MANKAYAN, Benguet – Concerned residents of sitio Am-am, barangay Balili, here questioned the inability of the local officials and police authorities to drive away the alleged armed men who are reportedly acting as the private army of a still unidentified land claimant who is trying to possess a vast track of agricultural land in the said village.
Sources, who requested anonymity for security reasons, alleged that the armed men who are not from the said locality have camped in a strategic portion of the property being claimed and allegedly do not allow people to go near their barracks for still undisclosed reasons.
Further, they had already barred vegetable farmers from replacing their crops that they were allowed to harvest earlier upon alleged orders of the purported claimant who is not actually known to the community.
Worst, the villagers stipulated that the armed men are trying to reportedly sow fear among them to ensure that they will be able to possess the said property for the benefit of the private claimant that allegedly hired them to serve as his private army.
The residents challenged the Philippine National Police (PNP) to inspect the established barracks of the private army so that they will be able to confiscate the firearms that re allegedly hidden in the same which are allegedly being used to harass villagers who insist to go to replant the area which they had been previously cultivating over the past several decades.
While it is true that the armed men allowed residents to attend to their crops that are on their vegetative and flowering stages and harvest the ones that are harvestable, the sources stipulated that people that have harvested their crops are no longer allowed to replant the land that they have tilled since time in memorial which to them is questionable on how the private claimant was able to secure a court order declaring the same as his property when it is a total reversal of the situation in the area.
According to them, barangay and municipal officials as well as police authorities should already come into the picture to prevent the occurrence of any untoward incidents that may cause loss of lives and damage to property in the future.
Villagers described the property to be a suitable property for agricultural and tourism-related activities and that it is one of the major prime properties in the area that is why they are wondering why all of a sudden, a private claimant was able to claim and declare the same based on an alleged court order.
Aside from fighting for their rights over the said property, the sources emphasized that appropriate legal remedies will have to be undertaken to ensure that they will be able to take back the lands that they have been tilling since time in memorial for the benefit of the present and future generation of inhabitants.
The sources added that residents in the area are peace-loving people that is why they are wondering why the private claimant is using his private army to force people to abandon their claims over the same by harassing them so that they will not be empowered to do so until such time that they will be able to perfect their documents over the said land.