Bukidnon farmers march for CARP extension

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines - Over one thousand farmers, some coming as far away as Bukidnon, converged in Cagayan de Oro City Wednesday, snarling noontime traffic and calling Congress to pass the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reforms (Carper). Braving the heat, the farmers led by the Sumilao farmers group marched from Lapasan village to the city's Kiosko Kagawasan in Divisoria. They chanted slogans "Repormang Agraryo, Ipadayon (Continue the land reform program)." As they reached Licoan junction, they waited the two groups fromthe villages of Carmen and Puntod. The groups' stay in the area caused traffic congestion, sending frantic traffic aides to the area. The march ended at Kiosko Kagawasan where the farmers opened their program with a holy mass celebrated by Fr. Jose Ramon Cabantan, director of the Cagayan de Oro Archdiocese' Social Action Center. Paul Paraguya of Balay Mindanaw, a non-government organization (NGO), said the farmers are demanding the passage of the Carper after the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (Carp) expired last June 15. He said among the reforms the farmers wanted in the new agrarian reform program are the acceleration of the land acquisition and distribution component of Carp, with automatic annual appropriation by Congress and ensure strengthened credit and support services to farmer-beneficiaries. Paraguya said the farmers are also demanding that government agencies should address problems in the implementation of land conversion and exemption, as well as the recognition of farmer-beneficiaries' legal standing in cases before judicial and quasi-judicial tribunals involving their land. "Kinahanglan nga atong pagaduolan ang atong mga congressmen ug senators bahin sa pagpasa niini kay duha ka semana na lang ra ba mag recess na ang kongreso (We need to seek our congressmen and senators' support for the passage of the bill because there are two weeks left before Congress goes on recess)," Paraguya said. Elgine Merida of the Sumilao farmers said they joined fellow farmers in calling for reforms in the Carp implementation. "We joined the call of our fellow farmers across the country for the extension and reform of Carp because we could only find full meaning in our victory of having reclaimed our 144 hectares if the remaining landholdings shall be distributed to the other farmers," Merida told Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro. The Sumilao farmers won nationwide sympathy when they walk a thousand kilometers across the country to demand that San Miguel Corporation give back 144 hectares of their land in Sumilao, Bukidnon province early this year. San Miguel, Asia's biggest brewery corporation, finally relented and gave the farmers the land in Sumilao. Mayor Constantino Jaraula met the farmers at the Kagawasan Kiosk and urged them to plant high value crops to augment their income and practice proper land management. Jaraula was the only government official who came to greet the farmers in the city. The farmers earlier invited Misamis Oriental Governor Oscar Moreno, Senators Aquilino Pimentel, Jr. and Juan Miguel Zubiri and Representatives Rufus Rodriguez and Rolando Uy, but all of them did not show up Wednesday. Meanwhile, a militant lawmaker called on marching farmers not to pin too much hopes on the extension of the "pro-landlord" Carp to own the lands. "The Filipino peasantry has nothing to lose without the bogus Carp," according to Anakpawis Representative Rafael Mariano, author of House Bill 3059 or the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill pending at the House of Representatives. "It is high-time to debunk this ultra-conservative and pacifist thinking that 'it is better to extend Carp than having no land reform program at all. Even without the bogus Carp, the peasants' struggle for genuine agrarian reform will continue and, in fact, steadily advance in the countryside," he said in a statement emailed to Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro. The Carp, which was extended for another 10 years in 1998, expired last June 15 after Congress failed to pass House Bill 4077 seeking another five-year extension. - Sun.Star CDO