“Compensation should have been for the actual land value of P304 million only, since DAR will not be paying them over a ten-year period as contemplated in the law. Why did DAR pay the Cojuangcos extra for the 10-year cost of money when they were paid outright and in full?” – ACT Teachers’ Rep. Antonio Tinio
BY NOEL SALES BARCELONA Contributed to Bulatlat.com August 11, 2008 – 12:59 p.m. More than a thousand members of peasant groups and supporters have started camping out at the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), Aug. 11, to protest the cases of land grabbing in the provinces of the Southern Tagalog region. The Katipunan ng mga…
The root of the problem that led to the rice crisis, rural backwardness, cannot be solved by sporadic solutions and releases of funds. It would necessitate a reversal of the economic programs and priorities of the government. BY BENJIE OLIVEROS ANALYSIS Bulatlat Vol. VIII, No.9, April 6-12, 2008 Supposedly, if the Arroyo government is to…
(First of two parts) So hogs are about to supplant farmers in Bukidnon? In Masbate, farm workers are losing their land to cattle. BY DABET CASTAÑEDA SPECIAL REPORT Bulatlat Vol. VIII, No. 9, April 6-12, 2008 TICAO ISLAND, Masbate— A shanty made of coconut fronds in Hacienda Espinosa here is home to 64-year-old widower Melchor…
(Conclusion) Local governments’ power to re-classify agricultural lands for commercial and residential use has aided big landowners in saving their properties from agrarian reform. BY DABET CASTAÑEDA SPECIAL REPORT Bulatlat Vol. VIII, No. 9, April 6-12, 2008 “I’m not a saint,” a councilor in a municipality in Cavite said in Tagalog, “I must admit we…
A government which is not serious in implementing a genuine agrarian reform program with a weak law such as the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law of 1988 is a recipe for more feudal exploitation and peasant unrest. A government which is not serious in agrarian reform with a strong law and program may be forced to…