Group says CARP ‘a long running nightmare’

MANILA, Philippines - Farmers and fisherfolk organizations in Southern Tagalog on Wednesday labeled as “a long running nightmare" the 20-year-old Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP). This, as the fisherfolk alliance Pamalakaya claimed that 173,000 hectares of prime agricultural lands in the region have already been converted for commercial use, leaving thousands of supposed CARP beneficiaries landless. Pamalakaya said they got the information from data collated by the Katipunan ng mga Samahang Magbubukid ng Timog Katagalugan (Kasama-TK) and its affiliate Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Timog Katagalugan (Pamalakaya-TK). In a statement, Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap presented seven big cases where CARP beneficiaries including fishermen were eased out from their farmlands to give way to land use conversion projects undertaken by big landlords, private developers and the government. The cases are: * 10,000 farmers and fisherfolk CARP beneficiaries are still in landlocked battle against Fil-Estate, the Manila South Coast Development Corporation and SM of Henry Sy over 8,650 hectares of prime agricultural lands, which private developers intend to develop into a major eco-tourism hub in Hacienda Looc, Nasugbu in Batangas. The Department of Agrarian Reform cancelled their Certificate of Land Ownership Awards (CLOAs) and Emancipation Patents (EPs) to pave way for land use conversion. * The CLOAs of CARP beneficiaries were revoked by DAR in Hacienda Roxas in Nasugbu, Batangas that covers 7,183 hectares of sugar lands to give way to eco-tourism, residential and commercial projects to be funded by foreign and local investors. * In Hacienda Puyat in Batangas, some 1,800 hectares of land were denied to supposed CARP beneficiaries to pave way for the construction of golf courses and other eco-tourism projects. * The DAR allowed the exemption and conversion of 10,000 hectares of sugar lands to livestock farms, poultry farms, fishponds in Hacienda Zobel in Calatagan, Batangas, and also gave the right to the Ayala clan to landgrab an additional 2,000 hectares of foreshore land to deny agrarian claims of farmers and fishermen in 19 out of Calatagan’s 24 barangays. * In Carmen and Silang towns, DAR approved the conversion of 2,500 hectares of land into golf courses and residential areas by the Ayala land group of companies, denying farmer beneficiaries of their rights to utilize prime agricultural lands which they tilled for generations. * In Aguinaldo Estate, Tartaria, Silang in Cavite, 2,000 farming families were displaced from their farmlands, after DAR gave the go signal for investors to convert the 197-hectare estate to commercial subdivision and a high-end golf course. * The DAR also facilitated the conversion of 7,100 hectare Hacienda Yulo in Canluibang, Laguna into an array of subdivisions and golf courses, and victimized 457 families, whose CLOAs were cancelled by the agrarian reform agency. “CARP crimes against the Filipino farmers and fisherfolk are unpardonable. We cannot stomach any proposed extension law that would give life to a bogus and anti-rural people land reform program," Hicap said. The Pamalakaya leader said based on Kasama-TK’s report collated from 1994 up to 2007, about 1,302,375 hectares of prime agricultural lands have been placed by DAR under conversion. “Such terrible act led to the massive land reform reversals with the cancellation of land titles all over the region," he said. - GMANews.TV