Mindanao farmers to march to Palace, press for land distribution
INQUIRER MINDANAO FILE PHOTO
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines — Disgruntled Mindanao peasants – who remained landless even as the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform program is about to end after 25 years of implementation – will embark on a long march to Malacañang from this city starting on Monday (May 26) to press the government to distribute large tracts of land owned by a few families.
The Alliance of Land Rights Movement in Mindanao (Alarm-Mindanao) has organized the the protest march, the group’s chair and spokesperson, Romeo Brioso Sr.
Brioso has said the peasants will ask President Benigno Aquino to fulfill the promise he made to the Task Force Mapalad (TFM) in June 2012 that there will be equal distribution of land. TFM has been fighting for agrarian reform in Bukidnon.
Brioso said even after the pledge was made, some 10,000 hectares of agricultural land in Mindanao remained in the hands of a few. He said there had been no effort from the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to issue notices of coverage (NOC) to the owners.
He cited as example the Ayalas’ ownership of about 590 hectares in Davao del Sur but the government did not consider the lands for distribution.
“The Consunji-controlled South Davao Agricultural Corp. owns 845 hectares in the Davao provinces; the Cojuangcos have 764 hectares in Agusan del Sur while the family of former agriculture secretary Cito Lorenzo has 111 hectares in Davao City alone through the Lapanday Group,” he said.
“Now, after two years of waiting with uncertainty, we are going back to Malacañang to claim what he had promised,” he said, citing the 2012 march that prompted Mr. Aquino to tell TFM, “You will have land.”
TFM-allied farmers also traveled to Malacañang from Mindanao then so they could meet the President.
Brioso said they were expecting hundreds of farmers to join the fresh march rally.
From Bukidnon for example, he said some 300 farmers had confirmed participation in the more than 1,000-kilometer walk that would take them across the country to the National Capital Region.
“The time left for DAR to issue the NOCs is apparently not enough, given its plodding, turtle-like pace, and this would allow landowners to hold on to their properties and be ‘saved by the bell’,” he said.
The extended CARP will end in June.
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