NEGROS OCCIDENTAL, Philippines – Authorities stepped up security in a village in Talisay City, Negros Occidental, where tensions continued to escalate following a confrontation between a group of farmers and guards keeping an eye on an expansive area of agricultural land.
The confrontation spotlighted a bitter dispute at Hacienda San Antonio Dos – a battle over a 22-hectare property between a businessman, and farmers who claim that the farmland is rightfully theirs.
The move came after Talisay Mayor Neil Lizares expressed alarm and directed city police chief Lieutenant Colonel Salvador Trono to deploy law enforcers to the disputed property in Barangay Dos Hermanas in Talisay, a component city of Negros Occidental.
Tensions rose when one of the guards, identified as Jose Alonsaga, allegedly fired a warning shot and pointed a gun at Barbie Jane Salumag, the daughter of an agrarian reform beneficiary, during a confrontation with protesting farmers on Friday, January 31.
Police said the guard was apparently angered when he saw Salumag recording a video of them with her mobile phone.
Negros Occidental police provincial director Colonel Rainerio de Chavez said he rushed to the area when he saw a video posted on social media, only to find Alonsaga gone.
The dispute started in August 2024, when 15 farming families tried to take back control of the agricultural land, and asserted that they have the right over it after a 22-year lease agreement expired.
The 15 families are among 26 awarded land ownership certificates by the government in 2001 for a 50-hectare property previously owned by the Jison family.
After attempting to reclaim the property, farmers found their sugarcane crops bulldozed, allegedly on the orders of Paul Chang, a businessman from Bacolod City who leased the land.
Chang’s group has refused to yield, claiming that the property was bought from the ARBs for P3 million. His group presented a certificate of sale allegedly signed by representatives of the 15 farming families in 2016.
The farmers, however, contest this, asserting they only received P180,000, and that what they signed was a lease renewal valid until August 2024.
Gonzalo Lamig, 62, leader of the protesting farmers, “What we signed in 2016 was only a renewal of their leaseback agreement for another eight years, not a sale.”
Lucresia Taberna Sumayo, officer-in-charge of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in Negros Island Region, said the dispute between the farmers and Chang would need to be settled in court.
However, Sumayo said that while the DAR was not directly involved, the department maintains that the ARBs’ Certificates of Land Ownership Award (CLOAs) remain valid, and the property granted to the families under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) cannot be sold.
Tensions flared again on January 15, when guards allegedly harassed a teenage girl and 82-year-old Margarita Murillo. The two were allegedly mauled and hogtied, an incident reported to local police.
The January 31 incident alarmed Talisay officials, who acted after a video of the armed guard went viral.
Mayor Lizares denounced the incident as alarming and unacceptable, and ordered an investigation.
“I have always been clear that I do not and will not tolerate any kind of violence against any Talisaynon,” Lizares said.
On February 3, complaints of grave threat, illegal firearm discharge, and violation of the elections gun ban were filed against Alonsaga before the local prosecutor’s office. – Rappler.com