Sumilao farmers score victory anew

THE Sumilao farmers will finally obtain title to portions of the 144-hectare land they claimed and was awarded them under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (Carp).

The turnover of two titles is scheduled on April 16 in ceremonies in front of the gate of the San Miguel Corporation (SMC) property in San Vicente village, said Anthony Marzan, executive director of non-government Kaisahan tungo sa Kaunlaran ng Kanayunan at Repormang Pansakahan (Kaisahan).

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The titles will cover 50 of the 144-hectare land the farmers originally claimed under Carp and which they already possessed since March 2008, and another 15 hectares outside of the disputed estate. The titles are in the name of the Panaw-Sumilao Multi-Purpose Cooperative.

The Sumilao farmers were awarded the 144-hectare estate September 1995 but it was revoked March 1997 after Malacanang approved its conversion from agricultural to agro-industrial use, hence, it escaped Carp coverage. The farmers have since fought to reverse this decision.

In 1999, the Supreme Court ruled with finality upholding the land use conversion order.

Seeing non-compliance in the supposed land use conversion plan five years after, the farmers sought in 2004 that the estate be covered again by Carp.

It was this campaign that drove them to launch the 60-day "Walk for Land, Walk for Justice" in October 2007 from Sumilao to Manila covering 1,700 kilometers. At this time, SMC owned the estate and had put up a hog-raising and meat processing facility.

On December 2007, President Arroyo revoked the land use conversion order and placed the estate under Carp coverage again. This forced SMC to sit in the negotiating table with the farmers and Church officials to strike a settlement formula.

By March 2008, a compromise deal was struck that decreed the release of 50 of the 144 hectares to the claimant farmers; the balance of 94 hectares will be acquired by SMC outside of the disputed estate and distribute to the farmers.

Last month, seeing little progress in handling out the titles, the farmers set up camp near the gate of the San Miguel property in San Vicente, Sumilao to express their "anguish over the seeming lack of urgency on the part of DAR and SMC," said Marzan.

The turnover ceremony will be marked by celebration of mass and a dialogue for setting a timetable for distributing the remaining 79 hectares of land still to be possessed by the farmers.

Malaybalay diocesan Bishop Honesto Pacana considers the initial titles distribution as "another landmark in the victory of the Sumilao farmers' struggle."

Pacana urged groups supporting the Sumilao farmers to join them in celebrating "the fruits of their perseverance, faith, hope and solidarity."

Although welcoming this development, Marzan is dismayed at the piecemeal distribution of land, which does not give justice to all their sacrifices.