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Saturday, October 13, 2007
Farmers picket agrarian reform office anew
By Grace L. Plata
DAVAO CITY –- There is no such thing as a holiday to real farmers and this showed when they gathered anew in front of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR)-Southern Mindanao at Ecoland Subdivision in Matina Friday morning.
Most residents and DAR employees, however, stayed at home since it was Eid'l Fitr, a Muslim holiday marking the end of Ramadan.
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The farmers were protesting the further extension of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (Carp), saying it is a "useless program."
Celso Pojas, regional spokesperson of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), said Friday that extending Carp beyond 2010 would only prolong the plight of the farmers who, until now, suffer from landlessness and usurpation from big landlords and multi-national companies.
"The big landlords and multi-national corporations are the ones who have benefited from the Carp, not us farmers," Pojas said.
KMP believes that Carp's distorted definition of agrarian reform and the law's actual provisions reveal the unmistakable bias in favor of landowners and agribusiness.
"This program has never been a solution to our problem. Most of the benefactors do not have the security of owning the lands they till due to the imposition of heavy amortization of Land Bank while some of us were forced to enter growership contracts and leasehold arrangements with big plantations due to the lack of support from the government," Pojas said.
He added: "Landlessness is still widespread, feudal and semi-feudal exploitation is still the norm and the landlord class continues to wield power in the countryside. We call for the scrapping of Carp."
Group members believe it is only through their militant and united struggle that their demands would be heard.
"More than any legislation from the reactionary government, it is the peasantry's unity and resolve that will bring about rural justice through the redistribution of land according to the principle of "land to the tiller," Pojas said. (Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Zamboanga. (October 13, 2007 issue)
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Muslims celebrate end of Ramadan