11 nabbed in hacienda melee

LAGUNA  , Philippines  – At least 11 people, including two farmers were arrested after tension erupted between the barricading residents of Hacienda Yulo and the police forces, in Barangay Canlubang, report said yesterday.

Those arrested were Mario Manggubat, 36, Mario’s wife, Dorothea Manggubat, 47; Mario’s mother, Francisca Manggubat, 71; Maria Garcia 39, Anabel Natanuan 29, Gilbert Caraan 24, Lamberto Caraan 38, while four children were brought to the Department of Social and Welfare Development in Calamba City. Later on, Manggubat’s wife and mother including Lamberto were released in police custody.

Manggubat and Caraan, both members of a farmers’ group – Samahan ng mga Mamamayang Nagkakaisa sa Buntog (Samana-Buntog), and residents of Sitio Buntog, Barangay Canlubang, were charged for obstruction of justice and resisting arrest.

The 400-hectare sub-village is only a portion of the 7,100-hectare Hacienda Yulo. The land is pending for its conversion from being agricultural to commercial land, but farmers who claimed it was still productive for coconut planting, opposed the court’s decision and in March, put up a makeshift fence made of bamboo to cordon the area.