Bukidnon families forced out of military reserve ask to be allowed to farm

Farming families who were allegedly driven away by the military from their barangay in Bukidnon are bringing their plight to President Rodrigo Duterte’s attention after a year, asking that they be allowed to return to their farms. 

Julie Soribio, president of the St. Peter Higaonon Tribe Agriculture Cooperative, said soldiers drove away some 500 families from Sitio Kibaritan, Barangay Malinao in Kalilangan town in 2020. 

The village is part of 46,000 hectares stretching from the towns of Kalilangan, Pangantucan, and Talakag in Bukindon, all the way to Wao town in Lanao del Sur, which are being claimed by the Armed Forces as a military reservation.

Now called Camp Kibaritan, the area, including 195 hectares being claimed by members of the cooperative, is now being used for Army training. 

Soribio said that when farmers were driven away in 2020, the soldiers destroyed their farms, many of which were planted with sugarcane. The farmers and their families have been barred from the village and farms since December 2020. Strategic areas have reportedly been fenced to keep civilians away.

Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) Chairman Orlando Ravanera said on Friday, July 2, that soldiers had been harassing the Higaonon families for at least two years already. 

He said said many of the displaced families had been living and tilling farms in Kibaritan long before it was declared as part of a vast military reservation by then-President Diosdado Macapagal in 1963.

Ravanera said the CDA checked the claims of the farmers, and the cooperative before it registered under the CDA.

“We can say that, legally, they are the legitimate settlers there. Even before the declaration, their ancestors were already there. By that, they have a right to claim the land,” Ravanera said.

He said the military refused to listen, soldiers began harassing the farmers and their families, and the villagers were subsequently displaced.

Bukidnon is a major sugar producer in the country, the reason why many farmers there are into sugarcane farming. The province accounts for more than 70 % of the sugar being produced by Mindanao.

Kalilangan town councilor Benito Ramos said the displaced farmers have sought the help of the municipal government in the hope of convincing military officials to allow them to at least till their farms and harvest.

Efforts to talk the military into softening its position proved futile, prompting Ramos to bring the matter to the attention of Bukidnon Governor Jose Maria Zubiri.

“What the Army is doing is hurting the farmers. The military is creating unnecessary enemies at a time when the government is saying it is trying to end insurgency,” Ramos said.

Soribio questioned the military’s move, pointing out that the farmers’ 195 hectares were just a “speck” vis-à-vis the  46,000-hectare property from the Bukidnon to Lanao del Sur provinces.

“Why do it here? Why not in other places? We are a community here,” Soribio said. “We cannot go to our farms because we are afraid that the military will shoot us, and will just plant firearms beside our bodies.”  

Major Rodulfo Cordero Jr., 4th Infantry Division spokesperson, declined to comment and explained that while Camp Kibaritan is located within the territory where the 4th ID operates, it is under the Training and Doctrine Command of the Army. – Rappler.com