Farmers-beneficiaries affiliated with Task Force Mapalad in two haciendas in the cities of Sagay and Victorias were installed by the Department of Agrarian Reform officials led by Assistant Secretary Dominador Andres, the group confirmed yesterday.

Edwin Gonzales of the TFM national office said 24 FBs who belong to the Holbo Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Association were installed in the initial eight-hectare portion of the Hacienda Holbo in Brgys. Taba-ao and Bulanon, Sagay City.

He said the next installation will be in the remaining 34 hectares but this is unscheduled yet.    

In Victorias City, 38 FBs were installed in the initial 10-hectare property formerly owned by Newsal Enterprises in Hacienda Concepcion, Brgy. Zone 13, Gonzales said.

Ninety-eight hectares of the area have been covered by the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program but two collective Certificates of Land Ownership Award were issued for only 10 hectares.  

TFM had earlier asked the DAR central office to supervise the installation of FBs in Holbo and Hacienda, to prevent any untoward incident.

Gonzales said they were informed by DAR that the FBs in the two haciendas were installed peacefully.

Meanwhile, the TFM said five farm workers from the Arroyo-owned Hacienda Bacan in Isabela, who joined the protest actions in Manila, were dismissed by hacienda management.

They were told they would no longer be accepted to work if they returned, the group said in a press release.

The five, Renato Garay, 52; Rogelio Salva, 59; Alvin Celis, 26; Vicente Garay, 32; and Roger Padernal, 33, have been camping out in front of the DAR office in Quezon City in the last three weeks to demand the distribution of the 157-hectare hacienda in Barangay Guintubhan.

Rep. Ignacio Arroyo (5th District, Neg. Occ.), whose family owns Hacienda Bacan, said he will have the reported dismissal of the workers investigated, but referred questions to his lawyer.*NLG

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