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They
want their land titles back and demands from the government
to pay them in compensatory damages for loss of income in
the past ten years.
More
than 100 disgruntled farmers attended the dialogue last Monday
held at the Bohol Irrigation Project Stage-1 (BHIP-1) offices
in Pilar town with project manager Engr. Olympio Galagala
in attendance.
However,
Gov. Erico Aumentado, Representatives Edgar Chatto, Roberto
Cajes and Adam Relson Jala did not show up in the dialogue.
The
farmers from Dagohoy town have filed complaints against the
National Irrigation Authority (NIA) and signed a petition
seeking for a congressional inquiry into the failure of the
Bohol Irrigation Project Stage-1 (BHIP-1) to irrigate their
land.
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Some
30 farmers are leading the proposal of those demanding
back their land titles as they were supposed to benefit
from the P1.4-billion BHIP-1 (Malinao Dam).
The
irrigation project was commissioned in 1996 and was
supposed to irrigate some 4,900 hectares of rice fields.
However,
since it started operations in 1996, only 65-percent
of the dam's service area has been irrigated, according
to a NIA evaluation report.
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THE
COMPLAINT
According
to the farmers, in 1996, representatives from NIA surveyed
their lands and told them that these were part of the irrigable
area of Malinao Dam.
NIA
told the farmers that they have to convert their land into
rice paddies to benefit from the irrigation project. They
were assured of three cropping seasons per year.
Josephina
Flordeliza, 69, resident of barangay Caluasan, Dagohoy, said
that at first she refused to allow NIA to convert her piece
of land into rice paddies as it had several coconut trees
and she used to plant cassava, sweet potatoes and bananas
in it.
Flordeliza
said NIA representatives told her that they will take over
the property and its future harvests if she refuses to level
her land.
Felicima
Luengas, 71, also of barangay Caluasan, Dagohoy, said she
did not agree with NIA's offer. However, she was surprised
that sometime in 1997, two bulldozers from NIA started levelling
her 1-hectare land that had coconut trees, vegetable crops
and corn.
A
similar fate befell on Primitivo Araiz, 63, who claimed that
NIA representatives told him that even if he refuses to convert
his 3-hectare property into rice paddies, NIA will still level
it as it was part of Malinao's service area.
LOAN
OFFER
According
to Araiz, those who could not afford to pay for the levelling
were offered loans by NIA.
The
loan was payable for a period of ten years of which NIA had
to take their land titles as collateral.
NIA
and the farmers executed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) for
the loan setting the terms of payment and the forfeiture of
the properties in favor of NIA if the landowners fail to pay
in ten years.
Some
of the farmers who did not have titles yet for their properties
were made to guarantee the loan with their declaration of
real property.
ABANDONED
AND INFERTILE
One
of the complainants, Roman Rulida, a resident of barangay
Caluasan, Dagohoy, who has a 5-hectare lot converted into
rice paddies, said he was then utilizing his land by planting
corn and cassava which he regularly sold to Philstarch and
a part of the land had coconut trees which was also a source
of income.
NIA
purportedly assured Rulida that he will harvest 3 times every
year with the permanent water supply from Malinao Dam.
However,
ten years has passed and the farmers claimed they have never
seen water flowing from Malinao Dam to their converted properties.
Rulida
said NIA did not even construct lateral canals from Malinao
Dam going to his rice paddies.
What
made matters worse was that the idle lands also lost its fertility
as a result of the leveling where the top soil was scraped.
The leveling contractors were supposed to return the top soil
where important soil nutrients are found, but this was not
done, according to Rulida.
"NIA
just left our properties after they bulldozed it," Araiz
said.
Hence,
for the past ten years, the farmers hardly had any income
from the converted lands.
Other
landowners suffered the same fate of the farmers. Some of
them were dismayed and just abandoned their unproductive land
to the care of tenants.
MORE
LIABILITY
According
to the disgruntled farmers, despite the fact that no water
from Malinao Dam has reached their area, NIA still collects
from them the agreed irrigation service fee (ISF) of P3,000
per year or P1,500 each cropping season.
Thus,
even if the farmland owners have minimal harvests from their
other rice lands, they were forced to pay the ISF because
non-payment of which would entail a 10-percent penalty.
Eugenio
Timon Jr., 66, also of barangay Caluasan, Dagohoy, said that
NIA leveled his 3-hectare property where he used to plant
corn and cassava.
Presently,
Timon still owes NIA P59,000 for the leveling.
Despite
his unproductive 3-hectare lot, he is compelled to pay NIA
P4,500 each cropping season (P1,500 per hectare).
Timon
said he could barely pay the ISF through his meager income
from another rice field which he cultivates.
LOAN
TERMINATION
According
to the farmers, they will use all avenues through NIA, provincial
officials and congress to look into their plight.
In
its position paper, the farmers are asking for the termination
of their loans as the 10-year term expires this year.
They
are asking that NIA return their land titles and compensate
them for what they should have earned in the past ten years
from their idle lands.
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