7 charged for storming DAR

Seven members of a militant farmers group were charged yesterday before the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office by the Department of Agrarian Reforms (DAR) following the violent storming of the department’s building along the Elliptical Road in Quezon City last Feb. 4.

Charged for sedition or tumult and other disturbances of public order were Evangeline Mendoza, president of the Ugnayan ng mga Lokal na Nagsasariling Organisasyon sa Kanayunan (UNORKA), Enrico Cabanit, UNORKA secretary general; and members Arniel Carabana, Amado Padua, Boyet Roldan, Bonifacio Resposo and Efren Cagumbay.

In a statement, DAR said the complaint was filed for the damages caused to DAR property worth P300,000 and injuries to three security guards.

Damaged during the storming of the DAR building were the building’s two gates, lobby glass swing doors and glass panes, four sets of closed circuit television cameras and a CCTV monitor, a time lapse recorder and a video sequencer owned by the Veterans Philippine Scouts Security Agency.

According to the DAR, the militant farmers who stormed the building were armed with rocks and steel pipes.

The militant farmers later left the DAR building after a talk with DAR officials. The protesters then returned to their picket line at the gates of the DAR building.

Last Thursday, lawmen broke the farmers’ picket line. At least 11 protesters were hurt while two others were arrested during the dispersal operation.

The farmers erected the picket line at the main gate of the DAR building along Eliptical Road to call for the resignation of DAR Secretary Roberto Pagdanganan over what they claim were cases of illegal land conversions. Arrested by police during the dispersal were Resposo and Alejandro Hermosilla.

Last Jan. 29, the militant farmers also stormed the DAR building and blocked the building’s entrance and exit gates. – Mike Frialde