Farmers-Fusillero Row: Osmeña won't reveal result of Abella-led probe yet

The results of the fact-finding inquiry conducted by barangay captain Felix Abella on the alleged harassment of farmers in the city's mountain barangays is primarily for the city government's consumption, Mayor Tomas Osmeña said.

The result of a fact-finding inquiry on allegations pertaining to retired police general Tiburcio Fusillero whom farmers claimed to have harassed them will not have to be integrated with the result of a separate investigation being conducted by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

The farmers have alleged that Fusillero had violated the Memorandum of Agreement he entered into with DENR in November 2000 wherein Fusillero would implement the Adopt a Mountain program and rehabilitate and protect 504 hectares of land in barangay Tabunan.

"The inquiry is for the city's own consumption...we're on this as part of the learning process," Osmeña said, assuring a fair inquiry on the issue.

"Let's not look at it from a standpoint that there's only one bad guy," he said, adding that another angle that the inquiry should look into is the allegation that the residents who leveled the complaint against Fusillero allegedly sold properties in the mountain barangays.

Osmeña said he would appear before the fact-finding team if called upon to do so.

DENR has started its inquiry on the complaint filed by 50 farmers against Fusillero and his subordinates. The investigation team would reportedly stay at the DENR office in sitio Cantipla until it wraps up with the probe.

DENR would check the validity of the complaint by making sure the complainants are tenured tenants in the mountain barangays or those that have lived or tilled the lands before the National Integrated Protected Areas System was passed in 1992.

The farmers also alleged that Fusillero failed to consult them before allegedly planting vegetables and plants in the soil they tilled and quarrying for landscaping. Likewise, Fusillero's men allegedly threatened them and even punched the farmers. - Joeberth M. Ocao