The Samahan ng mga Magsasaka sa Guinobatan (SMG) and Mindoro Forum Network (MFN) condemned a corporation for its illegal fencing in Barangay Guinobatan, Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro on March 27. More than 100 farmers held a prayer protest rally at Calapan City Hall on the evening of March 28 to call on the local government to stop the fencing.

According to MFN, personnel from MENAKOR Corporation arrived on the morning of March 27 and forcibly erected a fence based on a barangay clearance that allowed it. MENAKOR, owned by Jolly Lim Ting, claims ownership of the 158-hectare farmland.

Residents complained that barangay officials did not conduct proper consultations with them. “We were just taken by surprise—they were already fencing. They claimed they had clearance from the barangay, but we were not even consulted about it,” SMG president Fely Macalalad said.

The fencing will severely affect the land, livelihood, and homes of barangay residents. SMG asserted that several generations of farming families and residents have lived and tilled on the agricultural land.

According to SMG, as early as 1998, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) began distributing Certificates of Land Ownership Award or CLOA to farmers in Guinobatan. However, since that year itself until now, Guinobatan farmers have relentlessly experienced and faced land grabbing. The land grabbing and eviction will affect an estimated 600 families.

SMG concluded their action in front of the city hall with a collective candle-lighting as a symbol of their unwavering hope to achieve democratic rights and genuine land reform.