Violent dispersals notwithstanding
Farmers Protest Sham Agrarian Reform, State Repression

From June 8 to 12, peasants from Central Luzon and Southern Tagalog went to Manila to protest against the “sham” agrarian reform program and state repression. They were greeted with clubs and truncheons by the police not just once, but twice. Even if some of them were seriously injured and had to be hospitalized, they continued their protest actions to send their message to the public: genuine agrarian reform must be implemented and state repression must stop now.

BY ABNER BOLOS
Gitnang Luzon News Service
Reposted by Bulatlat

DEFYING STATE BRUTALITY: Peasant protester, June 9 PHOTO BY ABNER BOLOS

“Papaluin na ako ng truncheon ng pulis pero pinormahan ko siya. Mabuti at hindi niya itinuloy kung hindi ewan ko na lang kung ano ang nangyari sa amin.” (The police officer is about to hit me with his truncheon but I took a fighting position. It’s a good thing that he did not attack me, I would not know what would have happened to both of us if he did.) Federico Laza clenched both fists and posed like a boxer as he explained how he managed to ward off a police attack. The balding Laza, 64, is barely five feet tall. His grizzled face and arms reveal the years of hard work as a farm worker in Hacienda Luisita, the vast sugar plantation owned by the family of former president Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino.

He was among the hundreds of peasants from Central Luzon and the Southern Tagalog region who marched in the streets of Manila from June 8 to 12 to denounce the government’s agrarian reform program and to condemn the unabated killing of political activists.

Last June 8, members of the Alyansa ng mga Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luzon (AMGL or Central Luzon Peasant Alliance) and Pagkakaisa ng Manggagawa sa Timog Katagalugan (PAMANTIK or Unity of Workers in Southern Tagalog) arrived and pitched camp in front of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) office where they held a program and a night-long vigil.

The speakers denounced the failure of the government's Comprehensive Agrararian Reform Program (CARP) to give land to landless farmers and uplift the life of the Filipino peasantry.

In the morning of June 9, on España street, a few blocks from Malacañang (the presidential palace), the police armed with clubs and truncheons attacked the marchers and caused injury to scores of protesters. At least two protesters suffered multiple head wounds and had to be hospitalized.

At noon, the protesting farmers went on to defy the government ban on rallies and proceeded to march. They arrived at Mendiola bridge, the main entrance to Malacanang.

Retaking Mendiola

It was the third time that Mendiola has been “retaken” by protesters since February 2006 when President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declared a "calibrated preemptive response" policy that bans rallies and demonstrations without permit, said rally organizers.

Barely five minutes after the marchers arrived on the foot of Mendiola bridge, the police used water cannons to hose down the marchers with such force that they tumbled and fell on the pavement.

The marchers, however, stood their ground for several minutes while the police rushed in on them with clubs and truncheons. The marchers, many of them hurt, wounded and drenched by the water cannons, retreated near the Bustillos church where they held an indignation program. Noel Aritmetico, a leader of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP or Peasant Movement of the Philippines), suffered a severe head wound from police truncheons. Scores of other were also hurt. After a brief lunch, the contingent went to the University of the Philippines campus in Diliman, Quezon City to rest and spend the rest of the day. "The violent dispersals once again showed to the world how uncaring and brutal the Arroyo regime is to farmers," AMGL Chairperson Joseph Canlas said. "But we proved that we are not afraid and we were able to strongly express our stand that the CARP is fake and inutile."

PROTESTING MILITARIZATION: Peasant youths from Central Luzon demand the removal of Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan, Jr., who has become a symbol of militarization from his assignment in the region                                       PHOTO BY ABNER BOLOS

He said that the DAR's claim that 343,333 hectares have been distributed to 68,795 farmer beneficiaries during the last 18 years is proof of the "bankruptcy" of CARP.

The hectarage that is supposed to have been distributed hardly touched big land holdings in the region's 2.7-million hectare land area and the number of supposed beneficiaries do not account for 1% of the more than seven million peasants and agricultural workers there, Canlas said.

In the morning of the next day (June 10), the marchers carried 84 mock coffins and marched around the Quezon Memorial Circle to dramatize their condemnation of "state-sponsored" killings which have victimized mostly peasants and their leaders. Canlas said, "Instead of responding to the peasantry's demand for genuine agrarian reform, the Arroyo regime went on a murderous rampage against farmers."

June 10 is the 18th anniversary of CARP.

Karapatan-Central Luzon (CL), a human rights organization, documented 166 extra-judicial executions in Central Luzon since Arroyo became president. Most of the victims were farmers. This year alone, 31 have been killed by government death squads.

The executions have increased since September 2005 when Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan was installed as commander of the 7th Infantry Division (ID), the army unit that covers Central Luzon, according to Karapatan-CL. At least 54 persons, mostly farmers, have been killed and 24 were abducted and remained missing since Palparan took command of the 7th ID.

Sixty per cent of all murders and forced disappearances in the entire country from September 2005 to the present occurred in Central Luzon and coincided with Palparan’s transfer, according to Karapatan-CL.
 
Another peasant leader killed

In fact, even before the five-day peasant protest was over, another AMGL leader had been killed in Nueva Ecija.

Manny delos Santos, 33, single, was killed by motorcycle riding gunmen as he stood by the road at about 5 p.m. on June 11 in Brgy. Oliveti, Bongabon town, Nueva Ecija province (145 km. from Manila). Delos Santos was a member of the provincial council of leaders of the AMGL-Nueva Ecija, a local chapter of the KMP.

In the afternoon and through the night of June 10, the relatives of the victims of extra-judicial executions gathered together at the University of the Philippines (UP) and launched the Mothers and Relatives Against Tyranny (MARTYR), an organization of kins of victims of human rights violations.

"We should continue to fight for what our loved ones died for. They were killed because they fought for the right of farmers to own land, jobs and better wages for workers and a better life for all. The best way to honor their memory is to continue their struggle," Jocelyn Javier, MARTYR spokesperson, told the gathering.

Jocelyn is the wife of Armando Javier Jr., a peasant leader who was shot and killed allegedly by military agents inside their home on October 2, 2005 in Nueva Ecija.  
 
Sixty-four year old Laza, on the other hand, is the father of Jesus Laza, one of the seven martyrs of the infamous November 16, 2004 Hacienda Luisita massacre.

Laza told the gathering that more than one year has passed since the massacre but not a single suspect has been brought to justice. In fact, Laza said, the killing of Luisita union leaders and members continue to this day. 

The latest victim and the 14th Hacienda Luisita martyr is Tirso Cruz, officer of the United Luisita Workers' Union, who was killed as he was walking home shortly past midnight last March 17.

On June 11, the peasant protesters went to the Philippine Heart Center where AnakPawis (Toiling Masses) Rep. Crispin Beltran is being treated for heart ailment after his arrest last February. Beltran is among the 49 people who were charged with rebellion.

The marchers held a picket and demanded the release of Beltran, while some of their leaders visited him in his room.

In the morning of June 12, the marchers held a picket at the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and later went to the Bantayog ng mga Bayani (Shrine of Heroes) memorial to lay wreaths for the memory of the "people's heroes."

"The real heroes of the Filipino people are those who died in the continuing struggle to achieve genuine freedom from US domination, as well as the hundreds who have been killed during this brutal Arroyo presidency," Roman Polintan, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan or New Patriotic Alliance)-Central Luzon chairperson, said during the program at the memorial.
 
June 12 is observed as Philippine Independence Day and is dedicated to honor the memory of Filipinos who died fighting for the country's freedom from foreign aggression. At noon, the marchers proceeded to the Welcome Rotonda in Manila to await more marchers for the June 12 protest rally.

This time, the protest was against the plan of the Arroyo administration to change the 1987 Constitution. The marchers swelled to more than 15,000 as contingents coming from the National Capital Region arrived.

The entire half of España St. and roads leading to Liwasang Bonifacio were occupied by the marchers.

At one point the marchers stretched to half a kilometer. "This protest action is a sign that people are really fed up with Arroyo. She should heed the people's demand and leave Malacañang," Polintan said. Reposted by Bulatlat

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