Members of the Hacienda Malaga Independent Workers Union and the Hacienda Malaga-Cuenca Multi-Purpose Cooperative began massing up at the entrance of Hacienda Velez-Malaga in La Castellana shortly before midnight yesterday on receiving information that the Department of Agrarian Reform was going to install farmer beneficiaries from Task Force Mapalad.

A source said they received information that the Regional Mobile Group in Victorias was going to assist the DAR in the installation of the TFM members early today.

No DAR official could be reached for confirmation up to press time last night.

A motion seeking the exclusion of 33 land reform beneficiaries from a Certificate of Land Ownership Award granting them a share of Hacienda Velez-Malaga was filed yesterday before the Department of Agrarian Reform regional office in Western Visayas .

Farmers associated with the cooperative and union filed the motion for reconsideration to the DAR's Feb. 12, 2007 ruling that denied their bid for the exclusion of the 33, who are members of Task Force Mapalad.

The motion said the DAR regional office erred in denying the exclusion of Gregorio Paclibar, Rosilo Ogatis, Antonio Juanitas, Alejandro Gracesa, Jane Divinagracia, Bebiana Capitania, Jerry Cahilig, Josefina Paclibar, Mercy Salas and Lolita San Francisco on the ground of "failure to prove substantial evidence."

The petitioners said they not only have substantial but direct evidence of disqualification.

Gregorio Pablibar must be disqualified, not only because he has culpably disposed or abandoned the land awarded to him under Presidential Decree 27, but he is also a squatter on Field 74 and 75 of Lot 852, the motion said.

Paclibar, along with many others, entered Field 74 and 75 surreptitiously or by stealth and under the umbrella of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, without the DAR's imprimatur, the motion added.

The motion cited a Supreme Court ruling that states that under Sec 73. of Republic Act 6657 (the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law) persons guilty of committing prohibited acts of forcible entry do not qualify as beneficiaries and may not avail themselves of the rights an benefits of agrarian reform.

The motion also said Gregorio Paclibar, Dulay, Sixto, Trenuela and de la Torre must be disqualified on the ground that they were retired at the time the DAR included them in the CLOA.

It was also pointed out in the motion that Garcesa, Divinagracia, Cahilig, Josefina Paclibar, Salas and San Francisco never worked or had resigned as farm workers of Velez-Malaga at the time they were included in the CLOA.

A certification from Fr. Custodio Ananoria attested to the fact that Salas was working as a catechist at the La Castellana Catholic Church from 1980 to 1994 and later at the Diocese of Kabankalan, while another certification from an owner of a welding shop stated that Ogatis was working for him from 1996 to 2001.

Demasuay is also disqualified as a farmer beneficiary since he was a civilian volunteer under the Philippine National police and not a Velez-Malaga employee, the motion said.

The motion also seeks the disqualification of 18 others for no longer being employed at Velez-Malaga since 1996 of for never being employed there.

But TFM in a statement yesterday said DAR Secretary Nasser Panagandaman continues to raise the bogey of violence and bloodshed to forestall the installation of TFM members, which it called a "bankrupt alibi".

Pangandaman should not insult the intelligence of Catholic bishops who support the installation of 122 farmer-beneficiaries by claiming they were misled by propagandists, TFM said. The coop and union members earlier noted that none of the bishops in Negros Occidental who know the real situation at Velez-Malaga supported the manifesto calling for immediate installation because they know what is happening on the ground.

The screening and identification of potential beneficiaries were done based on standard rules and procedures of DAR in accordance with the provisions of Republic Act 6657, TFM said.

"Pangandaman should stop saying that some farmer-beneficiaries are illegitimate. He should recognize and respect the decision of DAR Region VI issued on February 12, 2007 declaring that all the 122 farmer-beneficiaries are legitimate," TFM said.

. DAR Region VI said that Cuenca's farm workers have not produced any evidence to substantiate their claim that some farmer-beneficiaries were illegitimate, it added.*CPG ,

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