By Paulo Loreto Lim

Responding to claims there were only five cattle on the Provincial Government-held Negros First Ranch, located at Hacienda Ilimnan, Barangay Sta. Rosa, Murcia, Farm Manager Regen Besa said there are, in fact, 226 cows on the property.
The ranch is back in the spotlight following the recent decision by the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas to file charges against Negros Occidental Governor Alfredo Marañon, Jr. and 10 others for the purchase of two plots of land, which houses the Negros First Ranch.
Besa explained, of the 226 cows, 33 are lactating and, once ready for milking, they are transferred to a facility in Barangay La Granja, La Carlota City.
He added there are 459 sheep on the property as well.
According to Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Secretary Rafael Mariano, the purchased land falls under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) and is subject for distribution.
He also noted reports of unjust evictions as the governor developed the said ranch. In response, farmers held a protest outside the Provincial Capitol for months.
“Governor Marañon must heed the call of poor farmworkers because we need the land to till in order to live,” Farm Workers Association President Danny Tabura said in August, last year. “We call his attention to take out his cattle and sheep in the said landholdings which they anomalously acquired because we are the rightful beneficiaries of land reform and not the cattle and sheep.”
Meanwhile, the structure built during their demonstration was recently taken down with the upcoming Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit hosting meetings in Bacolod City this month./WDJ