• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The management of Hacienda San Antonio Dos on Monday (Sept. 22) reiterated that they legally own the 22.95-hectare property in Barangay Dos Hermanas, Talisay City, Negros Occidental.
In a statement, they said 15 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) sold the land back to them by virtue of separate notarized sales rights between November 2013 and November 2016, after a 10-year period.
The claim follows another confrontation on Sept. 20 between security guards hired by the management and some ARBs who reportedly tried to enter the hacienda.
One of the security guards allegedly fired a warning shot.
The hacienda management further said the Department of Agrarian Reform-Western Visayas denied the petition sought by the ARBs for the issuance of cease and desist order against them for “lack of merit” on April 4 this year.
The 15 ARB-complainants are among the original 26 ARBs who received certificates of land ownership award in 2001 and were installed in the same year.
The hacienda management noted that lands awarded to ARBs under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program may be sold by the ARBs 10 years after the date of their installation on the said land.
In February this year, a commotion ensued between the security guards hired by the hacienda management and some of the ARBs in the place.
Since disputes erupted in August last year, it was always the group of 15 ARBs and their family members who are actively and consistently instigating violence at the hacienda, the management claimed. | GB
