Farmers’ CARP dreams weaken as Teves dynasty strengthens

by Karen Tuason and Rodolfo Desuasido
VERA Files and Task Force Mapalad
Part I – Farmers’ CARP dreams weaken as Teves dynasty strengthens
Part II -Negros farmers despair over unresolved land case

Sixty-two-year-old farmer Victoriano Cordero remembers the day in 2008 when Arnie Teves of the powerful Teves clan in Negros Oriental drove him away from the house he had lived in for the past 40 years.
“He came with his security guards who roamed around,” Cordero recalls. Teves reportedly warned him, “If you come back here, I will kill you.”

Last Oct. 25, Teves was elected barangay captain of Malabugas in Bayawan City, the latest member of the political dynasty to be installed in public office.

Teves is said to be eyeing the presidency of the Association of Barangay Captains of Negros Oriental, a position that will give him a seat in the provincial board. Cordero and 29 other agrarian reform beneficiaries fear he would use his clout to further block them from taking over the Teves-controlled land already titled in their names.

Click here(VERA Files) for the rest of the story.