COMPREHENSIVE Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) beneficiaries at a vast landholding in the Bondoc Peninsula in Quezon will get round the clock police security.
This was announced by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), after the National Police granted its request to provide CARP beneficiaries in the area protection they need against lawless elements who continue to oppose the distribution of Hacienda Matias.
Director Ricardo Cornejo Marquez, head of the National Police’s Directorate for Operations, issued an order dated May 20 upon the request of the DAR owing to the harassment perpetrated by armed men believed to be working for the former owners of the Hacienda Matias, that straddles barangays Butanguiad and Don Juan Vercelos in San Francisco, Quezon.
Marquez ordered the Southern Tagalog and the Quezon police commands “to immediately establish a police detachment” inside the 1,716-hectare Matias Hacienda to complete the peaceful and orderly installation of farmer-beneficiaries.
Marquez also directed the Quezon police commander, Sr. Supt. Romy Ylagan, and his deputy, Sr. Supt. Vilmore Manzano, “to provide the farmer-beneficiaries security escorts to and from their farms, conduct regular patrols and implement other appropriate interventions to ensure-maintain peace and order in the area.”
The police assistance and security is expected to last indefinitely or until such time when farmer-beneficiaries can freely till their farms peacefully without fear of being harassed and intimidated by the armed men allegedly in the employ of the Matias family.
While the DAR was able to install 26 farmer-beneficiaries on May 15 and 16, the farmers were forced to leave their awarded farm lots owing to alleged threats and harassments from the employees of the Matias family.
There were also bulls in the area, which the Matias family employees allegedly threatened to sic on the farmers.
The entrance has been gated and fenced with concrete materials, according to reports reaching the DAR Central Office in Quezon City.
Prior to the installation, the beneficiaries complained that some of the Matias employees resorted to stealing their copra and other acts “inimical to the CARP implementers and beneficiaries.”
The DAR has asked the National Police to arrest anyone who will obstruct the implementation of CARP in the area.