Installation of Negros farmers stalled

The scheduled installation of some 100 farmer-beneficiaries (FBs) on a vast sugar farm in Negros Occidental was stalled after a group of people threw stones at the farmers and government officials led by Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman, radio dzBB reported on Thursday. The FBs under the Task Force Mapalad (TFM) earlier protested through weeks of hunger strike, the alleged failure of the Department of Agrarian Reform to physically install them on the 144-hectare portion of Hacienda Velez Malaga at Robles village in La Castellana town. TFM President Jose Rodito Angeles said the government had given the FBs certificates of landownership award proving that they already have legal rights over the property. -GMANews.TV