BUKIDNON farmers took their long standing battle for land rights to the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) today, August 14, 2024, demanding justice after over three decades of delays. Together with Philippine Movement for Climate Justice (PMCJ), Sanlakas, and Makabayan Pilipinas, a dialogue between Don Carlos Bukidnon United Farmers Association, Inc. (DCBUFAI) and DAR officials at the DAR Central Office, were held to hold the latter to account on the former’s petition to expedite the release of their Certificate of Land Ownership Award (CLOA).
In the recent third State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Bongbong Marcos, Jr. (PBBM), he said that the land reform will continue along with the distribution of land titles to farmers. He boasted that in the past two years, more than 130 thousand titles were given, and 700 thousand cases have been resolved. However, this is not true to most of the farmers in the country, as the Bukidnon farmers continue to experience disregard and negligence from the government.
In 1982, DCBUFAI (formerly known as Bukidnon Farmers Association) took decisive action to organize themselves and demanded their rightful inclusion as beneficiaries of the land they have been tilling since 1986 through a petition to DAR.
In November 2012, a national dialogue was held at the DAR Central Office where the agreement reached was to finish and finalize the DCBUFAI revalidation until February 2013. Prior to this, the association has already undergone the revalidation process in 2011.
To date, the petitioners have not received any report from that revalidation process which identified DCBUFAI farmers as qualified farmer beneficiaries. For more than 33 years, there were only two revalidations done by the agency, and still no concrete results and no formal recognition of their rights to the land.
“On top of our claims, we have been receiving harassment and threats from those who have vested interests in our land. We are appealing to the government to finally award our CLOAs in the names of those who already passed on. This is for our children who are now the current beneficiary claimants,” DCBUFAI President Jovencio Destor, Jr. said.
The meeting had gathered a huge number of key DAR officials from Central and field offices. The discussion centered on revalidating the agrarian reform beneficiaries in Don Carlos, Bukidnon, a process delayed by leadership changes and security concerns. Attendees called for the reactivation of the National BFI Task Force to continue the revalidation, using existing data and setting a clear timeline.
“Farmers have always been at the forefront of our fight for climate justice. They are being ejected from the lands that they till by the same elite interests that contribute to the warming of the planet. PBBM should not allow elite interests to scuttle the reforms he promised in his recent SONA. Ensuring that reforms will happen matters much for the poor, marginalized, and the vulnerable to survive from the onslaught of the climate crisis. The government is duty-bound to deliver all the programs for the peoples’ survival,” PMCJ National Coordinator Ian Rivera said.
The meeting concluded with a positive outcome. An emphasis on the need for coordination between DAR, regional offices, and security forces to ensure agrarian justice for the DCBUFAI members. PMCJ and DCBUFAI will remain vigilant and continue advocating for the farmers’ rights until justice is served and expediting the unfinished land distribution process through the creation of a national task force and ensure a timeline of 2024 that the land distribution process and CLOA be distributed.| – PR
