Negros Farmers on Hunger Strike to Oppose Killings, ‘Criminalization of Agrarian Struggle’

Extrajudicial Killings and Atrocities by the RPA

Landlessness, however, is not the only problem being faced by the farmers.

Castillo revealed that in 2009 alone, Karapatan, a national human rights alliance, documented 11 cases of extrajudicial killings in the province.

From 2005 to 2009, Castillo’s group recorded a total of 35 extrajudicial killings, 14 of which were perpetrated by the Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade, which Castillo described as “armed bandits.”

The latest assassination of members of the progressive group occurred on Oct. 4, 2009, when peasant leader Reynaldo Bucaling, 41, was murdered in Toboso, Negros Occidental.

The group asserted the involvement of the RPA-ABB in the killing. Prior to that four other members of NFSW in Victorias City were abducted and killed apparently by the same group.

Castillo, however, said that they also suspect the 11th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army to be behind the killings of most of its members.

Negros Occidental Provincial Police Director Col. Manuel Felix advised them to file criminal complaints against the RPA-ABB and other suspected perpetrators of the killings with the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP), to ensure that action will be taken.

Human Rights Abuse and the Land Issue

Castillo said that the hunger strike is also aimed at reminding Bacolodnons of the plight of the farmers in the sugar plantations in its surrounding towns and cities.

They likened their struggle with those murdered during the Mendiola Massacre. The victims were marching to Malacañang Palace to demand genuine agrarian reform from the Aquino government when government forces opened fire, killing 13 people.

They believe that the present policies of the Arroyo administration in addressing the issue of landlessness have not and will not address the problem. “That is why we are demanding that the CARPER be scrapped and for Congress to enact the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill,” said Castillo.

Castillo suspects that the rise in the number of human rights abuses in Negros as well as the number of criminal cases filed against members of their group are aimed at ensuring that the owners of the plantations will be secure with their lands, denying the “peasants of their lands to till” and of sustainable livelihood. Castillo said peasants receive from P60 to 100 as daily compensation for working on the landowner’s plot.

Because of this, he said that NFSW together with other allied organizations are aggressively increasing their ranks in order to pressure government to act on their concerns.

IN the meantime, Castillo said that the hunger strike will do in bringing attention and for probable action to be taken in “dismantling the RPA-ABB; for land to be distributed to the peasants and hacienda workers; food for the hungry; and justice for all victims of human rights violations.”

He added, “We are hungry for land, food and justice. Land in Negros is being monopolized by big hacienderos and the small farmers are left landless; surviving on meager wages and are being pushed in the quagmire of poverty.” (Bulatlat.com)