Ta-ala Farms, Inc. armed personnel violently drove away peasant-beneficiaries from Hacienda Michaela in Barangay Talotog, Murcia, Negros Occidental on January 12. The company used a backhoe to destroy the peasants’ crops and force them out while they were working the land, injuring several farmers.

The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP, or Peasant Movement of the Philippines)-Negros denounced the violence against the farmers. According to the group, the peasants have legitimate ownership of the land since it was granted to them under the government’s Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

Poultry and egg business Ta-ala Farms, Inc. owner Bonnie Ta-ala is claiming the land, saying that former owner Arthur Bayona sold the land to her.

According to KMP-Negros, the land was once owned by Bayona but had long been abandoned and neglected. In 2011, farmers had already complained about Bayona’s abuses against farmworkers, including meager wages, absence of benefits, and demolition of homes.

Since Bayona abandoned the property, the farmers have been cultivating it, and the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) itself had processed it for distribution to the tillers. However, KMP-Negros denounced the agency’s sluggishness, forcing the beneficiaries to collectively farm and defend the land themselves.

“The sudden purchase and claim by Ta-ala Farms, Inc. is questionable and illegal because the land is already set for distribution to the people,” KMP-Negros said.

The farmers’ group asserted that DAR failed to secure the farmers’ ownership of the land. “Instead, it became an instrument to disrupt the farmers’ peaceful cultivation of their fields,” the group said. This, they added, clearly shows who DAR favors.

Progressive groups and youth organizations expressed support for Hacienda Michaela peasants.

Anakbayan described the hacienda incident as a collusion between the state and landlords with big business interests. “This is a systematic exploitation that relies on violence, intimidation, and harassment to displace the real tillers of the land,” the group stated.

The group added that the incident is not isolated but integral to the broader rural crisis rooted in the absence of genuine land reform, militarization, and the culture of impunity. “This [continues to] compel farmers to fight,” Anakbayan declared.

Meanwhile, Kabataan Party-list (KPL)-Negros urged the DAR to act immediately and decisively enforce the land distribution to farmers. “DAR must not remain a passive bystander while agrarian reform beneficiaries are threatened and driven off their land by armed goons acting for corporate interests,” KPL Vice President for the Visayas Florence Guzon said.