Caritas Manila - Pandacan1011 File Photo
Couple of days ago, there was a news that said there will be a farmers’ rally at the compound of Caritas Manila. Have you seen them? Around 400 farmers came from Negros provinces last week to fight for their own land. According to the news, nangutang lang daw sila ng pamasahe sa barko for this kind of movement. The main purpose of this rally is to “press for the permanent extension of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), which ended in 2008.”
The latest news reported that 21 farmers were hurt as the cops stopped the rally. Below is an important tidbit of the news that I want you to focus on:
“The farmers had insisted on waiting on the bridge for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s response to their letter of appeal for the junking of joint congressional resolution 19, which had suspended compulsory land acquisition in extending the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP); the passage of House Bill 4077 which extends CARP for five years; and the distribution of farm lands, which form part of the 157-hectare Hacienda Bacan in the village of Guintubhan, Isabela, in Negros Occidental, owned by First Gentleman Miguel Arroyo“
Catch my drift? ;) Oh, and from the information I gathered, this rally is just the beginning. Expect more to come.
Read the news inside this post for more info …
February 11, 2009 News
Farmers set huge rally for CARP
Church mobilizing thousands more from provinces
By Dona Pazzibugan
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 20:10:00 02/11/2009Filed Under: Agrarian Reform, Protest, Churches (organisations)
MANILA, Philippines — The Catholic church and hundreds of farmers who are in Metro Manila after a long trek from the provinces are preparing a huge rally before Congress and Malacañang to press for the permanent extension of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), which ended in 2008.
Some 400 farmers from the Negros provinces arrived in Manila Monday afternoon, representing the first batch of the so-called “agrarian reform express,” with hundreds more expected to arrive in the coming days.
The Negros farmers, who first proceeded to the Archdiocese of Manila compound in Intramuros, Manila, are now staying at the Caritas Manila compound in Pandacan, also in Manila.
The 16 farmers who were arrested allegedly by members of the Presidential Security Group (PSG) and turned over to the Manila Police District were released Monday night to Caritas Manila executive director, Fr. Anton Pascual.
Of the 16, four are women are two are minors, both 16.
Pascual said he signed an affidavit of undertaking to take custody of the arrested farmers.
“They are now with Caritas Manila and they will continue their fight for their own land,” Pascual said.
He said some of the Negros farmers came from Hacienda Bacan in Negros Occidental, which is owned by the family of First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo.
Farmers have been calling on the First Couple to set an example to other landowners and give up their families’ landholdings for agrarian reform distribution.
Pascual said they will hold a major rally next month when the other farmers arrive fro the provinces.
“We are planning a huge gathering of farmers. This will be supported by the church, the parishes, schools, cause-oriented groups and the urban poor in Metro Manila,” he said.
He said they will schedule the rally during the Lenten period so “our lawmakers would realize they were put in that position to serve not the interest of the few but the interest of the many like our farmers,” he said.
Pascual said some farmers will come from Mindanao.
Many of the Negros farmers who arrived said they borrowed money to pay for their ship fare to Manila, leaving impoverished families behind while they brought their appeal to Malacañang and Congress.
Pascual said they have been coordinating with the parish churches in various dioceses to look after the families left behind by the farmers.
The Catholic church’s hierarchy has put its weight solidly behind CARP’s extension. The program expired last December.
In an unprecedented move, Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo joined a group of farmers who staged a hunger strike before Congress last December.
The bishops were dismayed that Congress merely extended the program for six months and even suspended the compulsory acquisition and distribution of private agricultural landholdings.
Pascual said Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales and the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines would continue their dialogue with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and leaders of Congress.
“I admit we are on the losing side here because majority of congressmen and senators are not in favor of the extension of CARP. But we will continue our crusade because this is for social justice. We are fighting for justice and for the rights of our people,” Pascual said.
News Source: Inquirer
February 12, 2009 News
21 farmers hurt as cops disperse rally
By Jeannette Andrade
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 23:38:00 02/12/2009Filed Under: Protest, Agrarian Reform
MANILA, Philippines—Twenty one farmers were injured when Manila Police District (MPD) policemen dispersed some 300 farmers from Negros Occidental and Leyte who camped out for some eight hours at the Mendiola Bridge in Manila to clamor for land on Thursday night.
Civil Disturbance Management (CDM) operatives of the Sta. Mesa police station 8 hosed down members of the Task Force Mapalad and the Negros Occidental Federation of Farmers Association (NOFFA) Incorporated, who lay down on the pavement in an attempt to resist dispersal.
The farmers had insisted on waiting on the bridge for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s response to their letter of appeal for the junking of joint congressional resolution 19, which had suspended compulsory land acquisition in extending the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP); the passage of House Bill 4077 which extends CARP for five years; and the distribution of farm lands, which form part of the 157-hectare Hacienda Bacan in the village of Guintubhan, Isabela, in Negros Occidental, owned by First Gentleman Miguel Arroyo.
But at around 7:30 p.m. Thursday, with the farmer-protesters shivering in their wet clothes, each of them was forcibly carried by the policemen on instructions of Sta. Mesa police station commander, Superintendent Jimmy Tiu.
The farmers tried to stand their ground, but when members of the CDM contingent started to use their shields to drive them away from the bridge, chaos broke out with the protesters pushing back.
As the phalanx of CDM men closed off the bridge, stones and mineral water bottles started to fly at their direction, with the farmers withdrawing from the bridge back to the Caritas Manila compound in Pandacan for refuge.
Jose Rodito Angeles of the TF Mapalad said 21 were hurt during the dispersal and were taken to the San Juan de Dios Hospital.
Before the farmers were driven away, they had been seeking the distribution to some 67 farmers promised parcels of the Hacienda Bacan property after the payment last year of some P42 million for the land, and the enactment of HB 4077.
The members of TF Mapalad vowed to return to Mendiola bridge to press for a response to their appeal to President Arroyo, whom they said was “the only person who can make CARP possible.”
News Source: Inquirer
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