• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The Hacienda San Antonio Dos Management in Barangay Dos Hermanas, Talisay City, Negros Occidental, is offering a P10,000 reward for the immediate arrest of a supposed security guard, who is not connected with the organization but allegedly threatened the daughter of an agrarian reform beneficiary, at the place on January 31, its counsel, Atty. Robert Torres, said yesterday.
A viral video showing a man, identified later by the Talisay City police as Jose Alonsaga, pointing a gun at a woman before firing into the ground, had sparked outrage on social media.
As the management offered a reward for his arrest, Torres said they are calling on the Talisay City police to expedite the apprehension of Alonsaga, in order to expose his motive in the incident.
The incident stemmed from a land dispute between 15 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs), involving about 20 hectares, and Paul Chang in Hacienda San Antonio Dos, Brgy. Dos Hermanas, Talisay City.
The 15 ARBs, according to Torres, are among the original 26 ARBs who received Certificate of Land Ownership Awards (CLOAs) in 2001, for a 50-hectare property originally owned by businessman Paul Chang.
He said the 20.246 hectare property is now again legally owned by Chang, after the 15 ARBs sold it to him, for the amount of P3,926,000, through separate notarized “Sales of Rights,” on separate dates between November 2013 and November 2016.
Torres said that land acquired by ARBs through CARP (Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program) may be sold after 10 years from their installation on the said land.
He further claimed that the 15 ARBs who sold their land to Chang are the ones resorting to and instigating violence in Hacienda San Antonio Dos, by cutting and setting fire to sugarcane crops owned by Chang, and causing damage to the houses of their workers and community chapel, by throwing stones.
In many instances, the 15 ARBs hurled big rocks and threw urine and human feces upon hacienda management workers, which prompted them to hire security guards, Torres added.
At present, the management has filed complaints of malicious mischief against some of the perpetrators of violence, he further said.
Torres also said that the hacienda management further urged authorities to uphold law and order, and protect legitimate business transactions.*
