Mindanao/Philippines: State-Backed ‘Landgrab’ Denounced

Oct 28, 2014 | Christine F. Herrera, Manila Standard Today
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Militant farmers on Monday urged Congress to probe the state-sponsored landgrabbing of 39,238.93 hectares of farmlands at the Yulo King Ranch in Palawan, which were sequestered by the late President Corazon Aquino in 1986.  The farmlands in 2013 were declared by President Benigno Aquino III as “unfit for farming,” they said.

President Aquino’s Proclamation 663 has displaced indigenous people and original settlers that farm the lands since Marcos time,  said the farmers belonging to the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas.

Party-list lawmakers from the Bayan Muna and Anakpawis filed House Resolution 1585 directing the House committee on agrarian reform to conduct the probe following reports that President Aquino ordered the deployment of Marines Battalion Landing Team-4 (MBLT-4) in the disputed lands.