ANAKPAWIS Party-list Representative Ariel Casilao has expressed doubts on President Rodrigo Duterte's recent pronouncement that he will pursue agrarian reform even without the peace talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).
"We are actually skeptic because he promised to pursue peace with the NDFP, but repeatedly cancelled the talks and wages the all-out war in the countryside victimizing poor farmers..." Casilao said on Sunday, June 24.
Casilao is the primary author of the House Bill No. 555 or the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill (GARB).
The said bill, which pushes for the free distribution of land to poor farmers, seeks to replace Republic Act No. 6657 or Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).
"The NDFP is waging the agrarian revolution, while the government has actually nothing as CARP already expired in 2014, it is disabled to cover new lands and distribution to poor farmers, but the peasant movement across the country is advancing their 'bungkalan' (land occupation and cultivation) campaigns, thus, it is the government who is falling behind, worse, it opposes land reform as farmers are being killed by its armed forces and landlord's private armed groups," Casilao said.
The lawmaker said that the peace talks should be pursued as Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ARRD) is one of main subject of the draft Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-Economic Reforms (CASER) pending on the peace talks.
Casilao said that if the president is true to his word, he should certify the GARB as urgent.
The government earlier halted the resumption of the peace talks with the communist rebels as it decided to review and study all the agreements between the two panels. (SunStar Philippines)