FIAN welcomes decision made by Philippines’ Supreme Court allowing 200 farmers to settle on their rightful land
FIAN, the international human rights organization for the right to food, welcomes the Philippines' Supreme Court decision that a 393-hectare estate owned by former Senator Rene Espina at Tanjay City in Negros Oriental province should be covered under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).
This long-awaited decision guarantees 200 farmer-beneficiaries, identified by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), their right to settle on this land legally awarded to them by the CARP, despite the owner’s contention that this land is a commercial and industrial area and therefore should not have been covered by CARP.
The Supreme Court decision was preceded by a difficult struggle by the farmers to gain access to the land promised to them under the CARP. This struggle culminated in violent assaults and illegal evictions of the farmers by the landlord, Mr. Espina, and his hired thugs. As of 1996 the land in question was covered by the CARP and 200 farmers were identified as farmer-beneficiaries by the DAR. However, due to the opposition by Mr. Espina, the farmers were only granted land access in 2004. Soon after, the harassment by Mr. Espina and his thugs began. The beneficiaries were physically harassed and forced to leave the land. Twice, in 2004 and 2005, they attempted to enter the land and start harvesting sugarcane, but were again harassed and forced to leave. Eventually Mr. Espina manipulated the classification of the land to evade the coverage of it under CARP by filing a case before the Court of Appeals and won the case in 2005. Now, the Supreme Court has reversed the earlier decision of the Court of Appeals.
“I think part of the pressure to the Supreme Court came from the Urgent Actions FIAN members all over the globe sent to the government, including the Supreme Court”, says Danny Carranza, researcher and writer for RIGHTS (Rural Poor Institute for Land and Human Rights) Net, a newly established network of grassroots movements in the Philippines working for agrarian reform, rural development and democratization.
FIAN would like to thank those of who supported the farmers` struggle in this case and will observe the case until the farmers are finally able to return to their land.