ANGELES CITY – Farmers who have declared Pres. Aquino as an “enemy of Central Luzon farmers” are expected to reach Metro Manila today in a march they started last week in the President’s home province in Tarlac.
The march, dubbed as “Caravan against Land Grabbing and Displacement”, is spearheaded by the Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luson (AMGL), will proceed today to the office of the Department of Agrarian Reform in Quezon City and then on to Mendiola in Manila for a three-day camp out from Oct. 19 to 21.
“Central Luzon farmers are now facing government programs that result massive land grabbing and their displacement of farmers,” said AMGL chairperson Joseph Canlas.
The marching farmers were in Angeles City and moved on yesterday to the regional office of the DAR in San Fernando, Pampanga.
On their way to Pampanga, the marchers were already comprised of farmers from the Aquino-Cojuangco family-owned Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac, as well as farmers from Nueva Ecija, Aurora, Pangasinan, Bulacan, Bataan and Zambales.
“There is no doubt among farmers that Aquino has not affected any reforms that uplifted their lives. Even during typhoons and disaster, he only visited the typhoon-affected areas when there was already a public pressure for him to do so,” said Canlas.
Canlas said the Aquino government has either continued or launched new programs that adversely affect farmers.
He identified these programs the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with “Reforms” (CARPER), the Public-Private Partnership program (PPP), the Arroyo-initiated Central Luzon Development Plan (CLDP), and mining operations that allegedly “clearly destroy” the environment in Zambales, Nueva Ecija, Aurora and Bulacan.
Canlas also cited the failure of the Aquino government to push for land distribution at Hacienda Luisita.
“Farmers from Aurora province under Pamana – Aurora group also joined the protest march to highlight their protest against the programs implemented by Sen. Edgardo Angara under Republic Act 10083 or Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport (APECO) and the Food Basket Program.
The affected farmers are now being displaced in Casiguran town as the program includes massive land use conversion in favor of the construction of commercial and business districts, residential and industrial enclaves, eco-tourism,” he noted.
He said that Apeco has already displaced and continues to threaten more farmers, fisherfolk and indigenous Dumagat tribalfolk in about 3,000 hectares of land for the project.
On the other hand, the Food Basket program has already led to “massive land grabbing of 312-hectares” that have also displaced Igorot indigenous folk, he added.
Canlas said that farmers from the AMGL in Nueva Ecija are also protesting the “systematic land grabbing and displacement in the province through massive cancellation of Certificate of Land Ownership Awards (CLOA), Certificate of Land Transfer (CLT) and Emancipation Patents (EP) of CARP farmer-beneficiaries.”
Canlas cited the case of farmers who are now being ejected from their farms in Barangays Manggang Marikit, Bagong Barrio and Yuson in Guimba town, as well as those tilling 3,100 hectares of lands in Fort Magsaysay Military Reservation (FMMR) who were allegedly barred by the Army’s 7th Infantry Division from tilling their farms.
Canlas also noted that St. Tropez firm is claiming ownership of the 154-hectare prime agricultural land at Barangay Balingcanaway near the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX) interchange based on a title that even the DAR in Tarlac had allegedly already declared as illegally obtained.
He said the area was covered by land reform way back during the Magsaysay administration.
In Bayambang, Pangasinan, the Central Azucarera de Tarlac Realty Corp. (CAT Realty) is reportedly claiming ownership of the 386.8-hectares of land cultivated by farmers way back during the American colonial years, he also said.
