Eastern Visayas farmers slam CA over Mariano’s rejection

PHOTO BY JULLIANE LOVE DE JESUS/INQUIRER.NET

TACLOBAN CITY- The peasants group in Eastern Visayas lambasted the rejection of Agrarian Secretary Rafael Mariano by the Commission on Appointments.

Nestor Lebico, president of the Samahan han Gugti na Parag-uma(Sagupa)-Sinirangan Bisayas, said that when President Rodrigo Duterte appointed Mariano to head the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), they rejoiced because they thought that the President wanted to end the monopoly of the country’s landlords and promote the landless farmers.

“Is his rejection (by the CA) a declaration of a relatively weakening peasant movement? Or is it telling us that the landlords and bureaucrat capitalists are once again threatened by the farmers’ uprising?” Lebico said.

“Unlike the past agrarian reform heads, Mariano maximized his position in the bureaucracy to impose orders in favor of the farmers,” Lebico said.

It was under the rejected DAR chief that the land use conversion program was suspended and pushed for the passage of the bill that would implement free land distribution, the Sagupa president said.

Despite Mariano’s rejection by the CA, they would continue to fight their rights for a genuine agrarian reform program be implemented in the country, Lebico said.