CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- The Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP) expressed its support to the Filipino farmers' two-day protest and vigil against charter change (chacha) which was staged in front of the House of Representatives until Wednesday morning.
Republic Act 6657 or the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) was enacted on June 10, 1988 and recently, the lower house passed on second reading Resolution of Both Houses No. 1 or the opening the 1987 Philippine Constitution to charter changes on its economic provisions.
Farmers belonging to Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas and its regional affiliates in Southern Tagalog and Central Luzon have condemned the recent measure of congress.
They claimed it would lead to "intensified land grabbing" and dislocation of farmers as it would allow the "highly contentious proposal" of 100 percent foreign ownership of land.
"We, from RMP, believe that charter change would not benefit Filipino farmers but foreign corporations. It would lead to systematic destruction of productive agricultural lands, depressed quality and socio-economic conditions of marginalized rural sectors. This is an added burden to the already-expired CARP, which served for many decades, as instrument of social injustice as the land-owning class preserved control over vast tracts of land and kept farmers into deep poverty and misery."
RMP advocates in fulfilling the farmers' aspiration for land to till.
"We believe that charter change won’t change the centuries-old problem of landlessness. Together, we join hands with the farmers in condemning charter change and continue to call for genuine land reform and social justice," the RMP added.