Mgr Jumoad wants greater transparency in land distribution. Gunmen paid by parties to the conflict attack workers on a rubber plantation in Tumahubong (Basilan). Claretian missionaries who have been in the area for 61 years are now in danger. Priests and nuns have been the victims of abductions and other acts of violence to draw the attention of the media and authorities. The latter prefer to blame Muslim extremists.

Manila (AsiaNews) - Mgr Martin Jumoad, bishop of Isabela, is concerned about the recent wave of violence associated with land reform on Mindanao Island that has left five people dead. He is currently on a tour of the affected villages. On Sunday, gunmen attacked two Claretian priests, Frs Elmer Cantular and Julius Boado, and their military escort, near the city of Sumisip, which is only a few kilometres from the village of Tumahubong where they run a mission.

It is unclear whether the soldiers or the priests were the target, but the local Church has responded has responded forcefully to the incident. Speaking to AsiaNews, Mgr Martin Jumoad said that the violence is the result of factional claims at a rubber plantation under the Tumahubong Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Integrated Development Coop., Inc.

"The implementation of land reform is the problem in Tumahubong," the bishop said. "Poor people are caught in the middle and have become pawns."

Some people, he suspects, resort to violence to draw the authorities' attention to land problems and force them to act on it.

Since it was first presented, the reform designed to give workers land was confused. "It is unclear who will get title and who won't. This is pushing neighbouring villages to press their claim," the prelate said.

Since 2007, a number of plantation workers have been abducted and beheaded, not for ransom since the victims are poor, but over land distribution, the bishop explained.

Fr Felimon Libot was also attacked and almost abducted after he started to help workers settle their dispute.

Attacks against priests and nuns are the best way to get the authorities' attention. The religious themselves are just "collateral damage".

However, n a meeting yesterday, the governor of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) criticised reports claiming that the Claretian priests were the targets of last Sunday's attack.

Some blame Abu Sayyaf cells that are active in the region for the attacks, turning what is a problem due the authorities' failure to deal with land reform to one of religious terrorism.

"In 2001, I spoke to former President Arroyo about the situation. In 2007, I told The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to act quickly because it was unclear whom the reform would benefit. Until now the government has done nothing."

In order to defuse tensions. ARRM Governor Mujib Hataman organised a meeting on Monday with local authorities and community leaders. Mgr Jumoad was one of them. He will also participate in a meeting with DAR officials this Friday.

Claretian missionaries have been in Tumahubong for the past 61 years. They run the only school in the area, the Claretian School of San Vicente Ferrer, with some 3,000 students, both Christian and Muslim.

They have had an armed escort since Moro Islamic Liberation Front militants abducted Fr Eduardo Monge in 1986.

In 1992 and 1995, grenades were thrown at the Claretian church causing damage. The school itself was burnt down twice and twice rebuilt. (D.V.)

• philippines
• agrarian
• reform
• violence
• claretian
• fathers