Farmers get Cabinet’s assurance

Administration officials met on Friday with farmers from the Visayas and Mindanao, promising to “hasten” the distribution of land under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program extension with reforms (CARPer) and to help work out a dialogue between them and President Benigno Aquino III.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said over state-run dzRB radio on Saturday that the Cabinet members concerned would first meet with  the President to discuss what steps could be taken to address the concerns of the farmers, before scheduling a dialogue with Mr. Aquino.

The farmers had marched all the way to Manila to seek an audience with the President and appeal for the speedier implementation of land reform.

“That was committed to by our secretaries—that the pace of distribution will be hastened,” Valte said when asked what commitments were made.

Valte said the officials who met with the farmers’ leaders in Malacañang included Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, Agrarian Reform Secretary Gil de los Reyes, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala, Presidential Management Staff head Julia Abad and presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda.

Land Bank of the Philippines president Gilda Pico was also present, she said.

Mr. Aquino was in the middle of a trip to the United Kingdom and the United States when the farmers arrived in Manila.

“What’s good about yesterday is that the secretaries were able to listen to the concerns of the farmers themselves. From what I understand, someone raised concerns about the pace of land distribution and since Secretary De los Reyes was there, he was able to explain the obstacles,” Valte said.

“By obstacles I mean…the processes you have to go through before the land is distributed. That was one issue that they tackled yesterday,” she said.

When asked about the meeting the farmers want with the President, she said the officials concerned would first submit a report. “That is something that needs to be scheduled when the President comes back.”

The farmers had been reported as saying that they would stay put in Manila until they met with Mr. Aquino.

The meeting on Friday started at around 2 p.m. and ended after 6 p.m. Valte described the exchange between the two sides as “extensive and very fruitful.”

Frank exchange

“There was a frank exchange of concerns and solutions were discussed by the parties,” Valte said in a text message on Friday night.

President Aquino, in an interview with reporters in London, had said the government was committed to the full implementation of land reform.

He indicated the meeting of his officials with the farmers’ representatives was “preliminary.”

“They will meet with the bishop or bishops concerned before I get back and present to me a list of doables,” Mr. Aquino said.

In a separate interview, Lacierda said the officials wanted to reiterate the commitment of the government to the land reform program.

“They are under the impression that since the President belongs to the Cojuangco clan, we are biased against land distribution,” Lacierda said in an interview on Wednesday.

“We would like to dispel that belief,” he said.

Police protection

Aside from a meeting with the President, the farmers also want to meet with Interior Secretary Jessie Robredo to ensure that landlords would no longer be able to use the police against them, a Catholic bishop said on Saturday.

Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo said they needed to talk to the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) because landlords sometimes used the military and the police to crack down on peasants seeking land reform.

“Instead of protecting the farmers, it’s the landlords they end up protecting,” Pabillo said.

“That is why we want a meeting with the DILG so that the farmers could also raise their concerns,” he said.

Pabillo and his fellow Manila Auxiliary Bishop Bernardino Cortez joined the farmers when they met with the budget secretary and other Cabinet members in Malacañang on Friday.

“The discussion was very general…we are concerned that the agrarian reform law will lapse in 2014. The other matters we discussed were technical,” he said. With a report from Philip Tubeza