CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Dec. 3, 2011) – Filipino farmers who were fighting to reclaim their land have finally received what could have been their biggest victory after the government reinstalled their rights to part of the 820-hectare Ocaya Ranch in Bukidnon’s Maramag town.
The farmers claimed they had been forced to vacate the newly-awarded land in Maramag due to harassment, but were reinstalled by the Department of Agrarian Reform.
Oscar Maniego, leader of the Task Force Mapalad-assisted Danggawan Landless Farmers Association, said they are happy to reclaim their land which is part of the 820-hectare Ocaya Ranch in the village of Kuya.
Maniego said that he and 56 fellow farmers in the group are optimistic that they can continue to develop their land. “I hope that we can peacefully cultivate our farm now. I hope that the Ocayas and their armed goons will finally realize that we are now the legitimate owners of this land,” he said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.
Maniego’s group had vacated some 48 hectares in the cattle ranch this year after they were harassed by armed men. It occurred just three months later after the Department of Agrarian Reform installed 249 farmer-beneficiaries as the rightful owners land in February.
And on Friday, Norberto Paquingan, the Provincial Agrarian Reform Officer, did not take any chances as he requested the police and military to escort him and other officials as they led in reinstalling the farmers their lands.
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