Karapatan condemns the violent harassment by armed goons of a group of peasants belonging to the Baybay II Farmers Association in Hacienda Borromeo, Pandacan, Pinamungajan, Cebu. On September 22, 2024, armed men reportedly fired shots at and threatened to kill the peasants who are being forcefully displaced from their lands. The peasants have been tilling the land for decades.
This armed attack against the peasants in Hacienda Borromeo comes amid empty boasts by Ferdinand Marcos Jr. that agrarian cases have enjoyed a higher case resolution under his regime. Hacienda Borromeo, in particular, is owned by an “old rich” family in Cebu that has evidently evaded all the showcase land reform programs under successive presidents.
The hacienda is located in an area noted for its coconut crop as well as the production of milkfish and other agricultural products. However, the owners, in collusion with the provincial government, plan on converting this prime agricultural area into a “Tourist Service Center and Rest Area,” and have been trying to eject the peasants. Land use conversion has long been a convenient tool by landlords to prevent the distribution of agricultural land to the tillers.
Karapatan stands behind the Baybay II Farmers Association in their just struggle for what is rightfully theirs. “Owning the land on which they and their forebears have toiled for decades is a human right,” said Karapatan secretary general Palabay. “We are in full solidarity with them in this fight and in their struggle for genuine agrarian reform.”