RANT. Fr. Christopher Ablon (center), secretary general of Karapatan in Northern Mindanao, discusses the plight of farmers in Barangay Sinangguyan, Don Carlos, Bukidnon who claimed to be victims of land grabbing in Don Carlos town. Listening are (from left) Gi Estrada of the Resisting Expansion of Agricultural Plantation, Jose Benemerito Jr. of Kasama-Bukidnon, farmer Gregorio Cesar, Ablon, Leonora Mendoza of the Hugpong sa Mag-uuma ug Mamumo-o sa Singangguyan, and Ireneo Urdabe of the Kilusang Mambubukid ng Pilipinas. (PHOTO BY NITZ ARANCON)
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By Lio Rulona and Nitz Arancon

A  FARMERS’ group and human rights advocates yesterday called on the government to take the cudgels for some two thousand families in Sinangguyan, Don Carlos, Bukidnon against an armed lumad group that allegedly engaged in land-grabbing.

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Iglesia Filipina Independiente priest Fr. Christopher Ablon, secretary  general of the human rights group Karapatan, said the Don Carlos farmers were displaced  on Sept. 18,  2015 when 150 armed men came, and took control of some 470 hectares of agricultural land.

Ablon led a group in airing their complaint at the Cagayan de Oro Press Club (COPC) here yesterday.

Karapatan and the farmers said the alleged land grabbers belonged to the “Aboy-Daguiwaas Clan” headed by one Juanita  Aboy Regundola.

Leonora Mendoza, president of the Hugpong sa Mag-uuma ug Mamumu-o, and farmer Gregorio Cesar said they were among the victims of land grabbing.

“Wala na gyud kami yuta sa pagka karon kay ilang mang gi-ilog,” said Cesar.

They said they found out that the lumad group has a 25-year lease agreement with the Lapanday Food Corp. for a pineapple plantation expansion project in Bukidnon.

Mendoza said they suspected that the lumad group was being backed by a powerful politician.

Ablon said a fact-finding mission was conducted on Monday, and it was found out that grave human rights violations were committed in Barangay Sinangguyan.

He said Karapatan documented cases of threats, harassments and intimidation, indiscriminate firing of weapons, destruction or divestment of properties, violation of children’s rights, illegal search and seizure, forcible evacuation, violation of domicile, and coercion.

Ablon’s group said the land dispute already resulted in the killing of Lauro Algora, the leader of the Sinangguyan farmers’ group, in October 2015 while he was on the way to photocopy his land title.

The farmers insisted that they have prior rights to the land even if the area is part of an ancestral domain.

“If we look at other Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title areas, we see that individuals who have secured private titles before the passage of the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act are respected, and are not forced out of their lands,” said Jomorito Goaynon, chairperson of Kalumbay Regional Lumad Organization.

He said the mission team held no biases against the indigenes in the area.

“What we are questioning is the motive behind the move to claim the area as their ancestral domain,” he said. “It may legitimately be their ancestral domain but apparently they are not claiming it to develop it themselves but are leasing it to a plantation. Eventually, the indigenous community will still lose their ancestral lands.” (lito rulona and nitz arancon)

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