Farmer-leader falls victim to land conversion

I have devoted 50 years of my life to working with farmers and for their causes. Being a farmer myself, I know what owning a piece of land means: It is a source of livelihood and of life itself. I was able to put food on the table, send my children to school, and build a roof over our heads because of farming. This is why I am enraged with the illegal conversion happening in my own community in Barangay Culianin, Plaridel, Bulacan.

The community stands on the first tract of land distributed under Republic Act No. 3844 (the Agricultural Land Reform Code) enacted in 1963 during the time of former President Diosdado Macapagal. I was stationed in the barangay to implement the land reform program. The former landlord had hired a goon to kill me, which I thankfully escaped. This was where I got married and had kids. This is my home.

Now, it is under threat by real estate development. About 12.47 hectares of rice land will be converted into “socialized housing” by a certain Chase Patrick Tobias. Dubbed as “Lumina Plaridel,” it is the newest arm of former senator Manuel Villar’s Vista Land. The land is fully irrigated; it is connected to the main canal located in Talampas, Bustos, Bulacan. The land use conversion will block the irrigation and water flow to other farmlands. Worse, it will submerge 34 hectares of land during the rainy season from July to October and affect 45 small farmers. During the dry season, 12 hectares of land will be deprived of irrigation, affecting 12 farmers. But once the socialized housing goes in full swing, almost the entire agricultural land will be gone, affecting

85 percent of the community’s population that relies on farming.

I raise this important issue because my own small farm of 7,000 square meters will be affected. Further, the small farmers of Barangay Culianin are opposed to this illegal conversion because one, under Section 65 of RA 9700 (Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reforms), strictly prohibits land use conversion of all irrigated or irrigable agricultural lands; two, the Department of Agrarian Reform, the main agency mandated to review conversions of agricultural lands, has yet to review Tobias’ application; yet, earth-moving activities in the area were started last Jan. 21; bulldozers and other heavy equipment are now deployed in the area. Tobias is clearly violating the law and must be held (criminally) liable.

Finally, the land use conversion will gravely affect the country’s ability to secure food for its own people. While our population is growing, the hectarage of rice lands is decreasing. As of 2013, there were only 2.8 million hectares of agricultural rice lands left; 1.5 million of these were irrigated, the rest, rain-fed. In reality, we are behind by 10 percent in rice production as against increasing demand.

We are calling on the DAR to swiftly act on our formal complaint: Stop the illegal land conversion. This is a matter not only of policy but also of national food security, and farmers’ livelihoods and survival.

—JAIME TADEO,

former 1986 constitutional commissioner,

chair, Paragos-Pilipinas,

spokesperson, Save Agrarian

Reform Alliance,

Tandang Sora, Quezon City