Negros peasant group rejects hacienda workers’ offer

BACOLOD CITY – The panel negotiating a peaceful solution to the agrarian reform conflict at Hacienda Malaga in La Castellana, Negros Occidental has expressed disappointment after Task Force Mapalad (TFM) rejected a generous offer from the workers’ union of the sugar estate.

With the disappointing turnout of the talks, questions have been raised on the real agenda of TFM on the Malaga conflict.

“You are fighting for land, now land is being given (to you), then why are you still looking for conflict?” Kabankalan Bishop Patrick Buzon asked TFM farmers in a dialogue the other day at the St. Vincent Parish Convent in La Castellana town.

Presidential Assistant for Western Visayas Rafael Coscolluela said the TFM wants a moral victory because once it gets its way in the Malaga case, this would strengthen its stature as a peasant organization.

This way, Coscolluela said, the TFM could lure more farmers in other conflict areas to join it because it could claim that only its strategy works.

“It is very obvious that the welfare of (its) farmer-members are farthest in its mind,” La Castellana Mayor Alberto Nicor said.

Coscolluela, Buzon, Nicor and Fr. Rolex Nueva, Social Action Center director of the Diocese of Kabankalan, compose the negotiating panel that was given authority by Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman after President Arroyo ordered that the Malaga conflict be resolved.

The panel was able to convince the Hacienda Malaga-Cuenca Independent Workers’ Union to agree to the terms, including 99 hectares for the 104 TFM farmers, including the 47 named in a petition for exclusion before the Department of Agrarian Reform. 

The workers also agreed to drop all lawsuits against the TFM on condition that they would retain Lot 852 where the hacienda proper is located.

Although some of the workers opposed the inclusion of the 47 farmers whom they insisted are not qualified agrarian reform beneficiaries, they eventually relented.

However, TFM representatives Jerry Cahilig and Edna Sobracanay rejected the offer and insisted on taking over only 53 hectares situated at the prime portion of the hacienda.

The area covers the hacienda proper where the workers’ houses and the offices of the union and cooperative are located.

The TFM also demanded that they be allowed to take possession of three prime fields currently planted with sugarcane, which they intend to cut down and replace with corn to symbolize their victory.

Cahilig said there is no need for the withdrawal of the petition excluding the 47 farmers, including himself, claiming that they are confident that the DAR would rule on their favor.

“They do not want a peaceful resolution. They just want trouble,” said Nicor, who walked out of the dialogue after expressing disgust over the TFM’s unreasonable demands.

Coscolluela also saw no urgent need for the TFM to take possession of the three prime fields, saying that besides the fact that the crops are due for harvest next month, seven of the 10 hectares in their possession remain untilled.

Despite the negotiations, Pangandaman earlier had ordered newly installed Provincial Agrarian Reform Officer Teresita Depeñoso to secure the three prime fields and give way for the TFM takeover last Monday or two days before the Wednesday dialogue with the group.

It was only called off after Coscolluela explained to Pangandaman that the move could hamper the panel’s efforts to seek a peaceful solution to the Malaga conflict.

“It speaks of bad faith,” he said, referring to Pangandaman’s order.

Coscolluela said the outcome of the Malaga issue is crucial to the implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program not only in Negros but also in other areas of the country.

“How can the government pretend that it can solve other problematic areas when it cannot even solve one hacienda?” he said.

With the deadlock, Coscolluela recommended that a status quo be maintained at Hacienda Malaga to ensure that no trouble erupts there.

He also asked the DAR to intervene and seek the immediate resolution of cases pending before the Supreme Court. 

The tribunal’s decision, he said, would determine what action the DAR would take.

As the government’s representative in the negotiating panel, Coscolluela said he would continue to look for other options to finally resolve the Malaga issue no matter how the TFM sees them.

The TFM has accused Coscolluela of being pro-landlord and employing delaying tactics on the Malaga issue.

“I have tried my best, but we failed. Whoever is to blame is up for the people to reflect on,” he said.