Farmers from various haciendas in Negros Occidental province participate in the nationwide march to press the Aquino administration to complete and not terminate the agrarian reform program. (Photo by Jimmy Domingo)
BACOLOD CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Feb. 6, 2012) – Thousands of Filipino farmers from various parts of Negros Occidental province marched on Monday and demanded the Aquino government to distribute lands to beneficiaries of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reforms (CARPER).
Dubbed as “Lakbayan,” the marchers trooped to the Department of Agrarian Reform in Bacolod City and sought quicker distribution of land as mandated by CARPER.
A delegation from Negros Occidental will travel to Manila and link up with other farmers before setting up a camp out at the DAR main office in Quezon City.
“We are marching to Bacolod to wake up DAR Secretary Gil de los Reyes and President Aquino on the harsh truth that CARPER is not being efficiently implemented in the face of its 2014 deadline. We feel that CARPER has been taken a backseat under P-Noy along with other issues when Corona’s impeachment came. They kept their silence on the issue; therefore, we have to make them move,” Hacienda Grande farmer-leader Jose Rodito Angeles said.
Hacienda Teresa’s Romeo Española said the President failed to prioritize the farmers’ rights. “Our President is commendable for fighting corruption but he is not prioritizing farmers’ rights and poverty alleviation. It’s been more than two years since he promised us a better life, until now we still go hungry,” he said.
Organizers of the protest said farmers also frown at DAR’s inaction in delivering the funded farmers’ support services under CARPER. Support services as mandated by CARPER will supposedly allow farmers to avail themselves of financing from the government and this hone themselves as entrepreneurs, they said.
Jose Charito Celis of Hacienda Bacan, formerly owned by the Arroyos, narrated their struggle. “We fought for these lands and we finally won but the absence of support services from the government made our lives on the hands of usurers and leasing parties. We have land but we have nothing to plant.”
The marchers will stop at churches in the province and hope to secure support from religious groups, local government officials and other farmers’ groups. “Our Lakbayan is not just for our land and our families. We march for all of the farmers disfranchised by the government when they lost interest in pursuing agrarian reform and chose to turn away from the pleading farmers. We call on other farmers to join us in putting a stop to the deafening silence of President Aquino and the disheartening low accomplishment of DAR. If we would not act now, we might be too late,” Angeles said.
Dubbed as “Lakbayan,” the marchers trooped to the Department of Agrarian Reform in Bacolod City and sought quicker distribution of land as mandated by CARPER.
A delegation from Negros Occidental will travel to Manila and link up with other farmers before setting up a camp out at the DAR main office in Quezon City.
“We are marching to Bacolod to wake up DAR Secretary Gil de los Reyes and President Aquino on the harsh truth that CARPER is not being efficiently implemented in the face of its 2014 deadline. We feel that CARPER has been taken a backseat under P-Noy along with other issues when Corona’s impeachment came. They kept their silence on the issue; therefore, we have to make them move,” Hacienda Grande farmer-leader Jose Rodito Angeles said.
Hacienda Teresa’s Romeo Española said the President failed to prioritize the farmers’ rights. “Our President is commendable for fighting corruption but he is not prioritizing farmers’ rights and poverty alleviation. It’s been more than two years since he promised us a better life, until now we still go hungry,” he said.
Organizers of the protest said farmers also frown at DAR’s inaction in delivering the funded farmers’ support services under CARPER. Support services as mandated by CARPER will supposedly allow farmers to avail themselves of financing from the government and this hone themselves as entrepreneurs, they said.
Jose Charito Celis of Hacienda Bacan, formerly owned by the Arroyos, narrated their struggle. “We fought for these lands and we finally won but the absence of support services from the government made our lives on the hands of usurers and leasing parties. We have land but we have nothing to plant.”
The marchers will stop at churches in the province and hope to secure support from religious groups, local government officials and other farmers’ groups. “Our Lakbayan is not just for our land and our families. We march for all of the farmers disfranchised by the government when they lost interest in pursuing agrarian reform and chose to turn away from the pleading farmers. We call on other farmers to join us in putting a stop to the deafening silence of President Aquino and the disheartening low accomplishment of DAR. If we would not act now, we might be too late,” Angeles said.
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