Banana farm’s CARP coverage a thorny issue for government

DAVAO CITY — An intense squabble is brewing among a number of groups laying claim to a 5,200-hectare banana plantation located inside the Davao Penal Colony in Sto. Tomas, Davao del Norte.

Each group said the land should be given to them if the government places the farm under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

The government has to decide whether or not to place the land under the land reform program when its joint venture agreement on the development of the farm with the Tagum Agricultural Development Corp. (Tadeco) expires in 2004.

The agreement was signed in 1969 with Tadeco, owned by Antonio Floirendo Sr. The plantation then covered 28,000 hectares straddling three towns in the province and the Davao Penal Colony, which now has 2,800 inmates.

Over the years, however, the land had been granted to settlers in the towns of Carmen and parts of Dujali and Sto. Tomas, leaving only over 5,000 hectares.

Samuel Cardenio, president of the Solidarity of Landless Workers in Dapecol (Solaword), one of the claimants, said finding a solution to the dispute "would not be easy."

Interest groups

"It would even be bloody. The government really has to decide carefully on the matter as there are several interest groups, who are all claiming to be the rightful beneficiaries, it has to deal with," he said.

Cardenio said his group has at least 5,000 members, including 800 Dapecol inmates who were allowed to work at the banana farm.

A rival group, the United Floirendo Employees Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Association Inc. (UFEARBAI), claims to have 30,000 members.

UFEARBAI members were among those who recently stormed the offices of the Department of Justice and the Department of Agrarian Reform in Manila to press their case.

"If we have over 35,000 people claiming to be the rightful beneficiaries if the area is placed under CARP, what will we get out of only 5,012 hectares that we are fighting over?" Cardenio asked.

Although the law provides that penal land being cultivated by prison inmates is exempt from land reform, the over 800 inmates working at Tadeco could also be rightful claimants since they are also active workers who are paid regular wages.

Cardenio said the inmates’ interest would be a major consideration in resolving the land dispute since the farm has helped them in their rehabilitation process.

Dapecol superintendent Venjo Tesoro cited the importance of the area used solely for agriculture in a penal colony.

Work stoppage

In a briefing paper distributed during the recent visit of Justice Secretary Hernando Perez to Davao City, it was noted that Dapecol is not subject to land reform because doing so would do more harm than good to the interests of the inmates.

"Whatever would be the government’s decision on the matter, we will abide by them. But we cannot avoid the other interest groups from getting everyone into trouble," Cardenio said.

This week, over 5,000 plantation farmers belonging to Solaword staged a three-hour work stoppage to protest what they called the government’s "neglect of their just demands for land reform."

They also criticized Tadeco for providing "inadequate protection to their rights as agrarian reform beneficiaries."

Cardenio said: "We have been waiting for many years for the Dapecol land to be put under land reform. We filed our first petition during the time of Corazon Aquino, and since then the government has done nothing."

He added: "And now we find out that another group is claiming the land that is supposed to be ours and the government is willing to give it to them. We will not allow this injustice." — Edith Regalado