by pna
Hundreds of farmer-beneficiaries were asking the intervention of
Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. to resolve, once and for all, the long-running land dispute in Hacienda San Benito in Brgy. Crossing Magallon, Moises Padilla.
“As the father of the province, (Marañon) can go out his way to help us settle the land dispute and avoid the occurrence of possible violence,†said Erlito Batallon, one of the farmer-beneficiaries, in his interview Sunday.
Batallon, who belonged to San Benito Laborers and Employees Cooperative (SBLEC), said they already made an appeal on the matter and they were waiting for Marañon’s decision or action.
SBLEC’s appeal include, among others, the provision of security in the disputed land to pre-empt violence if officials from Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) insist to install another set of beneficiaries they believed were fraudulent.
“Until now we haven’t received any feedback from the Office of the Governor. But we have seen an increase in the number of policemen roaming around the hacienda. This could be it but we were not sure yet,†Batallon said.
Since last week, more than 200 farmer-beneficiaries claiming ownership of the 334-hectare hacienda continue to form human barricade in protest of the impending distribution and creation of Task Force (TF) San Benito.
TF San Benito was formed by virtue of special order issued by Officer-in-Charge-Provincial Agrarian Reform Officer Florentino Siladan on December 13, 2012.
Based on Siladan’s order, TF San Benito headed by DAR-6 Legal Assistance Division Chief Atty. Leandro Castro was tasked to “facilitate the immediate expansion of area of CLOA (Certificate of Land Ownership Award) holders†therein.
The CLOA holders Siladan was referring to were the members of Crossing Magallon Multi-Purpose Cooperative and the Agrario Beneficiario Reporma sang San Isidro Labrador of Redilma Dechosa.
Linkback:
https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=67003.0
