Farmers end three-day ‘standoff’ with Braganza

Farmers, who have "invaded" the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) building in Quezon City, ended yesterday their three-day standoff with Agrarian Reform Secretary Hernani Braganza.

This, after DAR officials forged with leaders of the Ugnayan ng mga Nagsasarili at Nagkakaisang Organisasyon sa Kanayunan (Unorka) an agreement to address the farmers’ pressing concerns.

Braganza agreed to form an eight-member joint committee that will fast-track some 400 agrarian reform cases which Unorka has brought to the DAR’s attention.

Braganza, however, told reporters that Unorka will not be given any special treatment.

He said his department will publish in newspapers this week all agrarian reform cases up for resolution.

"Please bear with us," Undersecretary Virgilio de los Reyes told the farmers in yesterday’s dialogue. "We have reviewed about 150 of the cases you have forwarded and we don’t want to arrive at hasty decisions."

DAR employees issued yesterday statements of support for the beleaguered Braganza, who promised to maintain an "open-door" polity toward the farmers.

Braganza showed up toward the end of the dialogue with the leaders of Unorka, one of the largest alliances of agrarian reform advocates in the country.

About 400 farmers stormed the fourth floor of the DAR building in front of the Quezon Memorial Circle last Monday after Braganza reneged on his promise to hold a dialogue with them. They agreed to leave the DAR premises at 3 p.m. yesterday.

The farmers had demanded Braganza’s replacement, saying his continued inaction on their claims only showed that he was unfit for the job.

"It is unfortunate that Unorka should choose a rash move," Braganza said. "We don’t want to give the signal to other groups that we are giving them special treatment. We treat them according to the merits of their claims."

Meanwhile, Braganza described as "pure hogwash" Unorka’s allegation that DAR had imposed a "food blockade" on farmers who picketed the DAR premises.

In a statement, he said the security guards were merely instructed not to allow any more protesters inside the DAR’s main building to prevent any untoward incident.

"Our agreement with the protesters was that they themselves should fetch the food being delivered by their colleagues from outside the main building. In that case, we could prevent the entry of more protesters," he said.

Braganza said the guards even allowed Princess Nemenzo, daughter of University of the Philippines president Francisco Nemenzo, to bring lunch to Unorka members yesterday.