The Department of Land Reform has filed four criminal complaints against nine leaders of the militant Task Force Mapalad before the Bacolod City Prosecutor's Office.

Named in the complaints filed by Provincial Agrarian Reform Officers 1 Manuel Velasco and Gideon Yonque Jr. were Renante Lasay, Herbina Agabon, Nelfa Cañal, Armando Hilario, Rico Adeva, Rufino Bantigue, Rodolfo Saraum, Edwin Amores and Antonio Magsucang.

All are local leaders of TFM in Negros Occidental.

The Bacolod City Prosecutor's Office has issued a subpoena to the nine respondents who are facing complaints for sedition, malicious mischief, slight illegal detention and grave coercion.

Five arrested TFM members in Sagay City were also charged in court previously for illegal possession of firearms, police records show.

Dismissing the charges as "ridiculous", TFM Negros president Rodito Angeles yesterday said it is disgusting that the DLR was acted with unusual speed in filing charges against them when, for years, they have refused to lift a finger against recalcitrant landowners who, he claimed, "have used everything at their means, including violence, to prevent the implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law".

About 50 TFM members stormed the DLR compound at Dawis in Bacolod City on Monday, demanding their immediate installation in Hacienda Velez-Malaga in La Castellana.

The TFM members are now on its fourth day of encampment within the DLR compound.

"Our only fault is to take action against a government agency that has deliberately refused to enforce the law it is tasked to implement," Angeles said.

Senior Supt. Charles Calima, provincial police director, has issued an appeal for TFM members to be patient and explore all peaceful means to solve the problem.

Of the 246,463 hectares of land placed under the government agrarian reform program, DLR records show that 51,391 has already been distributed to 109,012 farmer beneficiaries in Negros Occidental as of January this year.

Yonque said "no matter what they (TFM) will do, we will still abide with the policies and guidelines. There will be no short-cut", he stressed.

Angeles, in a TFM statement, also described the testimonies of DLR officials and security personnel as "full of lies and half-truths".

We will not allow this clearly malicious act of DLR to deter us from continuing our fight to claim our rightful share of the land, he added.*GPB

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