Philippine Gov't Returns Land To Tribal Farmers Who Marched To Manila

December 18, 2007 8:46 a.m. EST

Manila, Philippines (AHN) - The Philippine government on Tuesday will release a presidential order returning 356 acres (144 hectares) of land to its tribal farmers in the southern Philippine province of Bukidnon.

The issuance of the order declaring the land in Sumilao as part of the government's agrarian reform program and distributing it to 55 members of the Higaonon tribe was the promise President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo made in a meeting with the farmers on Monday.

The president met the farmers, who walked 1,056 miles (1,700 kilometers) from their home town to the presidential palace in Manila for two months to personally ask her help in returning their land.

The government distributed the agricultural land to the farmers in 1995 but the owners, the Quisumbing family, stalled the distribution by getting the provincial and national government to agree to its conversion into an agro-industrial estate. The dispute was referred to the Supreme Court for resolution, which voided the titles of the farmers in 1999 leading to the lease of the land to the San Miguel Corp. in 2002.