BACOLOD CITY—Farmer-beneficiaries in a 64-hectare portion within 94-hectare Hacienda Aqueda in Barangay Odiong, Moises Padilla town slammed police elements here for not lifting a finger as workers loyal to the former landowner, Rosita Montañes, drove them away from the property November 6, Friday last week.

Romeo Parnicio, President of Hacienda Agueda Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Organization (HAARBO), said policemen from the community-based police assistance center (Compac) 150 meters from the hacienda merely watched as a dozen men led by the overseer Eddie Balanggaan, backed by eight security guards, entered the property on board a tractor.

Balanggaan and his pals threw stones at the farmers while the security guards fired shots in the air to scare them off.

Parnicio said the incident occurred as they were cleaning a two-hectare portion of the land, preparing it for cultivation after harvesting.

Only a certain PO1 Villaflor tried to intervene by telling the intruders to stop, but Balanggaan continued to harrow the land using his tractor.

“The police could have made an arrest right then and there, but when Balangaan’s men started throwing stones and the security guards fired shots, the policemen simply stood by and watched,” Parnicio added.

He said two of their companions, Jocelyn Ortega and Enrique Manilog, were hit by stones and suffered injuries.

The incident was reported to the municipal police station but lawmen told the farmers to withdraw from the area and just file their complaints.