Militant Peasant Group Slams ‘Martial Law Accord’
Braganza: From ‘Spice Boy’ to ‘Spy Boy’?

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
Bulatlat.com

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:

• Cojuangco's Cassava Plantation Project in Isabela – involves 29,000 has. of land and 20,000 peasant-families

•  Clark Dev't. Corp. Tourism Proj. Clark Field, Pampanga – 31,894 has.; 50,000 peasant-families

•  Cojuangco's "corporative scheme" in Negros – 4,000 has.;  3,000 peasant-families

• Hacienda Looc Harbortown Project in Nasugbu, Batangas – 8,650 has.; 15,000  peasant-families

• Marcos son-in-law Greggy Araneta lands in San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan – 1,000 has.; 300 families

• Lakeshore Dev't. Corp. in Mexico, Pampanga - 155 has. 300 families affected 

Bulatlat.com

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