• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Sugar farmers in southern Negros have sought the intervention of Ombudsman Samuel Martirez for National Security Adviser (NSA) Eduardo Año and Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPRU) Carlito Galvez Jr. to comply with the Nov. 6, 2023 referral letters of the Office of the Presidential Management Staff (PMS).
The letters directed the two officials to “evaluate the merit” of the farmers’ petition to revive the Dacongcogon sugar mill project in Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental.
In a statement, retired government prosecutor Rolando Parpa, who chairs the 8,000-strong Dacongcogon Farmers Producers Cooperative, said that such “failure to resolve whether or not to grant the petition that has been pending for past 13 years is a demonstration of indifference to the cause of the poor and is oppressive”.
Parpa added that “the farmers have been pleading and assertive of the revival of the Dacongcogon sugar mill that will restore their once vibrant economy, and address the problem of poverty and insurgency”.
The sugar mill, which served the hinterland farmers for 40 years, was mothballed in 2008 and is now a rotting economic facility.
Parpa said that the Ombudsman should exercise its role to “protect the citizens against the injustices committed by civil officials”, adding that Martires should “put the weight of the legal and moral authority of his Office over the NSA and OPAPRU to comply with the PMS referrals to evaluate the merit of the petition of Dacongcogon farmers”.
“It is unfortunate that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is unaware of the real happenings in Negros, and who is inaccessible to hinterland farmers,” he added. | GB
