Xavier Law seniors conducted a legal outreach activity in Barangay Dansolihon, a remote community marred with contemporary challenges.

Text by Reynel Cetrien Ligan
Photos by Macky Gallego

Under Xavier University’s Clinical Legal Education Program, law seniors conducted a legal outreach activity on October 25 in Barangay Dansolihon, the last barangay of Cagayan de Oro before the Talakag town in Bukidnon.

A remote rural community, Dansolihon faces contemporary challenges involving low-scale mining, and the rights of women and children, farmers, and indigenous peoples.

XUCLA program coordinator Neoven Patrick Emnace said, “The legal outreach in Dansolihon gave [the students] an opportunity to reflect on the mission they wish to embark.” He added, “This should remind them that lawyering is not an enterprise, but a public service.”

Confronted with poverty as early as childhood, most teens in Dansolihon are in a dilemma whether to go to school or work for a living. “Ang mga batan-on diri, kung wala gaskwela sa s’yudad, gatabang sa ilang ginikanan og pagmina (The teenagers here who don’t study in the city help their parents in mining),” one of the locals said. Moreover, although efficient in giving out regular vaccinations, the lone health center serving Dansolihon is far from the community. 

The students paid a courtesy call to local barangay officials with whom they discussed ongoing programs addressing the said challenges. Kagawad Arnold Labadan of the barangay sanggunian presented a 5-year development plan which was done in consultation with different sectors whose rights may be affected, including the indigenous peoples’.

Land grabbing

The XU Law seniors also met with the Dansolihon farmers being represented by XUCLA in a land dispute case against an influential family. These farmers are beneficiaries of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

Although a previous ejectment case had been won by the private individual against the Dansolihon farmers, a preliminary land survey of the former’s title showed that it does not cover the farmers’ land. XUCLA also contends in court that under the operation of the CARP, the farmers are already the owners of the land in contest.

“We feel their sentiments and share in their unending quest for truth and justice,” says one of the XU Law seniors. “They are, like each and every one of us, entitled to the equal protection of the law.”

Besides teaching the laws and legal theories, the XU College of Law and the XU Center for Legal Assistance seek to infuse context and depth in its graduates.