Farmers in Brgy. Viga, Angadanan, Isabela, members of the Panagkaykaysa ti Mannalon a Maag-agawan ti Daga (PUMALAG), are once again fighting for their right to till the land they have lived and farmed on for over five decades. Under the direction of Chief of Police Major Rassel Tuliao, plainclothes officers and security personnel have intensified harassment and intimidation against the farmers, who continue to resist eviction from the 23.6-hectare homestead.

This conflict traces back to 1938, when Clodualdo Gamboa secured a title to the land despite neither residing on nor cultivating it. In 1969, Gamboa sold the land to Eufemio Torres, who installed the ancestors of the current farmers as tenants. In recent years, some farmers have even received Certificates of Land Ownership Award (CLOAs), recognizing their legitimate claim to the land under agrarian reform.

However, in 2021, relatives of the Gamboa family resurfaced with a suspicious, reconstituted title, showing discrepancies such as the land’s address being incorrectly listed in a non-existent barangay. They filed lawsuits against the farmers who refused to leave, presenting a fraudulent certificate from the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) claiming no tenants occupied the land.

Local court proceedings have been marred by irregularities. Farmers report that they often did not receive hearing summons, or only received them post-hearing, with some signatures allegedly forged. Even though a Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) lawyer was appointed, the lawyer allegedly failed to represent the farmers properly, worsening their legal standing. Without sufficient resources to hire private legal counsel or access crucial documents, the farmers lost the case in lower courts, but have since filed an appeal.

In December 2023, the local Sheriff marked the land for eviction. On October 17, 2024, Gamboa’s representatives, backed by police, brought security guards and structures onto the disputed land, even attempting to fence off portions not yet decided in court. Despite eviction threats, the farmers have continued planting crops to sustain their families.

On October 30 and again on November 2, Police Major Tuliao, along with Angadanan local government officials, urged the farmers to accept a small compensation to vacate the land. They later ordered the burning of the farmers’ placards and declared that the crops would be destroyed. Following an altercation involving one of the farmers, police used excessive force, including pointing firearms at unarmed farmers, resulting in the arrest of 3 farmers.

The farmers are calling for urgent intervention, denouncing the systemic bias and alleged complicity of government institutions, including local officials, the police, and the judiciary, in favor of powerful landowners and financiers. “This case underscores the deeply rooted inequities in the agrarian system, persisting from the Marcos Sr. regime through today under Marcos Jr,” according to KMP chairperson Danilo Ramos, also a Makabayan Senatorial candidate.

PUMALAG and the affected farmers demand an impartial probe of their case, an end to the violent tactics against them, and the enforcement of genuine agrarian reform. “Our farmers have cultivated this land for generations, contributing to food security and their community. To dispossess them now, under such dubious claims and violent means, shows the lengths to which powerful interests will go to serve themselves,” says PUMALAG.

The farmers assert that the government’s bogus agrarian reform program exposes the systemic injustices against farmers and agrarian reform beneficiaries. #