidental, which includes Sagay and Escalante.

There are also reports that the SEMPO will also be launched in Escalante City as the police allegedly have already a list of 100 individuals to be arrested there soon. More than 70 individuals, mostly peasants have been extra-judicially killed in Negros during Duterte’s term.

We cannot blame the peasant masses of Negros if they seek justice elsewhere if this government will continue to trample on their rights with impunity.

Agricultural Workers Say DAR Made Sure Sugar Mill Lands of the Lorenzos-Cojuangcos-Aquinos in Hacienda Luisita be Exempted from Land Reform

The Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) today said that the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) deliberately made sure that the Lorenzo-Cojuangco-Aquino owned Central Azucarera de Tarlac (CAT) agricultural lands would be exempted from land reform.

Then OIC DAR Secretary Rosalinda Bistoyong on Nov. 28, 2017 made the eventual decision on this when she approved the application by CAT for exemption from land reform. A few months after this was certified final and executory by DAR Bureau of Agrarian Legal Assistance (BALA) Director Maria Celestina Tam on Feb. 6, 2018.

Immediately or less than 2 months after or on April 4, 2018, the CAT sold 290 hectares (has.)of the exempted 424.4862 has. land to Ayala Land, Inc.

But earlier on this, DAR ignored the April 24, 2012 decision of the Supreme Court to find other agricultural lands that would be subjected to land reform especially in areas owned by CAT. It had to wait for it to be subjected to a Petition for Coverage.

It only agreed to include Tarlac Development Corp. (TADECO) lands in barangays Balete and Cutcut when the residents asserted their right to own it even when they were subjected to many violent dispersal operations by the police and goons; some were illegally arrested and detained; and many of them were charged with several criminal offenses.

But it remains officially undistributed up to the present and then DAR Sec. Rafael Mariano junked TADECO’s bid to exempt it from land reform during his term in office.

Going back to CAT lands, on February 18, 2019, it informed 800 households to vacate their domicile and demolish their dwellings and any infrastructure that they had erected or face legal action after 60 days of the sugar mill’s notice.

The residents of the 60.47 hectares property which the CAT wants to repossess is populated by field and mill sugar workers, factory workers, retired workers and informal workers. A number have stayed there for more than 50 years and have invested their homes there.

According to John Milton Lozande, secretary general of UMA, there are also many questions on the contents of the Nov. 28, 2017 DAR Order exempting CAT from land reform. Other than that, there was a report by DAR to the Supreme Court that it distributed lands in Brgy. Central.

1. Most of the lands that CAT admits it owns in its annual report and which is supposedly agro-industrial in nature state that these are idle lands. 330 has. are declared not used for business and operation, and another 202 has. are held for sale and development thru its subsidiary Luisita Land Corporation (LLC).

Under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) converted lands left idle after 5 years, should be returned to DAR for distribution. What was sold to Ayala was part of the 330 has. of land.
Other than that, from our data, there are 382.5451 has. owned by CAT in different areas and not just the 202 has. which CAT admits in its annual report.

2. In its 10th compliance report to the Supreme Court on April 14, 2015, the DAR stated that it distributed through land reform more than 1,031 has. in two titles including in Brgy. Central

3. There are inconsistencies in the DAR Order, on p. 4, the PARPO Certification issued by Eng. Precy Landingin, PARPO I/Head dated 6 Jan. 2017 stated that “no actual occupants in the area is observed”.

4. CAT’s notice is contrary to DAR’s order which stipulates that disturbance payments should be given to tenants, farm workers, or bonafide occupants.

5. As such it is a violation of DAR’s order which also stipulates that it can cancel or withdraw the order for misrepresentation of facts as what it did when it issued out its Notice for eviction on Feb. 18, 2018.

But more than the above, President Duterte supposedly distributed Certificate of Land Ownership Awards (CLOA) in Hacienda Luisita recently, but in fact, people are being evicted from their lands by the Lorenzos-Cojuangcos-Aquinos with the President’s blessings.

Source verification: Gi Estrada, Media Officer (0917-945-0552)

NFSW Says Police Admitted Lying in Narrative of Sagay Massacre

The National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW) today asserted that the Philippine National Police (PNP) admitted lying from the start in its narrative of the Sagay Massacre.

This is supported by the reply affidavit of the mother of a Sagay massacre child survivor when she filed this today at the Department of Justice (DOJ) in Manila. She was assisted by her lawyer, Atty. Katherine Panguban of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL), who is facing kidnapping and serious illegal detention charges.

According to John Milton Lozande, secretary general of NFSW, it is clearly shown in the Counter-Affidavit and Supplemental Counter-Affidavit submitted by the respondents, including from the sworn statements of their witnesses, that they admitted that they violated the rights of the child massacre survivor by tampering with his affidavit.

Then Sagay PNP Chief PCINSP Robert Mansueto admitted in his Counter-Affidavit that he added the contents of the statement of the child survivor that the latter saw some of those who shot them, even if this was denied by the child in his sworn statement of October 30, 2018. This revelation was not also denied by SPO1 Julie Ann C. Diaz in her own counter-affidavit.

The NFSW supports the child’s mother in her reply affidavit that this is a clear indication that the police has no desire to reveal the truth and they abused the child by forcing him to lie in court and to the public.

The mother, who we cannot name for security reasons, initially charged Sagay City’s PCINSP Robert R. Mansueto, SPO1 Julie Ann C. Diaz and PO1 Christine Y. Magpusao with Child Abuse and Rule on Handling Child Witness.

At the same time, she also charged her estranged ex-husband with Violence Against Women and their Children for continuously intimidating and harassing her and her child.

In the meantime, President Duterte made a propaganda stunt on his own by distributing Certificates of Land Ownership Awards in Sagay last March 8, while at the same time holding on to the PNP’s discredited narrative of the incident.

The President is using the previous bogus land reform law to deflect the growing discontent of the farmers and sugar workers against land monopoly specially in Negros and other flash points in the country while at the same time propping up the PNP in their attempt to whitewash the Sagay massacre and not reveal who the real suspects are.

Source verification: Gi Estrada, Media Officer (0917-945-0552)