ANGELES CITY- Central Luzon farmers are marking today the third anniversary of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reforms (CARPer), signed by former Pres. Arroyo in 2009, by appealing to Pres. Aquino to junk it in favor of the pending Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill (GARB).
Farmers belonging to Alyansa ng mga Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luson (AMGL) said this act would finally remove doubts that the President and his family no longer have any interest to reclaim Hacienda Luisita which the Supreme Court ordered to be distributed to farmworkers.
“We ask him to junk the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with ‘Reforms’ (CARPer) and instead back House Bill 374 or the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill (GARB),” said AMGL chairman Joseph Canlas.
More than a hundred farmers from Tarlac, Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan and Pampanga held yesterday a protest rally in front of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) central office in Quezon City where they were to join other chapters under the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) and Anakpawis Partylist.
Today, the farmers are slated to march to Mendiola bridge near Malacañang “to challenge the Aquino government” to scrap CARPer.
CARPer or Republic Act 9700 is on its third year since former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed it on August 7, 2009.
“Aquino and everyone else in the country should accept that without genuine land reform, there would be no social justice and fundamental reforms and all deception and lies about CARPer would be exposed and its multi-billion budget allocation would all go to waste or to the pocket of rich landlords,” Canlas said.
He expressed doubts that the President’s family has really abandoned interest in Hacienda Luisita, saying CARPer provides loopholes for the Aquino-Cojuangcos.
“Aquino is sending a wrong signal by delaying the distribution of Hacienda Luisita. He and the Cojuangco-Aquinos promised to follow the law but when the Supreme Court decided, here he goes ordering DAR to make a new list of farmworker beneficiaries, thus, prolonging the process,” Canlas said.
Canlas said, “DAR’s action on Hacienda Luisita is risky as making the new list would sow chaos and unnecessary confusion among the farmworkers.
It is apparent that DAR is making the distribution process complicated, thus, Aquino is not sincere in abiding by the law or the SC order.”
AMGL is also demanding the immediate distribution of 3,100-hectares of agricultural land which used to be part of the Fort Magsaysay Military Reservation (FMMR) in Laur, Nueva Ecija and is now being claimed by the 7th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army (IDPA).
“The issue of Fort Magsaysay Military Reservation is the very concrete example of the uselessness of CARPer.
Imagine, its coverage was already ordered by former president Cory Aquino through her executive orders 407 and 448 in 1990, with the Deed of Transfer (DOT) between DAR and the Dept. of National Defense (DND) signed by Sec. Benjamin Leong and Sec. Renato De Villa, respectively in 1990, but the process is being opposed by the AFP, a government entity itself,” Canlas said.
“CARPer could not even compel the AFP to follow the law, thus, harassment against farmers continue and retired police and military officials are grabbing lands in Fort Magsaysay,” he added.
AMGL also urged Aquino to “stop the massive land use conversion (LUCs) in Central Luzon, ejecting farmers from their land.”
“These LUCs in Central Luzon is a threat to farmers’ rights on land, as well as to the food security of our country,” Canlas said.
AMGL said that the construction of the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEx) and the Central Luzon Expressway (CLEx) projects in Nueva Ecija has ejected and continues to threaten farmers out of their lands.
“If Aquino was sincere in realizing fundamental reforms, CARP should have covered the subjected lands decades ago and distributed to legitimate farmer-beneficiaries, but he did not. Hence, farmers are now defending their rights,” Canlas added.
“We call on other sectors to support our demand to junk CARPer and enact House Bill 374 or GARB. We should learn that CARP and CARPer is not a real land reform program in its 24 years of implementation.”
“If we want to keep our country’s food supply secure, we must defend the farmers’ cultivation of productive agricultural lands and protect it from LUCs.
The absence of a genuine land reform program would lead to agrarian unrest in our country,” Canlas also said.
