President Duterte has vowed to “finally accomplish the ultimate goal” of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, started in 1988 by President Cory Aquino as her “centerpiece program.” On the CARP’s 31st anniversary observance last Tuesday, Duterte said he would distribute all agricultural lands in the country and accomplish the program’s ultimate goal through what he…
This, they said, has only been used to virtually rob them of their lands and turn the supposed “partners” under what appears to be a lopsided deal to a mere employee, receiving pittance.
“Two years of the Duterte regime is two years of non-agrarian reform agenda, as it has yet to pass a new law to replace the expired and failed CARP.”
By Satur C. Ocampo At Ground Level | The Philippine Star Peasants and their supporters marched anew to Mendiola last Thursday to commemorate the 28th year of the Mendiola Massacre (Jan. 22, 1987). Again they cried for justice, primarily for the 13 farmer-marchers killed by lethal volleys from state troops and police. Among them were…
By BENJIE OLIVEROS Bulatlat perspective Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac, Hacienda Looc in Batangas, Hacienda Dolores in Pampanga, Hacienda Arloc and Hacienda Ilimnan in Negros Occidental, what do these have in common? These are vast tracts of land, which were appropriated by a few elite families of big landlords. Also, these lands were supposed to be…
Farmer-beneficiaries of Hacienda Luisita march from Tarlac to Manila to press for the immediate distribution of Hacienda Luisita land, as ordered by the Supreme Court. This video shows the hardships the farmworkers undergo to attain justice, despite the nearly insurmountable odds ranged against them by those who control the vast landholding—the family of President Benigno Aquino—who, according to the farmers, use legalities and the government’s coercive forces to delay and eventually keep Hacienda Luisita under their control. But the farmworkers are not to be denied. Aside from pressing their right to land, they have already started tilling the land they say belongs to them by law and by moral right.
BY BULATLAT More than one thousand farmers and their supporters marked the 22nd anniversary of the Mendiola Massacre today. Twenty two years ago on January 22, 1987 at the historic Mendiola bridge, combined elements of the police and military opened fire at a rally of farmers demanding for genuine land reform. Thirteen farmers were killed…
When the sessions of Congress resume on January 19, the progressive party list bloc in the House of Representatives would push anew for House Bill 3059 or the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill (GARB). Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano said they expect to encounter rough sailing when they push for the bill, but they are not afraid to lose. Mariano believes that the ensuing debate on the bill could put the long-standing demand of the peasantry for a genuine and thoroughgoing land reform program in the national agenda.
They came from different places. One farmers’ group tries to eke out a living farming the land they have been tilling in Bukidnon in Mindanao, and the other farmers’ group is in Nueva Ecija in Central Luzon. They may be miles apart, but their stories are the same.
If “pakyao” (piece-rate) system is rampant in most sugar farms, “arendo” or leasehold system is becoming rampant in areas covered by the government’s Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP). BY KARL G. OMBION Bulatlat If “pakyao” (piece-rate) system is rampant in most sugar farms, “arendo” or leasehold system is becoming rampant in areas covered by the…
Notwithstanding CARP’s goal of land redistribution, full land ownership has continued to decline, owing to the intensification of tenancy and lease arrangements. BY ALAYSA TAGUMPAY E. ESCANDOR Philippine Collegian Posted by Bulatlat Vol. VII, No. 50, January 27-February 2, 2008 The right to land is one of the most contested rights in Philippine history. In…