The installation of 102 agrarian reform beneficiaries in the landholdings previously owned by Polo Coconut Plantation Inc. in Tanjay City, Negros Oriental, went through yesterday despite a tense situation.

Sixty policemen from the Provincial Public Safety Company, headed by Supt. Carlos Lacuesta, members of the Special Weapons and Tactics, and 30 armed troopers from the 79th Infantry Battalion based in Siaton town, secured the area as members of the Aksyon Rebolusyonaryo og Inisyatiba sa mga Binipisyaryo sa Agraryo, who claimed to be the original tillers of the hacienda, protested the activity.

Provincial Agrarian Reform Officer Stephen Leonidas, who led the installation rite, and others in his group, were refused entry to the site by blue guards allegedly as ordered by hacienda caretaker Sheila Reyes.

Reyes said they are concerned over their security of tenure with the installation of the 102 ARBs, and added that a lot of them believe they will be displaced and in a quandary over where to claim their benefits for their long years of service to the company.

Leonidas said Reyes and 108 other regular plantation workers have been reserved an area proportionate to the 102 holders of the Certificate of Land Ownership Awards at 1.5 hectares each.

However, they cannot be installed yet pending final orders from the DAR central office, he added.

The CLOA holders are members of the Polo Plantation Agrarian Reform Multi-Purpose Cooperative and the Movement for Agrarian and Rural Advancement.

While DAR sheriff Edwin Anado was reading the writ of execution to the group of Reyes at the main gate after almost three hours of negotiations, Leonidas, Municipal Agrarian Reform Officer Manuel Galon and other DAR officials gained entry through a gate at the back of the property compound.

A perimeter survey was conducted after the installation to determine the boundaries and the police plan to establish an assistance center in the area for six months or depending on the ARB’s need. The food expense of the police will be shouldered by DAR, Leonidas said.*JG

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