March 3, 2009

A CALL ON PRESIDENT ARROYO TO FACE THE FARMERS IN A DIALOGUE

(Statement of Task Force Mapalad on farmer-led multi-sector march to Malacañang)

Today the farmers from Negros Occidental, along with farmers from Sumilao in Bukidnon and from Banasi in Camarines Sur, backed by groups and individuals from the religious and civil society sectors, are marching again on Mendiola Bridge near Malacañang to call for the nth time on President Arroyo to face the farmers in a dialogue and listen to their demands.

One of these demands is to ensure the immediate passage of a law extending Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) with reforms, as embodied in House Bill No. 4077 and Senate Bill No. 2666. We do not expect Congress, especially the House of Representatives dominated by landowning legislators, to pass a true CARP extension law. We have seen in the past the kind of agrarian reform measure that they tried to propose through the Villafuerte bill—a measure that would actually kill CARP and benefit the big landowners.

President Arroyo had already certified the CARP extension bills as urgent. We hope that she did not just go through the motion of certifying them for political expediency. We hope she was sincere in wanting to extend CARP. But that sincerity we still have to see. We want President Arroyo to compel her allies in Congress to pass the two proposed bills. CARP’s fate is in her hands. At this point, only she could ensure the passage of the CARP extension law.

For the Negros farmers, President Arroyo had made promises that she had not fulfilled. She promised in 2001 to distribute some 1,000 hectares of Arroyo-owned landholdings. Today, more than 500 hectares of the promised landholdings have not been distributed. These landholdings are pending under CARP.

The 157-hectare Hacienda Bacan in Barangay Guintubhan, Isabela, a conjugal property of the First Couple, has been paid for by the government in the amount of P42 million and a certificate of landownership award (CLOA) has been generated by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in July last year in the name of the 68 farmer-beneficiaries of the hacienda, but registration of the CLOA had been resisted by the Bacolod City Register of Deeds and the Land Registration Authority because of pressure from Mike Arroyo.

Mr. Arroyo had filed an injunction before the Regional Trial Court Branch 63 of La Carlota City against registration of the CLOA. The RTC, which under Section 55 of Republic Act No. 667 has no jurisdiction over the case, had issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) last February 2. Mr. Arroyo goes a long way to violate the law to prevent the distribution of Hacienda Bacan, which in the first place was placed under CARP coverage through voluntary offer to sell (VOS) scheme.

We ask a question: Is it true that, according to grapevine sources inside DAR, Mr. Arroyo was resisting the distribution of his hacienda because his son Rep. Mikey Arroyo wanted to inherit it? We hope it is not.

In July last year, following a lightning rally of Negros farmers in front of Malacañang, President Arroyo made an official announcement that Hacienda Bacan would be distributed. That promise remains unfulfilled. We have repeatedly urged President Arroyo to order the Register of Deeds of Bacolod City or the LRA to register the CLOA of Bacan beneficiaries. LRA Administrator Benedicto Ulep is her appointee and would readily obey her order even if Ulep is a close friend of her husband. President Arroyo never responded to our call.

Hoping against hope that President Arroyo is still capable of listening to the grievances of the farmers, which her administration had grossly neglected, we are marching to Mendiola Bridge to seek an audience with her. She knew from the very start that we are here. She had sent anti-riot policemen to disperse us last February 17. Now the religious and other civil society groups have joined us in appealing to her to listen to our demands and to take appropriate action.

WE URGE THE PRESIDENT, FACE US AND LISTEN! JOIN US IN CORRECTING SOCIAL INJUSTICE!