Farmers renew calls for genuine agrarian reform

Militant farmers have renewed their call for genuine agrarian reform.

Camping out at the main office of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in Quezon City, peasants belonging to the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) assailed the failure of the Arroyo government to distribute land to farmers and sugar workers in the 6,400-hectare Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac.

The estate was supposed to have been cut up and distributed to farmers under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) but the Cojuangco management has resorted to a prolonged legal battle to maintain its control.

Roughly 2,000 hectares of the estate, formerly owned by Tabacalera, have been transformed into rice farms by farmers and sugar workers who now claim they earn more than their daily wage of P9.50.

In demanding genuine land reform, the KMP members and those from Kasama-Timog Katagalugan (Kasama-TK) said up to 80 percent of farmers nationwide did not benefit from CARP and its successor, the CARP Extension with Reform (CARPER) Law.

CARPER extends the effectivity of CARP by five years and mandates the dismantling of estates for distribution of land to tenants and landless peasants.

KMP demands the approval of the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill (GAB) or House Bill No. 3059, which was filed by the late Anakpawis Rep. Crispin Beltran.

Under the bill, farmers would receive land for free, with the government paying the landlords. The measure also contemplates the provision of irrigation, technical support and other services to the farmers through the Department of Agriculture (DA) and DAR.

Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo and Gabriela Rep. Liza Maza were the principal promoters of the measure, which is bitterly opposed by landlords in the House of Representatives.

Ocampo and Maza are now running for the Senate under the Makabayan Coalition. Both are guest candidates of the Nacionalista Party (NP).

KMP warned of continuing peasant unrest unless GARB is passed and noted that all over Asia, farmers have started to assert their power as food producers.

"Rice culture has been battered by the commercialization of land and the commodification of water and inputs needed to produce grain. Peasants have increasingly been denied their power to manage rice production as they should," the Asian Peasant Coalition (APC) also said.

Asia produces 90 percent of its rice in 135 million hectares of land and nearly 3 billion people depend on it for food and livelihood. There are a total of 140,000 varieties of rice all over the world.