MABALACAT CITY -- Anakpawis Party-list Representative Ariel Casilao said that supporting the peace talks will resolve the agrarian unrest all over the country.
In a press statement sent to SunStar Pampanga, Casilao stated that if the peace talks between the government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) is pursued, “tens of millions of poor and landless peasants all over the country will be the first to benefit from it.”
The solon issued the statement while with hundreds of farmers from various regions in Luzon mark the 30th anniversary of the failed Republic Act 6657 or Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program or Carp.
Carp's failure has been exposed by farmers across the country whose rights on land were systematically violated like the case of Hacienda Luisita's more than 6,000 hectares in Tarlac.
Carp wasted away a gross P250-billion budget through three decades, according to the partylist representative.
“But ironically landlessness is chronic and worsening at present. It was useless against violent abuses on farmers, thus, 126 farmers fell victims of extra-judicial killings, that involved government forces as perpetrators,” Casilao said.
Agrarian reform programs like the Marcos Presidential Decree 27 to RA 9700 Carp Extension with “Reforms” (Carper) actually betrayed poor farmers and instead served as instruments of landlords to keep control over vast tracks of lands, he added.
“Ruling regimes acted as defenders of the landlord class, thus, perpetrators of attacks and abuses against farmers are usually government forces colluding with private armed groups,” Casilao said.
He stressed that the substantial agenda of the peace talks, the Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-Economic Reforms (Caser), including Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ARRD) put the poor farmers as primary beneficiaries.
NDFP's draft Caser is pushing for free distribution of land.
“Even the president knows that the New People's Army is a peasant army waging an agrarian revolution, thus, to solve the armed conflict, landlessness must be addreesed,” Casilao said.
He even called for people's support saying that “the peace talks is a road to a just-and-lasting peace, democratic way of life and genuine national development, free from the dictates of world imperialist powers.”