The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Masbate (KMM) condemned the 2nd IB for its illegal logging activities in Hacienda Mortuegue-Larrazabal’s farming community on August 4. The hacienda consists of the barangays of Tubog in Pio V. Corpuz and Tawad in the town of Esperanza in Masbate.

The farmers assume that the military will use the wood for the planned construction of a detachment in Barangay Cabangrayan in Pio V. Corpuz. The “vile and plunderous” soldiers may also sell them.

The group said the 2nd IB and landlords are using their logging activities to drive away and evict farmers from Hacienda Mortuegue-Larrazabal.

“The farmers are gradually being terrorized, deprived of livelihood and disunited to succumb to pressure,” KMM said.

On January 29, military and CAFGU elements, led by a Sgt. Ramos, attacked the hacienda communities. The butchers assaulted, robbed, and terrorized the residents, including some senior citizens that day.

The KMM said Hacienda Mortuegue-Larrazabal farmers have succesfully fought for their right to land through relentless action of generations of farmers.

Generations have suffered for decades paying rent under the exploitative 50-50 “crop share” imposed by the Mortuegue-Larrazabal family.

They were also forced to plant their crops in the hacienda’s rocky areas because the arable lands were being used by the landlord as a ranch.

Worse, the Mortuegue-Larrazabals were only leasing the land by virtue of the “pasture lease agreements.”

“The illegal cutting of large trees in the hacienda is an open violation of the farmers’ rights and long historical struggle for land,” KMM said.

The peasant group called on hacienda farmers and residents to unite and frustrate military terrorism. It demanded the Department of Agrarian Reform-Masbate and the local government to protect the farmers and their land rights in the hacienda.

“The farmers in Hacienda Mortuegue-Larrazabal should remember their historical struggle for land as inspiration to continue to defend it against attempts to retake the land that belongs to them,” the KMM concluded.