ARAKAN, Cotabato—The Department of Agrarian Reform has assured farmers in this municipality that the unused portion of agricultural lands previously covered by the University of Southern Mindanao reservation will be awarded to its actual tillers and occupants.
In a letter dated December 16, Agrarian Reform Secretary Rafael “Ka Paeng” Mariano cited Executive Orders No. 407 and No. 448 as bases for the immediate execution of the Deeds of Transfer.
The DAR, led by Undersecretary for Field Operations Marcos Risonar, is set to meet with Regional Director Nasser Mussali, Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer Marion Abella, and officials of the USM and the Commission on Higher Education on Jan. 9, 2017 to formally discuss the transfer of lands from the USM to the farmers.
PARPO Abella said USM president Francisco Garcia has already agreed to distribute the unused land of the university to its farmer-occupants.
In his visit to the farmers’ camp inside the USM grounds last Dec. 11, DAR Assistant Secretary for Field Operations Lucius Jun-jun Malsi guaranteed the immediate and lawful resolution of the protesting farmers’ case.
“The farmers’ grievances have legal basis. It’s only right to distribute the land to them according to the law,” Malsi said.
Data from DAR reveals that a total of 3,277.8 hectares of land in the USM reservation remain unused.
Farmer-occupants of the Mailuminado Farmers Association Inc. have been engaged in a protracted struggle for land ownership ever since former President Carlos Garcia allotted 7,200 hectares as reservation for the university through Presidential Proclamation No. 428 in 1957.
Around 3,000 farmers and members of support groups set up a two-week camp in the Arakan campus from December 5 to 18 to demand the distribution of the disputed land.
The petitioners are members of the MAFAI and settlers of barangays Malibatuan, Ilustre, Makalangot, Naje and Doruloman, collectively known as Mailuminado.
According to MAFAI Chairman Cecilio Carmelo, the land has been peacefully occupied by Lumad and Christian settlers long before the Arakan town was established. Its occupants have been cultivating and farming rice, corn, rubber and banana since the 1950s.
Carmelo called on President Rodrigo Duterte and Mariano to hear their petitions, saying MAFAI will be back at the USM grounds to set up camp again in January.
Mariano told the farmers to strengthen their ranks and continuously assert their rights. “Organized action is the key to success, with the help of our Department and our obedience to the process of law,” he added.