The 2nd Civil Military Operation (CMO) Company and Task Force Ugnay are now threatening to encamp in the community of Tartaria in Silang, Cavite to counter the relentless resistance and evict farmers and residents here.

Task Force Ugnay consists of the combined forces of the 2nd CMO Battalion under the Philippine Army’s 202nd Infantry Brigade and the PNP Regional Office Calabarzon. Task Force Ugnay first subjected the community of Lupang Ramos in Dasmariñas, Cavite to militarization in 2024. On April 2, it announced its plan to encamp in the community of Tartaria.

For more than six decades, the landlord Aguinaldo clan has been trying to seize the land in Tartaria from the farmers. Together with the comprador bourgeois Ayala family, the Aguinaldos plan to use the land for commercial purposes. The Aguinaldo-Ayala group personnel have repeatedly committed harassment, physical assault, attempted murder, theft, destruction of crops, and illegal construction of fence around the land of the Samahang Magsasaka at Mamamayan ng Tartaria (SAMATA) members to terrorize and evict them from their homes.

On July 5 and 12, under the orders of the 2nd CMO Company and the Municipal Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (MTF ELCAC), barangay officials summoned members of 4Ps, BHW, and Buklod Bahayan Homeowners Association to discuss E070, the programs of NTF-ELCAC, and the red-tagging of SAMATA and organizations advocating for the people’s rights.

“Can we really remain silent when there is a threat of eviction from our farmlands and homes? The Aguinaldo-Ayala group weaponizes the NTF-ELCAC and 2nd CMO TF Ugnay to push through with anti-people land-use conversion,” explained the group SAMATA.

According to the group, the threat of the 2nd CMO TF Ugnay encampment have emboldened the Aguinaldo-Ayala group in evicting barangay residents. On July 8, despite the absence of a court order, Jarton Security Agency demolished several furniture stores in the barangay and even stole a farmer’s cow.

SAMATA calls on the farmers and residents of Tartaria to unite in order to resist the threat of militarization and the encampment of NTF-ELCAC and 2nd CMO TF Ugnay elements in their barangay.