Anakpawis Party-list Rep. Ariel Casilao yesterday urged Congress to pass House Bill No. 555 or the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill (GARB) that pushes for free distribution of land, to replace Republic Act No. 6657 Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARL) that expired in June 2014.
Casilao noted that land reform is “the number one item” in socio-economic reforms to be tackled in the third round of peace talks slated on Jan.19 to 24 in Rome.
“Filipino farmers have been fighting for land reform, since the Spanish colonialism, until martial law, up to present, it is a legitimate and moral aspiration that should be realized in the country, hence, here in congress, we urge the House members to heed this call, as parallel eff ort to the on-going peace talks with the NDFP,” Casilao said in a statement.
Casilao recalled that President Rodrigo Duterte promised rural development during his campaign last year at the Presidential Challenge organized by KMP thenled by Rafael Mariano, who is now the secretary of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR).
He noted that Mariano is also pushing for the signing of the executive order for a two-year moratorium on land conversion.
“Rural development is impossible without genuine land reform, as the rights of farmers on the land is not secured, and the lands are not protected from land use conversion,” Casilao said.
Casilao also warned against any schemes to revive CARL through bills pushing for Land Acquisition and Distribution (LAD) extension.
“LAD extension is CARP extension and it only wants farmers to pay for amortization, until he is not able to, and be driven away from the lands, for the landlords and business to take over, it is a neo-liberal bill for agrarian reform,” Casilao said.
Anakpawis said that “for the country to attain a just and lasting peace, the fundamental problem of the peasantry who are majority of Filipinos, landlessness must be addressed, feudalism or land monopoly to be broken down and emancipation of the peasantry to trigger rural and national development.”
“Genuine agrarian reform will not only benefit farmers, but all sectors in the country, as it would lead to the economic emancipation of society, and this is real justice for victims such as of the Mendiola Massacre,” Casilao also said.
