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THE
Sumilao farmers who continue to fight for the ownership
of the former Quisumbing property in barangay San
Vicente, Sumilao, Bukidnon, met with Catholic bishops at
the Pope Pius XII building in Manila yesterday to
convince the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the
Philippines (CBCP) to take a more active role in the
struggle for agrarian reform.
Together
with agrarian-reform advocates belonging to
Kilos-Agrarian Reform, the Sumilao farmers joined
thousands of farmers in commemorating the 21st
anniversary of the Mendiola massacre that led to the
tragic death of 13 farmers when soldiers, augmenting the
police security blocking the protesters, fired at them.
Rene
Peñas, farmer-paralegal of the Sumilao farmers, said
that as farmers push for the implementation of “genuine”
agrarian reform, they have to remember the martyrs who
were killed in the struggle.
The
farmers who died in Mendiola 21 years ago and other
farmers who were martyred for agrarian reform, he said,
serve as an inspiration to them in their quest for their
own land and in struggling for a genuine agrarian-
reform law.
“We are
faced today with the challenge of reforming the
agrarian-reform law, which will lapse in the middle of
the year. Landlords will surely seek to let the
agrarian-reform law lapse out of existence and keep
their lands. This calls for all farmers’ organizations
and agrarian-reform advocates to be united to fight for
agrarian reform,” Peñas said.
He said
the Sumilao farmers were part of the group of
agrarian-reform advocates who drafted HB 1257 sponsored
by Akbayan party-list Rep. Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel.
The bill
seeks not just the mere extention of CARP but also
introduces critical reforms to plug the loopholes of the
current law.
Napoleon
Merida Jr., president of the San Vicente Landless
Farmers Association, said they were scheduled to meet
the members of the CBCP to present their story.
The
Sumilao farmers’ dramatic 1,700-kilometer “Walk for
Justice” last year was supported by the bishops, who
sheltered the farmers all throughout their march from
Bukidnon to Manila.
“Today
our representatives will stand before the CBCP to tell
our story; it is our hope that [with] our story,
together with the stories of other farmers struggling
for agrarian reform, we can convince the bishops to take
a more active role in the struggle for agrarian reform.
We know that the Church is an active advocate for social
justice, that is why we are confident that they will be
moved by the stories of injustices and struggles and
will work side by side with the people to ensure social
justice will take its course,” Merida said.
The
Sumilao farmers have been visiting campuses and parishes
around the national capital to talk with students and
parishioners about their case.
After
being awarded their certificate of land ownership
awards, the Sumilao farmers lost their right to the land
when then-executive secretary Ruben Torres issued an
order converting the 155-hectare agricultural land owned
by the Quisumbing family into an agroindustrial land.
The Supreme Court later affirmed the legality of the
conversion order.
However,
the Quisumbing family sold the land to San Miguel Foods
Inc. and is in the process of turning it into a hog farm
with state-of-the-art facility, allegedly in violation
of the provisions of the conversion order, which
prompted Malacañang to revoke it.
The
Sumilao farmers are now asking the Department of
Agrarian Reform to place back the disputed property
under Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program coverage and
demanded that it be distributed to farmer-beneficiaries. |
