Camarines Sur farmers begin march to Manila

Some 100 farmers in Camarines Sur are set to begin their own version of the famed Sumilao protest march today to dramatize their disappointment on the slow-paced deliberations on the proposed law that would extend the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

The farmers, belonging to the Pambansang Kilusan ng mga Samahang Magsasaka (Pakisama), a national confederation of peasant organizations, will embark on a 17-day, 361-kilometer walk called National Farmers’ Pilgrimage for Land, Equity and Social Justice from Pajardo town in Camarines Sur to Manila to press the government to expedite the passage of the CARP extension with reform bill.

“The protest march will cover Bicol, Quezon and Laguna, with a series of lightning rallies along the way toward Manila,” said Jessie Dimaisip, of Akbayan, a party-list group supporting the extension of CARP.

According to Dimaisip, the farmers are expected to arrive in Manila in the first week of December. 

The farmers from Camarines Sur and those from Northern Luzon will then converge at the Department of Agrarian Reform in Quezon City before proceeding to the House of Representatives and Senate.

Participating in the protest march are farmers claiming rights over a 123-hectare property in Pajardo, Camarines Sur; a 297-hectare landholding in Batok Toro, Mauban, Quezon; the 100-hectare Uy Sam Bin Estate in Gumaca, Quezon; and other properties in Laguna, Batangas, and Negros.

In Batangas, meanwhile, hundreds of farmers and fishermen from Southern Tagalog trooped to the house of Lipa City Archbishop Ramon Arguelles last Thursday to seek his help in calling on the House to continue funding CARP with pro-poor reforms. – With Arnell Ozaeta