100 farmers seize banana plantation in Davao Sur

Operations of a giant banana company were disrupted after at least 100 farmers and their supporters forcibly occupied its plantation in Malalag town, Davao del Sur province. Sun-Star Davao (sunstar.com.ph) reported Friday that farmers from the Davao del Sur Farmers Association (Dasurfa), cordoned off the 317-hectare plantation with wire. The occupation, which took place Tuesday, prevented the employees of the Lapanday Agricultural and Development Corporation (Ladeco) from entering the area Tuesday. Violence also marred the occupation as a gunfight erupted Wednesday between the guards employed by the farmers and some armed men believed to be employees of Ladeco. A grenade was also lobbed inside the area held by the farmers but failed to explode. The police later found empty shells of various firearms in the area. No one was reported injured in the firefight as of Friday. Malalag police chief Sr. Insp. Deozar Almasa said the conflict in the area could have stemmed from a land dispute, but said police cannot settle the dispute without the written request from the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR). “We are monitoring the activities inside the area every now and then. Our role is to secure both parties but we have to be very careful," he said. Dasurfa spokesman Peter Tanduyan said a bloodbath is expected to explode in the areas if they will be forced to leave the property. Almasa said the police are still investigating the shooting incidents including the past incidents of harassments of members of the farmers group. “We have to investigate on this and the farmers have to follow the process...record it in the police office and file complaints," he said. Tanduyan said they are now the rightful owners of the property, which was awarded to them by the DAR through the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) in 1997. “We want to physically occupy the area and we want all those who are involved to respect the decision of DAR and the Supreme Court. The law says we can claim whatever can be found inside this property and so we will," Tanduyan said. He said that almost a decade after the decision, the farmers had yet to be installed into the property. In September 2003, a Supreme Court resolution upheld the decision of the DAR Adjudication Board (DARAB), which also affirmed the 1997 decision of the DAR office in Davao del Sur. In January 2005, a Supreme Court resolution also ordered the enforcement of the DAR order. Ladeco is a holder of a lease agreement with landowner Philip Diel who already conceded with the court decisions. As a result of the forcible occupation of the property, Ladeco employees failed to harvest the bananas. Roberto Pe, assistant production manager of Ladeco, said the land occupation caused the company delay, which affected their targeted quota. “We don’t want trouble. We don’t care about the land conflict now. All we want is to get inside the area and harvest because we have quota to meet," Pe said. Jerry Diaz, manager of Ladeco packing house, admitted that the land occupation has created huge damage to the production target of the company. - GMANews.TV