Farmer-beneficiaries belonging to the Task Force Mapalad in Negros Occidental, who have been holding a picket in front of the Department of Land Reform office in Bacolod City since Monday, were up against policemen yesterday morning when they forced themselves inside the DLR compound.

At around 6 p.m., about 20 personnel of the Police Precinct 1 and City Mobile Group dispersed more than 200 of them when they attempted to prevent provincial agrarian reform officer I Gideon Yunque Jr. from leaving the premises.

No one was hurt, Senior Insp. Edel Jose Manzano, commander of Police Precinct 1, said.

He said that four policemen were detailed to watch the area overnight.

The rallyists, headed by TFM-Negros president Jose Rodito Angeles, have been demanding for the installation of their 122 members in Hacienda Velez-Malaga in La Castellana, owned by Roberto Cuenca, and the coverage of the Arroyo property in Hacienda Bacan in Isabela.

Angeles' companions, who forced their way inside the PARO compound, claimed the security guards hit them with guns and fired shots in the air.

Policemen intervened when the farmer-beneficiaries crowded at the DLR's gate and destroyed a portion of it.

At least 40 Task Force Mapalad members, including Angeles, were inside the compound when reporters talked to them at noontime after the guards locked the gate to prevent other protestors from going inside.

Yunque, together with several municipal agrarian reform officers in the province, tried to engage Angeles' group in a dialogue but nothing was settled because the latter demanded to include representatives of the Land Bank of the Philippines in the meeting.

Angeles said they will continue to hold a picket in front of the DLR office in Bacolod City until national officials of the DLR and the LBP agree to face them.

He accused local DLR offices of conniving with landowners to delay the implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.

Angeles also cited the failure of the Provincial Agrarian Reform Office to turnover to the LBP for valuation the claim folders of farmer-beneficiaries who have been awarded lands from 50 hectares and above.

These include 40 claim folders, he said, for 2005 alone.

Angeles said that only folders of properties covering 50 hectares and below have so far been forwarded to the LBP.

We will not leave until they act on our demands. If they cannot resolve this locally, then the national DLR officials should take over, he said.

Yunque said the DLR provincial office is doing its best to address the concerns and issues raised by the Task Force Mapalad but many of their demands are not in accordance with the requirements of the LBP and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

They were advised to submit a position paper to the DLR central office, he said.

Yunque said that based on the favorable ruling obtained by their office and the farmer-beneficiaries from the Regional Trial Court in La Carlota City on the Hacienda Velez-Malaga case, they are now studying how to implement the program in the area.*NLG/DMG

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