“Human sa tulo ka adlaw namong panagtigum sa mokabat 73 ka mga lider mag-uuma sa tibuok rehiyon nakita ang daghang kasong natala nga nakapasamot sa kalisud sa mga mag-uuma (After three days of gathering by 73 leaders from the region we found out a number of cases recorded that push farmers to severe poverty),” Arnado said during an interview with davaotoday.com.
By ALEX D. LOPEZ
Davao Today
DAVAO CITY, Philippines – Members of peasant organization Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas-Southern Mindanao Region (KMP-SMR) marched on the streets here on Tuesday in celebration of peasant month and urged the government to scrap the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARPER) and instead pass the genuine agrarian reform bill (GARB) that is still pending in Congress, and demand for the pull-out of military troops from the countryside.
Pedro Arnado, chairperson of KMP-SMR said small farmers in this region continue to suffer poverty, hunger and live in fear due to the unrelenting militarization in the countryside disguised as peace and development efforts of Aquino’s rule.
“Human sa tulo ka adlaw namong panagtigum sa mokabat 73 ka mga lider mag-uuma sa tibuok rehiyon nakita ang daghang kasong natala nga nakapasamot sa kalisud sa mga mag-uuma (After three days of gathering by 73 leaders from the region we found out a number of cases recorded that push farmers to severe poverty),” Arnado said during an interview with davaotoday.com.
Arnado was referring to the counter-insurgency measure, OPLAN Bayanihan being implemented by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in the countryside.
Reports of human rights violations continue to reach KMP office, Arnado claimed, and farmers complain of harassments and intimidations committed by the soldiers.
After the march, the peasants stopped at the front of the city hall of Davao City and called on Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio to look into the human rights violations committed by the soldiers belonging to the Task Force Davao, the 84th and 69th IB against the ordinary farmers in the districts of Toril, Tugbok, Calinan, Marilog, Baguio and Paquibato.
“Oplan Bayanihan is not an instrument to achieve peace and development as claimed by the government,” Arnado added “but the prime anti-insurgency scheme of the US-Aquino regime that brought havoc and destruction to the lives and properties of the thousands of peasants and indigenous peoples in the rural areas”.
In its final rally in front of the Rizal Park here, peasant leaders narrated the difficult situations of farmers in each provinces in the region.
In Davao Oriental, KMP-SMR leaders assailed the continued presence of warrants of arrest against Lito Lao and Armando Diones, both farmer leaders in said province.
The KMP claimed the root cause of the case was agrarian in nature but was transformed into a criminal case orchestrated by their landlords, in collaboration with the police and the army’s 28th IB.
In Compostela Valley and Davao del Norte, the KMP claimed, multi-national corporations continue to expand their banana plantations where agricultural workers are exploited receiving only minimal wages without any benefits. The workers are also prevented to organize themselves into unions.
Unjust agreements under growership and leasehold programs between small landowners and multi-national corporations continue to exist, the KMP claimed, warning that in the long run the multi-national corporations would succeed in acquiring ownership of lands from small owners.
Meanwhile, farmers in North Cotabato and Davao del Sur suffer the same fate, the KMP said.
Militarization continued to harass small farmers in the countryside while mining companies continue to pursue their plans to operate in the area.
Noli Lapaz, the KMP chair in North Cotabato said the concrete manifestation of the ill-effects of Oplan Bayanihan in his area is the brutal murder of Italian Priest Fr. Fausto “Pops” Tentorio, PIME.
Lapaz added that the farmers and indigenous people in the province continue to seek justice for the death of Fr. Pops as the perpetrators and their men continue to roam around free in the area.
Further, Sheena Duazo, the spokesperson of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan in Southern Mindaao (BAYAN-SMR) said the event also served as a venue to ventilate the consolidated report of KMP-SMR on the real situation of farmers in the rural areas.
Duazo said the presence of farmer leaders during the activity is proof that harassments, intimidation, killings and other forms of human rights violations brought about by massive militarization in the countryside continue to exist.
“Dili kini mao ang tubag sa dugay nang gipangayo sa mga mag-uuma nga yuta nga matikad” (This is not the answer to the long-standing clamor of the farmers for lands to be tilled),” Duazo added.
“Hugot gihapon nga naghiusa ang mga mag-uuma nga i-asdang ang demanda nga ipatuman na ang tinuod nga repormang agraryo” (The farmers are united in pushing for the implementation of the genuine agrarian reform),” Arnado said, adding that there is no other means of attaining such demand but through the continued advancement of the “national and democratic liberation of the oppressed masses.” (Alex D. Lopez, davaotoday.com)
