totoo namang nakakaiyak ang nangyari at patuloy na nangyayari sa sumilao farmers. malinaw ang karapatan nila to that agricultural land. kaya lang, talaga naman, iba kung dumiskarte ang big landowners tulad ni quisumbing. basta ayaw nilang mag-share, period. at ang ating gobyerno, ang ating mga presidente in particular, mas sympathetic to big landowners talaga, big contributors kasi sila to presidential campaigns? how else explain fvr’s overturning dar after the sumilao farmers had already been awarded certificates of land ownership? ang lakas lang talaga ni quisumbing, di ba?
and how else explain the findings of dar’s research team headed by the very credible arsenio balisacan, summarized by solita monsod for inquirer, that after almost two decades of the comprehensive agrarian reform program:
most private landowners, representing 82 percent of the lands that should have been given to agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs), are still holding on to their land 19 years after the law was passed.
grabe. yan ba ang rule of law? obviously, rule of law does not apply when it does not serve the interests of the ruling elite, no?
The supreme irony is that landowners, having successfully staved off the compulsory acquisition, are demanding that CARP be terminated, since it is a failure (which means they get to keep their land). It is also clear that 72 percent of the ARBs are operating their farms with one arm tied figuratively behind their backs — since they don’t have individual titles; not only are the incentive effects of ownership not present, the farmers also have difficulty getting credit and are more prone to selling their rights or abandoning their lands.
so, wonder no more kung bakit di na umasenso ang pilipinas. talagang di tayo aasenso habang ang mayayaman ay puro tipong quisumbing at san miguel foods inc. kung dumiskarte. sa kanila, what’s good for (their) business is good for the country, which is pure hogwash, um, propaganda.
most scandalizing of course is the silence of the pork fiends in congress, particularly of the senator presidentiables and vice-presidentiables. nagkakabukingan tuloy. malamang, kabilang kasi sila o may pinoprotektahan silang campaign contributors na kabilang sa BIG landowners who just refuse to give up their land in the name of social justice. social justice? not in their vocabulary.
what say mar roxas and manny villar? what say jinggoy estrada and chiz escudero? what say loren legarda and ping lacson?
what kind of opposition party is it that remains silent on agrarian reform and the sumilao farmers? parang hindi opposition, di ba? more like the other side of a bad coin.
I’ve been asking the same questions Angela. Need some exercise? Let’s march with the farmers today.
If you don’t I hope to meet you early next year. Thanks for reading my blogs and writing thoughtful comments.
Whether the farmers are right or wrong, the current culprit is the Philippine government who sat on this case for so long.
The DAR have been giving away government land for the past years. The only ones left are those owned by private individuals who have been fighting the CARP.
They spread lies and propaganda about the CARP and the ARB’s we are not asking for plain equality but equity. The culprit is the corrupt officials who allow the landowners to circumvent the law and the legislators who actually drilled the holes in the law.