CALATAGAN FARMERS

CARDINAL ROSALES TO MEET THE CALATAGAN

FARMERS IN ATENEO
The farmers from Baha and Talibayog in Calagatan, Batangas began their 5-day walk from
Lipa City in Batangas to Manila yesterday after receiving the blessings of Archbishop
Ramon Arguelles of the Archdiocese of Lipa. In his blessings at a mass celebrated with the
assembly of seminarians all over the Philippines held at the Cathedral de San Sebastian,
Archbishop Arguelles expressed his support for the march of the farmers. “On this first week
of the new church year, God manifests himself among the farmers of Baha and Talibayog.
The Archdiocese of Lipa supports the struggle of the little ones whose only strength is in
God’s power” Arguelles said.
Archbishop Arguelles also announced that the Calatagan farmers will be met by his
Eminence Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales upon their arrival at the Ateneo de Manila
University on December 5. The Calatagan farmers were jubilant at this news. Dante Rasdas,
member of the Calatagan farmers’ core group recalled that December 5 will be the
anniversary of the arrival of the Sumilao farmers in Ateneo de Manila University where they
were welcomed by Cardinal Rosales. “We walked with the Sumilao farmers from San
Pedro, Laguna to Manila last year as our gesture of solidarity. We have witnessed how
Cardinal Rosales embraced the Sumilao farmers then and how the support of the Cardinal
led to the victory of the Sumilao farmers” Rasdas said. Virginita Malaluan, spokesperson of
the Calatagan farmers said that anticipating the meeting with Cardinal Rosales gives them
inspiration, strength and hope. “We are looking forward to meet the Cardinal and tell him
of the story of our own struggles. We are confident that Cardinal Rosales will lend us his
support as he did with the Sumilao farmers last year.
Malaluan read the Calatagan Farmers manifesto at the send-off Mass. She announced
that ten of the seventy-six farmers joining the march will go on hunger strike as soon as they
reach the DAR central office in Quezon City on December 6. “In our conviction to fight for
and defend our land and our rights, ten farmers among us, representing the three
generations of struggling farmers in Baha and Talibayog, will go on hunger strike as soon as
we arrive at the Department of Agrarian Reform. In foregoing food, we will defend our right
to produce food. In their voluntary act of suffering from hunger, we will assert our
conviction to fight hunger” the manifesto said.
The Calatagan farmers declared that they are walking to Malacañang to ask President
Arroyo to once and for all affirm the agricultural classification of the 507 hectares disputed
land in Calatagan, Batangas which is also being claimed by Asturias Industries headed by
Ramon Ang. DENR Secretary Lito Atienza had consistently declared that the disputed land
has become “mineralized” and therefore exempted from the coverage of agrarian
reform. The land was distributed to the farmers in 1989 and 1990 by the Department of
Agrarian Reform under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program. The farmers has
since fully paid their land amortizations and had become full owners of the land. However,
the former landowners, the heirs of Ceferino Ascue managed to sell the land to Asturias
Industries in 1995. In 1997, the DENR issued a Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA)
and an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) covering more than 2,000 hectares
which included the contested 507 hectares distributed through agrarian reform.
In a public forum in Ateneo last
September, the Asturias representative
Atty. Michaela Rosales revealed that
aside mining, Asturias is planning to
develop industrial and eco-tourism
zones in the disputed area. She even
announced that a Formula 1 race track
will be built in the area” said Jane
Capacio of the Task Force Baha-
Talibayog (TFBT). Capacio said that it is
very clear that Asturias is using its MPSA
to take away the lands from the farmer
as a prelude to converting the land to
other uses later. The Calatagan farmers
left the St. Thomas Academy in Sto.
Tomas, Batangas early this morning and
are expected to cross the Batangas-
Laguna boundary today on their way to
San Pedro, Laguna where they will
spend the night.