Araneta Family, Mascap Farmers Fight Over Land in Rodriguez, Rizal Published on July 10, 2010

Araneta Family, Mascap Farmers Fight Over Land in Rodriguez, Rizal

Published on July 10, 2010

 By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – In 1972 peasants in Mascap, Rodriguez of Rizal province thought they had already won their right to the land they have been tilling. However, in 2006, a landed family once again started claiming it.
The 1,644-hectare land currently being tilled by the Mascap peasants was owned by the Araneta family, a wealthy and landed family in the Philippines, until Ferdinand Marcos enacted the Presidential Decree No. 27 in 1972. It provided for the “emancipation of all tenant farmers working in private agricultural lands” producing rice and corn. Under PD 27, more than 1,300 hectares were distributed to farmers.

Since then, said Zen Soriano an organizer of Samahan ng mga Magsasaka sa Mascap, Rodriguez, (Farmers’ Association in Mascap, Rodriguez), the Araneta family has been using every trick in the book to reclaim the land. They filed an appeal before the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in 1992 but lost.

During the late 1990s, the Aranetas brought the issue before the Court of Appeals (CA). This time, the peasants in Mascap were not informed about the petition filed to reverse the DAR decision. Thus, they were unable to attend the hearings. The Appeals Court ruled in favor of the Araneta family in 2003, but the farmers only learned of the appeal and decision in 2006. The next year, on February 2007, the peasants filed a petition before the Supreme Court (SC) to reverse the CA decision.... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2010/07/10/araneta-family-mascap-farmers-fight-over-land-in-rodriguez-rizal/