In Escalante, sugar farmers find new cause

Dearba members have come together to build their own watchtower

In September 1985, some of the farmer-members of the Don Esteban Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Association (Dearba) bravely took to the streets of Escalante, Negros Occidental, to demand the end to the oppression of sacadas and the urgent distribution of land to the landless.

Today, they are waging another battle, this time for the right to freely and peacefully cultivate the sugar land that they and their families have been tilling for decades.

It is a legal battle that started in 2013 when 27 farmers that formed Dearba were given a Certificate of Land Ownership, proving their claim over 53 hectares of land that used to be part of the Bongco estate in Escalante City.

It was covered under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program by the Department of Agrarian Reform and these farmers were named beneficiaries of the land, such that ownership should have turned over to them.

But while they believe that the law is on their side, there have been serious challenges to their claim, not just from the landowner but from fellow farmers as well, particularly those from a neighboring area who also want the land for themselves.

Members of Dearba would not be dissuaded nor threatened, however. And they have been able to push their claim. They are being helped in part through the Joint Action for Land Rights (JALR), a project jointly implemented by the Asian NGO Coalition for Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (Angoc), Balaod Mindanaw, Solidarity Towards Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (Kaisahan Inc.), and People In Need (PIN).

JALR contributes to the work of civil society organizations, including human rights organizations, working with vulnerable and socially excluded groups with particular focus on supporting the empowerment of farmers and indigenous peoples to claim their rights, including protecting the rights of human rights defenders.

The project is supported by the European Union’s European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EU-EIDHR).

With legal help from Kaisahan, and despite fears of reprisals and the painful conflict with fellow farmer groups, Dearba was able to increase its occupied territory from an initial three hectares of land to seven, then to 13.5 and finally, 53.05 hectares today.

Dearba farmers have turned into inspired landowners

Dearba and the Don Esteban Agrarian Reform Cooperative (Dearco) are composed of the same agrarian reform beneficiaries and former workers in Hacienda Bongco.

Farmers from the organizations have been residing on the landholding for around 37 years. For them, land is power and also a ticket to a better life, even if each member only has about a hectare of land to his name. What is more important than the size, says Dearba chair Felix Bucaling, is the right over the land as an owner, after years of being a farmer worker, earning a paltry P10,000 a year.

Dearba was established with the assistance of Task Force Mapalad (TFM) and DAR and the members believe that life has never been better despite concerns over the land.

“It is a vastly different feeling to work for oneself, instead of working for others. Today, we just want peace and freedom to till our land as we see fit. A quiet life, that is all we want,” says Bucaling.

The legal battle continues and there were times when they became afraid for their lives. For instance, steel spikes were scattered on the road going inside their area that damaged their tractor in December 2015. They also had to endure rival farmers plowing on their lots using a rented tractor from the city government.

This was only stopped when Bucaling sought local authorities’ help.

“We fight through other people, and we fight for ourselves. We have to because the future of our family depends on that,” Bucaling says.

Today, Dearco, Dearba’s cooperative, has been able to generate close to P7 million in revenues, which is the most that any of the members ever saw in their lifetime. It has 50 members and last year each received some P22,000 in dividends.

Since having been awarded with farmlands, they have also been able to contribute to improving the welfare of their community.

The cooperative has been able to donate funds for the construction of schools and housing units, and they have also been able to contribute to the annual commemoration of the Escalante Massacre.

They have also been able to finance the construction of a watchtower on their land to ensure the safety and security of the land they are now proud to call their own.

But they are not letting down their guard because they know that there is always the possibility that somebody is going to take over their land, thus Dearba is happy that there have been people helping it get its message across.

“Our problem is likened to a man stuck inside a well. He is shouting and struggling but nobody hears him,” Bucaling says, “But together, we found our way out of the deep hole and into the sunlight.”