“Surely, he knows how it felt like to be a son of a political prisoner because of the late Senator Ninoy (Benigno Aquino Jr.),” Ramos said. Yet, no political prisoner has been released as of press time.
No Land Has Been Distributed
True to his nature as a haciendero, not even a single hectare of land has been distributed to peasants. Ramos of KMP said Aquino is a “political champion” of the ruling class, where he belongs to. Naturally, he said, he would protect their interests, which include no physical land distribution of haciendas under agrarian dispute in the country.
In a statement, Flores said Aquino treats farmers as if they are “nobody.” Proof, he said, was the fact that in his inaugural speech and the state of the nation address, he did not mention anything about land reform. “…as if there is no agrarian unrest in the country,” he said.
Ramos said one proof of Aquino’s unwillingness to implement a genuine agrarian reform program is Hacienda Luisita, where he is a co-owner. Despite more than half a century of struggle for land, Aquino opted to keep a “hands-off” policy.
“Even village officials would have a say on this,” Ramos said, “How much more for a president?”
As of press time, the Supreme Court has yet to decide on the case after the mediation panel, which was tasked with drawing up a win-win solution, has proven to be a failure with the Hacienda Luisita peasants walking out.
Not even a single hectare was distributed under the Aquino government, either as a show-off or out of sincerity.
Flore said by abandoning the Filipino people, his supporters during the elections have started to abandon him as well. He said some church people, who used to be a supporter of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program with Extension, an agrarian reform that peasants thought to have been designed to fail, are now supporting the Hacienda Luisita farmworkers.
“This is what we get from the grandstanding and lip service Aquino did during the elections?” Flores said, adding that he promised change, even used his parents as icons of democracy, “but now that he is already in power, oppression and exploitation of poor Filipinos such as the peasants continue grossly.”
“(This government) is against the people, against peasants,” Ramos said. ( (Bulatlat.com)
