Farmers slam landgrabing in Pangasinan town

BAYAMBANG, Pangasinan: About 400 farmers affected by the alleged landgrabing in this town staged a prayer rally in front of the municipal hall seeking government intervention to stop the plan of a developer to demolish their houses on 13 hectares of land in Barangay Bani this town.

The farmers, led by Leon Remilloza, are also questioning the alleged fake land title a certain Alberto Palad, manager of Palm Core Realty and Development Inc., is using as basis for their claim on the land the farmers said had been occupied by their grandparents since 1914.

The land in question is part of the 386-hectare Camp Greg Military Reservation, portions of which are occupied by former and active military men, policemen and public school teachers.

Large portions of the land are occupied by former Tarlac Rep. Jose “Peping” Cojuangco and a certain Prescila Uminga, also from Tarlac. Uminga allegedly owns more than 40 hectares of land while Cojuangco owns more than 200 hectares occupied by other affected farmers.

Rodolfo Natividad, president of the Ulupan na Dumaralos, said their group is helping the farmers bring their grievances to the national offices of the Department of Agrarian Reform and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. The agencies have failed to act on their problem.

“Our fight started in 2002, after we learned that Cojuangco, Palad and Uminga bought the land and our rights as caretakers were violated,” Remilloza told TheManilaTimes.

Natividad added that Cojuangco, Palad and Uminga offered each farmer-occupant P25,000 cash to sign a document allowing them to survey the land for a subdivision but the farmers refused to accept the offer.

Mayor Cezar Quiambao offered to facilitate a dialogue between the farmers and the group landowners, telling the farmers he would provide them with lawyers for free if they could present documents justifying their claims to the land.