Hundreds of farming families in Oriental Mindoro are facing potential displacement following the construction of a fence on contested agricultural land, media reports said.

More than 300 families in Barangay Guinobatan, Calapan City held a prayer rally on Friday evening to protest against fencing that appeared along the highway frontage the previous day, cutting off access to their farmland and disrupting businesses.

The dispute is one of the tensions in the country’s complex land reform program, which has seen numerous legal battles between agrarian reform beneficiaries and original landowners.

“We were surprised they just put the fence up. They said they have clearance from the barangay, but we weren’t even consulted,” said Fely Macalalad, President of the Guinobatan Farmers’ Association, in a news report.

The contested 158-hectare plot in Guinobatan has been at the center of a legal dispute dating back to 1999, shortly after 64 farmers, received Certificates of Land Ownership Award (CLOA) under the government’s Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

Many CLOA holders across the country have faced similar battles, with original landowners contesting redistributions through various legal channels.

The CARP was launched in 1988 as the Philippines’ primary land reform initiative, aiming to redistribute agricultural land to tenant farmers. The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) issues CLOAs as proof of ownership to beneficiaries.

However, the original landowners contested the redistribution, claiming the land was industrial and therefore exempt from agrarian reform. After years of litigation, the Supreme Court ruled in their favor in 2013.

By 2018, the land title had been transferred to a construction corporation, which is now attempting to fence off the property.

Despite the court ruling, the farmers maintain they cannot be forcibly evicted without proper compensation and relocation.

They point to a 2021 ruling by then-DAR Secretary John Castriciones that recognized them as “bona fide occupants” entitled to disturbance compensation.

Barangay Captain Pedro Ilagan Jr. defended his decision to grant clearance for the fence construction, saying the corporation presented a verified land title.

He claimed the barangay had made efforts to facilitate discussions, including a meeting arranged with the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor (PCUP) last year, which the farmers allegedly did not attend.

Zamora disputed this account, saying they were not properly notified about the meeting.

Photos: courtesy of Samahan ng mga Magsasaka sa Guinobatan