Street rally greets CARP anniversary
Farmers renewed its protest against the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program by launching a street demonstration during the CARP’s 20th anniversary yesterday.
The protesters marched from
Some 500 farmers from various groups have participated in the rally, which was spearheaded by BAYAN and the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas.
BAYAN chairman Jaime Paglinawan said farmers are against the extension of CARP as it has not been helping them, and has not solved the problem on land ownership at all.
The farmers said that since it does not solve the food insurgency, CARP has only become a mode for landlords to convert their lands so they will not be covered by the program.
In a recent report in The Freeman, KMP confirmed that 75 percent of the farmers in the country are landless while seven out of ten farmers do not own the land they cultivate.
As a result, lands for crop farming have been used instead for commercial purposes, thus attributing to food crisis, said Paglinawan.
Paglinawan said farmers are not benefiting from the land they are tilling because they are having a hard time paying the leasing fee to the bank.
Added to the list of complaints is the lack of support such as fertilizer provision from the government.
Farmers are uncomfortable with the idea that their land will be taken away from them the moment they won’t comply with the terms provided by the bank lending the land to them.
What the farmers are asking, Paglinawan said, is for the approval of the House Bill 3059 or the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill with provisions that include distribution of all idle government-owned lands to farmers.
The bill also mandates that all lands leased by the farmers be fully entrusted and given to them. Paglinawan said this has been what the farmers wanted since the Marcos regime.
But until now, this has not been granted by the government. - Jessica Ann Pareja, UP Intern/LPM
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