[asia-apec 522] Landlessness rampant in Cebu, Philippines

[PAN Asia Pacific]

FORWARDED MAIL -------
From: kmp at info.com.ph
Date: 19 Jul 98

 'Ceboom' displaces 80,000 farmers By Froilan Gallardo
PDI Visayas Bureau

CEBU CITY - - The much touted "Ceboom" has taken its toll on farmers and the
poor. 

  Militant farmers said yesterday that over the past two years, more than
80,000 farmers in Cebu are affected by illegal land conversions as
landowners try to cash in on Cebu's rapid economic growth. 

  Worse, they said, "goons" hired by landowners and developers have killed
this year two farmer leaders who opposed the conversion of farmlands into
commercial areas and mining sites.

  "The violence committed against the farmers who opposed land conversion
are becoming systematic and sophisticated," said Sergio Repuela, secretary
general of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas. 

  "We are afraid the situation in Cebu is going out of hand,'' he added. 

  According to Rural Concerns Network, a coalition of 13 militant farmer
organizations, the killings of the farmer leaders were all related to
disputes with landowners. 

  First to be killed was Gil Bontoyan, a peasant leader who was shot dead
June 20 by still unidentified armed men. Bontoyan had opposed red stone and
coal quarrying operations in Mayana, Naga town, 22 km south of here. 

  On July 12, peasant leader Jesus Lebrinca was also shot and killed by
suspected goons in his house in Bunga, Toledo City. 

  Repuela said police have yet to arrest any suspects despite the presence
of many witnesses who were able to identify the gunmen. 

  He said threats and harassments were also carried out on other leaders and
members of peasant organizations who are opposed to land conversions and
mining operations in Cebu.

  Central Visayas posted a 5.3 percent growth over the last year which,
Repuela said, was achieved at the expense of the farmers and other
marginalized sectors. 

  Data acquired by the RCN showed that 67 percent of the 193,200 hectares of
arable land in Cebu are being converted into industrial parks, quarrying and
mining pits.

  The illegal land conversions were done with the imprimatur of local
government officials hungry for revenue, according to Melecio Jumao-as of
the Task Force Detainees of the Philippines-Karapatan. 

  Jumao-as said town councils in Cebu are known to convert lands before they
could even pass an integrated land use program for their municipalities. 

  "The problem is government agencies like DAR (Department of Agrarian
Reform) and DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources) are
turning a blind eye to this anomaly," Jumao-as said. 

  Jumao-as said municipal governments are only empowered by the Local
Government Act of 1991 to reclassify their land but not to convert them for
industrial and mining use. 

  Repuela said the more damaging effect is on farmers who are deprived of
land to till. 

  "The farmers are deprived of their way of life and their means of
livelihood,'' he said. ''(Commercialization of lands) instead contributed to
making the farmers jobless."

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Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas
(Peasant Movement of the Philippines)
69 Maayusing St., UP Village, 
Quezon City, Philippines