Bu-lat-lat (boo-lat-lat) verb: to search, probe, investigate, inquire; to unearth facts Volume 2, Number 30 September 1 - 7, 2002 Quezon City, Philippines |
Militant
Peasant Group Slams ‘Martial Law Accord’
A declaration of war against Filipino farmers. This is how militant peasants described the agreement entered by Agrarian Reform Secretary Hernani Braganza with the Defense and Interior and Local Government departments. They say it allows law enforcers to spy and conduct military and police operations against peasants involved in land disputes. BY
GERRY ALBERT-CORPUZ The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (Peasant Movement of the Philippines or KMP) expressed dismay over the joint circular, saying it will be used by the military as an additional tool to justify their operations in peasant communities where land disputes are intense and the influence of the New People's Army (NPA) is believed strong. "It
is an instrument to legitimize militarization of peasant communities,” said
KMP national chair Rafael Mariano. The
militant peasant leader told Bulatlat.com
the joint memo legitimizes landlords’ use of military, police and paramilitary
groups to protect their landholdings involved in agrarian disputes and locked in
peasant's resistance. "It
will intensify landlordism, state terrorism and all-out deprivation of peasant
rights," he stressed. Braganza, Defense Sec. Angelo Reyes, AFP chief of staff Gen. Roy Cimatu, DILG chief Jose Lina and then PNP chief Leandro Mendoza, signed DAR-DILG-DND Circular No.5 on June 10. According
to Braganza, the joint memorandum aims to institutionalize and integrate support
and cooperation of concerned government agencies for the successful
implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP). The
joint memo circular states that the DILG-Philippine National Police and DND-Armed
Forces of the Philippines will provide security forces to DAR personnel whenever
performance of their function subject them to peril. DAR
is to provide in advance local government units, the PNP and defense department
details of DAR's plans related to CARP in which the presence of policemen and
the local armed forces is necessary. The
DILG-PNP and DND-AFP are to assist DAR's sheriffs in enforcing DAR decisions and
help prosecute violators of agrarian laws upon written request by the DAR. “Evolving militarism” Danilo
Ramos, KMP secretary general and chair of the International League of Peoples'
Struggles (ILPS -Philippine Chapter) said the memorandum is a sign of
"evolving militarism in department".
"It
appears that Secretary Braganza is set to join the league of dreaded fascists in
and out of the Macapagal Arroyo government," Ramos said.
"DAR under Braganza will act as an accomplice of the military. It
will serve as an apparatus of state terrorism and political repression” Ramos
urged the DAR secretary to retract his endorsement of the joint memorandum and
re-direct the agency's trust to real concerns of landless peasants. Conjuangco:
principal beneficiary The
Southern Tagalog-based peasant group Kalipunan ng mga Samahang Magbubukid sa
Timog Katagalugan (Kasama-TK) said police and military elements to be deployed
in disputed agrarian areas will act as standing army of big landlords and
transnational corporations engaged in massive exploitation and landgrabbing
activities. "We
are talking here of experience and objective reality. The police and the
military were never our friends nor our true army. They serve as paid
mercenaries of powerful landlords and transnational biggies," said Eddie
Gumanoy, Kasama-TK chair. Rod
Flores, Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luzon (AMGL-Peasant Alliance in Central
Luzon) said businessman Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco is the principal
beneficiary of Joint Circular No.5. "The
joint circular is actually a GMA-Cojuangco accord. This is Gloria's bonus gift
to Danding in preparation for the 2004 polls," charged Flores. He
said the memorandum circular will put premium to landgrabbing sprees of
“certified plunderers like Cojuangco.” "In fact, the presence of
military troops, camps and detachment in villages and farmlands is a proof that
landlords and big business groups command military authority over these men in
military and police service," Gumanoy stressed. Flores
expressed his apprehension over the joint memo adding this might facilitate the
entry of more government troops and police elements in hotly contested agrarian
reform areas. The
KMP cited the high incidence of militarization in areas having controversial
agrarian cases. These are reportedly mainly land-use conversion and ejectment
cases, wherein DAR rendered favorable decisions for landlords and corporations,
and other agrarian cases wherein the DAR has taken no action to avoid
confrontation with the landlords and the military and police who are allegedly
on the side of despotic landlords. Among
such projects are:
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