Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas peasant human rights desk Tanggol Magsasaka on Sunday strongly condemned the violent dispersal and illegal arrest and detention of farmers in the village of Mambabanga, Luna, Isabela.
The barricade of a hundred farmers asserting their right to land was dispersed on April 26 at past 5 in the afternoon.
More than 10 were injured and four were illegally arrested, according to reports from KMP local chapter Danggayan Cagayan valley.
Danggayan Dagiti Mannalon ti Isabela (DAGAMI-KMP) members Marlon Matusalem, Renato Gameng, Rogelio Gameng, and Dennis Gameng were charged with malicious mischief and trespassing but were eventually released from detention.
The identified perpetrators are the private army of Luna Mayor Manuel Tio and more than 20 police personnel led by Luna police chief Sr. Insp. Mario Fajardo.
According to sworn statements of the farmer victims, not only were they attacked. Their money and personal effects were stolen by the goons and the police.
“We were manhandled, handcuffed and shoved to the ground as cops stomp at us,” Matusalem said.
“The outright fascism against farmers and the criminalization of our assertion to our right to land have been the systematic response of Aquino’s regime in his six-year reign,” said KMP secretary-general Antonio Flores.
The disputed land measures 10.7 hectares and is located in Barangay Mambabanga.