Nilantagan, a small coastal village in the Bondoc peninsula, is made up of the farmers’ houses, thatched huts, one store and no public facilities such as a clinic or a police station. This village is particularly difficult to access since it is inconveniently located between the landowner’s property, hacienda Matias, and the sea. If one tries to cut across the hacienda, there is a risk of incurring a trespassing charge, as is the case with many farmers and even some military personnel who were seen on the property. Thus, the only secure means to reach Nilantagan is by small ferryboats.  

In 2006, fresh out of law school, JusticeMaker Rosselynn Jae Garcia de la Cruz was assigned her first agrarian reform case representing farmers from Nilantagan, who were charged with ‘qualified theft’of coconuts. Back then, her knowledge about agrarian reform law was limited at best, but she soon became adept at navigating the maze that is agrarian reform law. It has been about four years since ‘attorney Jae’ (as the farmers refer to her) took on the case and while there has been some progress, the fight is far from over.
               

Before the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, the farmers in Nilantagan were obliged to give 70% of their harvest to the landowner. When, in 2003, the farmers belatedly began their petition for land ownership, the landlord, Mr. Matias, responded by evicting many farmers from their home. Despite years of legal battle, many farmers are still faced with criminal charges for harvesting coconuts, and in 2009, out of 25 evicted families, only nine were allowed to move back to their farms. These families didn’t become landowners but instead, were given a lease agreement that improved the share system with the landlord. Unfortunately, even after the farmers received the lease, they’re affronted with continual harassment from the landlord’s hired workers, which the farmers collectively refer to as goons.

When we arrived in Nilantagan, we met with one of the farmer leaders, Rolando Zaño, who was in the middle of changing his bullet-hole riddled windows. He explains, “This happened a few years back. Armed goons, hired by the landowner, came and shot at my house. But I am only able to change the windows now.”

Rolando, an energetic man with a penchant for jokes, even at the most inopportune times, was distracted that day because the goons were harvesting the coconuts from the land that the farmers were legally leasing. Yet, even as this crime was ongoing, there were no police present.

 Above: A goon harvests Maria Laracas’ land
                                                                                                                 

We soon learned that the absence of police in agrarian reform incidents is rather common because, by nature, they occur in rural areas, and are quite isolated. Therefore, when crimes such as the incineration of a farmer’s house occur, it can take a few days to report that crime. For years, offenses against the farmers have gone on without arrests. By the time the farmers go to the police, it proves to be too late as the farmers are left with only their word as evidence.

This incident, however, was different. The farmers had the opportunity to involve the police directly and catch the goons while they were harvesting the coconuts. Several hours after the farmers arrived at the police station to report the crime, the police agreed to accompany them back to Nilantagan on ferryboats, which the farmers themselves had rented. 

Above: Son of a Farmer waits in the police station

The police raid resulted in two arrests and as the goons were hauled off to jail, there was a sense of triumph amongst the farmers. After years of being the accused, they were finally the accusers and for the first time, they felt they were on the other side of the law. 

Jansept Geronimo, a community organizer for Nilantagan exclaimed, “This is a very good case! This is the first time that they [the goons] have been caught in the act. They will surely face criminal charges.”

Above: Police conduct raid on goons

This jubilation was short-lived, however, as the prosecutor dismissed the case by using a recently passed legislation designed to protect farmers. Under the new law, if any farmer,who is a tenant, is accused of criminal charges, the courts must dismiss charges and refer the case to the Agrarian reform offices. Yet, even though the arrested goons were clearly not tenants, the prosecutor took their word for it and released them promptly. The sense of triumph was quickly replaced by one of outrage and the farmers, who made the four-hour trip to the provincial court, seemed bewildered by the prosecutor’s dismissal of a blatant crime.

Outside the courts, the agrarian reform officials promise the farmers that they will appeal the dismissal. But as the goons walk away without any repercussions, the farmers know that, at best, it will take months, or even years, before the goons face criminal charges again. Sometime in the unforeseen future, they might be held accountable for their actions, but for today, the farmers know that justice has failed them. 

Yet, in the face of this defeat, Rolando remains hopeful, “We will just keep coming back with the police, and they will keep arresting these goons. We will not stop.”

Victory for farmers in agrarian reform cases are few and far in between. Everyday, they continue their battle to own a small patch of land, which is their only source of income. Even when the justice system seems to be against them, the farmers keep fighting within the confines of the law. Four years after she started this case, attorney Jae remains one of their best fighters.

Above: Police raid

Above: Soldier disembarks at Nilantagan

Above: Police confiscate Machete from the goons

Above:Police light up after the arrest

Photos by Ayda Wondemu

On a recent visit to the Bondoc region, Renato Heliran, a farmer and leader of the movement for agrarian reform in the San Narciso municipality, along with two other farmers, Mr. Bayani and Mr. Winnifrido, explained the struggle which they and other farmers have enduref in order to claim the land issued to them by the government under the land redistribution program.

“The CARP [Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program] was instituted in 1988 but we only found out about it around ’98, ten years later.” states Renato. The huge lapse in time between the formation of the law and its actual institution is only one aspect of a failing justice system when it comes to land redistribution. In 2003, the farmers began a legal battle to reclaim their land. They also refused to give shares of their coconut harvest to the landlord, Mr Reyes.  Yet their refusal to give shares of their coconut harvest to the landlord has resulted in numerous criminal suits against each farmer for qualified theft of coconuts.

 Above: Mr. Bayani and Mr. Winnifrido, two farmers from San Narciso municipality

“One afternoon, I was working in the fields when they came to arrest me for stealing coconuts” explains Bayani.  Like Bayani, many other farmers were arrested for several months before they were bailed out by the Agrarian Reform coalition.

Others, like Winnifrido, haven’t been arrested but face arrest warrants. “There is still a warrant for my arrest. So, there is always a chance that the military will come to arrest me. Mostly, I am in hiding so I keep my head down while in town and I keep quiet.”  explains Winnifrido.  Unfortunately, even after the discovery that the land they are claiming is public land, the farmers still have ongoing cases and arrest warrants.

In a month’s time, the farmers have a hearing in court to seek dismissal of all charges. While the struggle for their only source of income still looms on the horizon, the farmers remain hopeful that they will, one day, be able to own the land which their families have tilled for generations.

   Above: Renato’s son does his homework

Above: Farmer from San Andreas municipality

Above: Benido Mahilan, farmer leader from San Andreas municipality

Photos by Ayda Wondemu

Above: Rosselynn Jae Garcia de la Cruz (Jae), 2010 JusticeMaker fellow and agrarian reform lawyer

It was about 3 in the afternoon when JusticeMakers Fellow and agrarian reform lawyer, Rosselynn Jae Garcia de la Cruz, and I arrived in Pangasinan, a province 170 km north of Manila for a farmers’ meeting. We have been on the road for most of the day, a commute that had us chasing buses under the scorching sun and straddling tricycles under the drizzling rain, all in the same day. For Jae, it was essential to make this trip to have an intimate conversation with the farmers who trust her to fight on their behalf. The fight for agrarian reform in the Philippines is a long and arduous one, comprising of many battles – some won, others lost- since Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) was first enacted in 1988.  The simple principle of agrarian reform is the redistribution of arable land ownership from large private landholdings to landless farmers. However, the execution of the reform has been far from simple. More than twenty years after the first law passed, countless farmers are still engaged in a David and Goliath battle against wealthy and politically connected landowners who use a multitude of tactics, ranging from the twisting of the legal system to violence through armed goons.

Above: Farmers from the Pangasinan region

Before the meeting begins, Jae explains, “Some cases can get very violent. It’s different in Pangasinan; it’s peaceful. Here, we are just dealing with corporate greed.” Although the kind of struggle brought by agrarian reform differ from case to case, they all share a common thread. There is a huge gap in equality between the farmers and the landowners. In a country where land is equated to power, the landless remain powerless. The farmers’ only champions are the minority of agrarian reform lawyers and the coalitions of agrarian reformers that fight for the farmers.

In Pangasinan, the farmers have been fighting to reclaim their land for a number of years. The landlord in question is a corporation, which has held on to the land by claiming it as industrial property rather than arable land, a baffling circumstance for the farmers, as they continue to work on it daily.  

Above: Farmers from the Pangasinan region during the meeting with Jae

 In 2003, with the help of an agrarian reform coalition, the farmers filed a suit with Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to redistribute the remaining unindustrialized land. Seven years after they began, their case is far from settled, with the corporation filing an appeal after each favorable decision towards the farmers. During the discussion, Jae goes over new information about a supposed sale of the land in contention. The farmers are worried that this will serve as yet another impediment. But Jae is positive, she states, “they won’t be able to go through with that sale, it’s illegal and we will file a suit against this supposed sale.”

The meeting goes on for a few hours with a somber conversation interspersed with some laughter. The farmers still retain a fighting spirit and when the discussion is over, they come up to Jae and thank her for her support and one farmer, Maria D. Serrano, even asks Jae to spend the night at her home. Jae politely declines as she has a meeting the next morning for another case. Indeed, this is only one of the fifteen agrarian reform cases that Jae is currently handling.

It is near midnight when the bus finally arrives in Manila. Jae is tired but pleased to have had a chance to speak with the farmers. While victories are infrequent and slow to achieve, Jae remains optimistic. On the way back to Manila, she confides  “the farmers, they are why I am doing this job. Because they’re so honest, so open, and it’s just not right that anyone would treat them in this manner.”

Pangasinan farmer, Maria D. Serrano

Photos by Ayda Wondemu