Thursday, December 20, 2007 Editorials: Sumilao case
THERE had been word that the national government had finally issued a order to restore the 144 hectares worth of land to the Sumilao farmers in Bukidnon provinces following the latter's much publicized walkathon through several provinces.
The Sumilao farmers remain at the central office of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) until their case is finally resolved without the danger of any legal technicality switching anew ownership of the land to the big companies which plan to set up a hog farm in the area despite contrary recommendations by the DAR.
The Sumilao farmers case will certainly highlight next year's debate at Congress over whether or not to extend the current Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) or amend it, or come up with new laws altogether albeit some with radical proposals like those proposed by the militant leftist groups with suspected ties to the Communist Party of the Philippines-National Democratic Front-New People's Army (CPP-NDF-NPA).
For its sake the Arroyo administration should expedite the resolution of the case to a logical, justifiable conclusion if they don't want to be derided by the public who had been bombarded night and day with the Sumilao farmers' case.
Classroom huts
There's this proposal by the Department of Education (DepEd) to install huts inside campuses as extra classrooms of sorts for the indigent students who walk far from their homes to study.
While the idea is novel, it certainly dramatizes the meager efforts by the national government towards helping education in this country plagued by both low and high level corruption year-round.
At best local governments are reduced to fixing already deteriorating schoolrooms and resorting to high-speed Internet access to make up for the lack of one-on-one teaching brought by the shortage in teachers.
