It’s planting season but these farmers are in the picketlines, not in the ricefields. 3 June, 2011 – Update on Agrarian Unrest in Maramag, Bukidnon.

Peasants belonging to the Buffalo-Tamaraw-Limus Farmers’ Association (BTL) and the BTL Women’s Association staged a more-than-a-week-long rally against Central Mindanao University (CMU) in Musuan, Maramag, Bukidnon demanding that they be allowed to continue tilling the land.

The inhabitants of Buffalo, Tamaraw and Limus in the towns of Maramag, Valencia in the province of Bukidnon continue to fight for their rights to the lands they tilled since the 80’s.

The communities have a 400 hectare land planted monotonously with rice, as they are beneficiaries of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP). But the Supreme Court favored the appeal of the CMU Administration to exempt the CMU lands from distribution under CARP since this is for ‘educational and scientific purpose.’

One of the reasons why the vast and fertile lands of BTL is in danger of being taken over is that the CMU administration plans to expand its area to make way for new piggeries, poultry houses and rice fields. But the proposed project is unjustified; the BTL area is too big an area for such. On hindsight, another key actor is involved in the land-grabbing fiasco; Davao Ventures Corporation (DAVCO) intends to utilize the BTL land area to expand their pineapple and banana plantations. Expansion of corporate plantations inside the University would make more than 800 families search for another area as a source of food and sustenance.

Earlier, CMU has asked the farmers to vacate following an offer by the provincial government of relocation in Talakag town. But the farmers are holding their ground. They said they will not relocate yet because the site is still undeveloped. BTL and BTL Women’s Association then staged a protest at the front of the CMU. They asserted to continue tilling the land while developing the relocation site, but they were harassed by university guards and the military.

On May 23, to press the farmers to vacate the land, university guards confiscated their farm tools, held them in gunpoint, and the security personnel fired their guns for many times to sow fear among the farmers. The irrigation canals were also blocked by the security personnels with the aid of the state forces to force the peasants to finally leave.

CMU president Dr. Ma. Luisa Soliven said over radio station DXDB on May 27 that the CMU board of regents approved an extension of only three years and is asking for only a peso per hectare per year lease. At the end of it, she added, the farmers have to leave with no relocation site.

Despite series of dialogues, the negotiations between the two parties remained in deadlock. The protest is still on-going. And the peasants have sustained their ‘camp-out protest’ outside CMU, mounting make-shift tents, to continue pressing for an extension of their tilling of the land for three years and for an ensured  and decent relocation after that.

Please read this feature story published in a local daily.

The woman featured in the story, Aling Felomena Santillan or Aling Mena, is a member of the Buffalo-Tamaraw-Limus Farmers’ Association (BTL). BTL is an alliance of three peasant organizations legally occupying lands inside CMU for a long time, where the Bukidnon Free Farmers and Agricultural Laborers Association (Buffalo) is a part of and where Aling Mena is its secretary general. Aling Mena is also the chairperson of BTL Women’s Association, especially established to mainstream peasant women’s voices and aid the multi-sectoral BTL in the agrarian campaign in the locality.

 BTL Women’s Association is a major local formation and one of the pioneering founders of AMIHAN Northern Mindanao.

Not mentioned in the story, AMIHAN Northern Mindanao is assisting the BTL and the BTL Women’s Association in their current campaign, along with the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP or Philippine Peasant Movement).

Update on the agrarian unrest in Maramag, Bukidnon
BTL Women’s Association
03 June 2011
03:16 pm

Peasant women decry today’s harassment, indiscriminate firing

A woman farmer and member of BTL Women’s Association, Ailyn Palania, collapsed after more than 50 heavily armed University guards from the CHEVRON Security Agency and elements of the paramilitary Civilian Auxillary Geographical Forces Unit (CAFGU) indiscriminately fired to the direction of the farmers doing the ‘Operation Tikad’ today, June 3, 2011.

‘Operation Tikad’ is the term used for the action of the farmers of the Buffalo-Tamaraw-Limus areas inside the Central Mindanao University (CMU) in Maramag, Bukidnon in collectively tilling the land while a deal is yet to be sealed between the CMU administration and the displaced farmers.

BTL Women’s Association Chairperson Felomina Santillan asserted, “we will die if we cannot attend to our rice fields now since this is planting season. For humanitarian reasons, we ask the CMU administration to allow us sow seeds in our rice fields while waiting for the final agreement.”

BTL Women’s Association is a part of the 43 peasant women organizations under AMIHAN Northern Mindanao.

CMU pushed for the ejectment of the 800 peasant families in the land they till inside the university, and be relocated to the remote town of Talakag. But the farmers rejected the offer because the relocation area has been undeveloped. They asked the CMU administration to delay the relocation for three more years and let them continue tilling their lands inside the university for them to have something to eat, while developing the relocation site in Talakag.

The BTL Women’s Association, together with the BTL Farmers’ Association, mounted a make-shift camp last May 23 in front of the university to protest CMU’s ‘heartless proposal.’ CMU President Ma. Luisa Soliven then announced that she is willing to extend the stay of the farmers, but said that they will not offer relocation after three years.

“Where will we go after three years?,” Santillan asked.

Tilling the lands for more than 3 decades, BTL Farmers were beneficiaries of the government’s Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP). After appeals from the CMU administration, the Supreme Court ruled in 2001` that the lands inside CMU is exempted from distribution since these are intended for ‘educational and scientific purposes.’

But Santillan reacted, “What educational purpose? We believe We are being ejected from our treasured land to pave the way for the expansion of DAVCO’s banana and pineapple plantations!”

This morning, more than 500 BTL farmers, women and children included, joined the ‘Operation Tikad’that started 10am when men armed with high-powered rifles and hand guns fired them away from their ricefields. The armed men also brought with them two tractors to pull away the farm tools the farmers are using, but were unsuccesful because of the collective efforts of the latter in defending the ‘Operation Tikad.’ Many women and children were traumatized because of the firing.

“The CMU administration does not want us to till the land because it is now planting season. Without food to eat in the next months, we will be forced to leave the place. Their moves are calculated,” said Santillan.

Aside from the security guards and the CAFGUs, the peasants are also worried of the presence of a certain Antonio Pamisa, a man notorious for killing of Lumads (indigenous peoples) claiming lands inside the university. He is now being used by the CMU to harass and intimidate BTL farmers.

“But we will not stop until our demands are met. If we cannot eat, we will die. Our land is our life. Take it away from us, and you take our life too,” Santillan asserted.