The series of negotiations between the Sumilao farmers and San Miguel Corporation end today (March 29) in the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement which gives the farmers a total of 144 hectares of land in Sumilao, Bukidnon.

Under the agreement, the farmers will gain 50 hectares within the contested 144–hectare property through a deed of donation by San Miguel Corporation whiile the remaining 94 hectares will be taken from properties outside but within the vicinity of the contested area. The 94 hectares will be distributed to the Sumilao through the Voluntary Offer for Sale (VOS) scheme under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.

The Sumilao farmers will receive the land through a newly-organized cooperative – Panaghiusa sa mga Mag–uumang Nakigbisog alang sa Yuta sa Sumilao (PANAW–SUMILAO) which brings together members of MAPALAD and SALFA. The initial beneficiaries of the 50 hectares covered by the deed of donation of SMC will be 19 landless Sumilao farmers. The other members of Mapalad and SALFA will be included in the beneficiary list in a screening process after their return to Bukidnon.

Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales together with Auxilliary Archbishop Broderick Pabillo will sign the agreement as witnesses.

The agreement is a product of the negotiation that was started by His Eminence Gaundencio Cardinal Rosales after he expressed his firm support to the cause of the Sumilao farmers last December during the final stretch of their 1,700 kilometer walk from Sumilao to Manila. The signing of the MOA today will bring new hope that the struggle of the Sumilao farmers to regain their land which began in 1990 when the DAR issued a notice of coverage over the property.

Rene Peñas, a Sumilao farmer leader said that the signing of the MOA is a significant breakthrough for the Sumilao farmers who have been victims of injustice for more than 12 years. "We have suffered all sorts of injustices in our claim over the land. We had chosen non–violent action to press for our legal claim and rights under the law. Ten years ago we had to go on a protracted hunger strike that lasted almost a month that resulted in the "win–win formula" decided by then–President Ramos. We thought that was the end of it but we lost the land when the Supreme Court decided against us on the basis of a technicality in 1997. We hope that our 1,700–kilometer walk will not be put to a waste. We hope this agreement will finally give us peacefull possession and cultivation of our land," Peñas said.

Atty. Arlene Bag–ao, legal counsel of the Sumilao farmers said that the agreement was a triumph of the persevering spirit of the farmers. "They have faced all kinds of odds in their quest to reclaim the land, they have confronted a system that is stacked against them but they did not give up and continued to struggle for what is justly their even if it meant making big sacrifices. With the signing of the agreement, they will be able to fulfill their vow that the first ground they will step on upon their return will be the land they will call their own," Bag–ao said.

Report from Balay Alternative Legal Advocates for Development in Mindanaw, Inc

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