HAILING from a family of landlords in the Southern Tagalog region, Ma. Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga is with all certainty one member of Cabinet who stands on a ground strong enough in view of her deep connection with the First Couple.
Unlike most of the Cabinet members, Yulo-Loyzaga (Toni to friends and relatives) did not apply for the position of Secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) – and to be perfectly honest, she doesn’t have to.
Why so? Her father Luis Yulo is one of the most trusted lieutenants of the late former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., father of the sitting President.
The bind became stronger when members of the Yulo clan intermarried with the Aranetas, as some members of the aristocratic Araneta family married two Marcos siblings – Irene and her younger brother who now sits at the helm of the Palace.
Yulos and Aranetas combined formed what is now the most most formidable landholdings with a long list of haciendas representing an area equivalent to an entire region – at the cost of peasants who either lost their land through landgrabbing or denied of their right to get a small slice of their haciendas as stipulated under Republic Act 6657 (Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law).
Interestingly, these two families have been constantly involved in cases of harassment against peasant farmers. Aside from the Yulos, notable Aranetas including First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos and businessman Greggy are also relatives of Toni.
Southern Tagalog peasants decried the land grabbing by Yulos. For instance, last January 2021, homes of residents in Sitio Buntog in Brgy. Canlubang, Calamba, Laguna were burned down by the San Cristobal Realty Development Corporation. Since 2020, farmers and their families had already been subjected to constant harassment and threats from security forces of the Yulo clan to institute their profit-driven and anti-people development.
Peasants have long been struggling for genuine land distribution, even dating back to the Spanish colonial period. However, their resistance is always met with abuse, violence, and displacement by feudal families who have been dominated since colonial times.
Given the Yulos’ long history of development aggression, doubts have repeatedly raised whether Yulo-Loyzaga is fit for the Environment portfolio considering that she has to do two conflicting functions at the same time, for which minority House members filed a resolution seeking an ‘investigation in aid of legislation’ for conflict of interest.
Peasant organizations also called for her resignation over what they described as a glaring conflict of interest surrounding Yulo’s dual roles – court-designated executor of the Yulo estate and head of the agency keeping the title covering 2,000-hectare portion of the Yulo King Ranch for distribution to farmer-beneficiaries under the government’s agrarian reform program.
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