AGRARIAN Reform Secretary Rafael Mariano on Tuesday ordered an investigation of an incident in Tagum City in Davao del Norte province where security guards of a food company purportedly opened fire on a farmers’ protest encampment.
He instructed DAR’s Region 11 officials to coordinate with the Philippine National Police for the possible filing of cases against the suspects of the shooting incident that took place within Lapanday Foods Corp. in Barangay Madaum, Tagum City on Dec. 12 at around 7:40 a.m.
DAR has been meeting with the banana farmers for their installation to the 145-hectare land as ordered by provincial agrarian reform adjudicator Jose Nilo Tillano in a Dec. 15, 2015 decision. The order has long been final and executory, according to DAR.
Last October, Mariano personally visited the farmers who were camping out in front of the gate of the LFC compound and gave the farmers an assurance that they will get their landholdings without compromising their safety and security.
“Unfortunately, this incident happened,” he said, referring to the shooting incident.
The banana farmers urged President Rodrigo Duterte and Mariano to reclaim the 145-hectare land awarded to them in 1996 under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program. Lapanday Foods Corp. has been using the land as Cavendish banana plantation.
Linda Dayahan, a board of director of the Madaum Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Association Inc., complained they could not get any support from the provincial department and the Tagum City government as well.
The shooting incident left seven persons — Taldan Miparanun, 16; Jose Balucos, 42; Emmanuel Buladaco, 46; Belardo Francisco, 53; Jojo Gomez, 26; Rico Talagaga, and Joseph Bertulfo, 58, injured. Gomez and Talagala were reported in critical condition at the Davao del Norte Regional Medical Center.
The 159 MARBAI members were beneficiaries of certificates of land ownership award in 1996 under the agrarian reform program. Each beneficiary owns a 0.79-hectare piece of the 145-hectare banana plantation.
According to Mely Yu, MARBAI president, they were forced to enter a banana sales and marketing agreement with the Lapanday Foods Corp. that bought their products for export.
“They were tricked into selling high-grade bananas which were poorly classified for a lower price, thus resulting to a measly P2,000 monthly income,” she said. “Because of the agreement, the farmer beneficiaries became indebted to LFC for more or less P1 billion.”
