The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) and its provincial chapter in Cebu strongly condemns the presence of approximately 40 armed personnel from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) who attempted to establish a camp near the slaughterhouse of the Local Government Unit (LGU) in Bonbon, Aloguinsan, Cebu, last December 4. The site is close to the community of farmers under the San Roque Farmers’ Association (SRFA).

Farmers stood their ground, insisting that no armed military forces should occupy areas that provide public services, especially those near farming communities.

Since its establishment in the 1990s, the SRFA has endured persistent harassment and intimidation from state forces. In August 2011, around 300 uniformed police officers violently dispersed a farmers’ barricade in Bonbon, where SRFA members were asserting their right to land they had cultivated for decades. The harassment escalated during the pandemic in 2022 when soldiers from the 31st Civil Military Operations camped in the barangay under the guise of “clearing their names.” In January 2023, some SRFA members were tricked into becoming “surrenderers” under the Joint Task Group CSP Team and coerced into forming a fake organization meant to undermine SRFA.

The militarization in Bonbon is reminiscent of the violent incidents in Hacienda Borromeo, Pinamungajan. Earlier this year, armed guards hired by landowners forcibly evicted farming families who had tilled the land for generations. This brutal displacement was accompanied by a campaign of harassment, illegal arrests, and the destruction of farmers’ homes and crops. Farmers in Hacienda Borromeo, who are legitimate agrarian reform beneficiaries, were denied their rights under the law as the state favored the interests of influential landowners.

Such cases expose the government’s failure to uphold agrarian justice. Instead of protecting the farmers who sustain the country’s food security, state forces have consistently served as loyal agents of land monopoly and business interests, further oppressing those who are already impoverished.

KMP Cebu, alongside SRFA, demands the immediate withdrawal of military forces from rural areas. Their presence only instills fear, fosters abuse, and disrupts the livelihoods of farming communities. At the same time, KMP reiterates its call for genuine land reform to provide long-overdue justice to farmers who have long been denied their rightful access to land. #