“Starting October 16, peasant organizations in provinces and regions will launch activities nationwide in the national peasant month – regional and inter-island peasant caravans, land cultivation activities, barricades and Kadenang Magsasaka, protests actions, fora, mass education and mass information campaigns that will lead to a nationally-coordinated mobilization on October 25 in Mendiola and other major urban centers to further expose and isolate Rodrigo Duterte,” the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) said in a statement yesterday.
KMP said “Duterte’s dwindling trust ratings is a mere refl ection of his political isolation. “
“His anti-people actions and pronouncements have only exposed him for what he truly is – an enemy of the Filipino people. Whatever popular support he garnered during the 2016 presidential elections would swiftly fade as more and more sectors become disillusioned with his false promises of change,” it noted.
KMP lamented that “Duterte has failed the peasant sector.”
“There is no genuine land reform. Land monopoly persists and vast tracts of lands remain in the control of a few landed families. Agri lands are being converted, further threatening our food security. Tens of thousands of hectares of lands are devoted to foreign- owned plantations. Estimates peg that more than 7 in every 10 farmers nationwide have no land to till,” it said.
The group noted that “this year’s October Peasant Month happens at a crucial time following the Duterte regime’s outright rejection of peasant leader Rafael ‘Ka Paeng’ Mariano as DAR (Department of Agrarian Reform) secretary. “
“This month, coinciding with the 45th year of Marcos’ Martial Law-era edict Presidential Decree 27, inter-island and nationwide Lakbayans, camp-outs, land occupations and mass actions led by farmers will take place,” the group announced.
It also said that “on October 25, 2017, tens of thousands of farmers, supported by workers and other sectors and progressive groups will march from DAR to Mendiola to demand genuine land reform, a stop to political and extrajudicial killings, the lifting of Martial Law and an end to Duterte’s tyrannical rule.”
