RESPECT FARMERS’ HUMAN RIGHTS, EXTEND & REFORM CARP IMMEDIATELY

Partnership for Agrarian Reform andRuralDevelopment Services, Inc. [PARRDS]
No. 85-A, K10 Street. Barangay East Kamias,1102 Quezon City, PHILIPPINES
Telefax: (632) 434-7179
E-mail: parrds@skydsl.com.ph
Website: www.parrds.org

RESPECT FARMERS’ HUMAN RIGHTS, EXTEND & REFORM CARP IMMEDIATELY

The Partnership for Agrarian Reform and Rural Development Services, Inc. (PARRDS) denounces strongly the violent dispersal and manhandling of protesting farmers calling for the reform and extension of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) perpetrated by state agents — elements of the Manila Police District (MPD) and the Presidential Security Group (PSG).

A total of twenty seven (27) farmers were injured; seven (7) were women, five (5) were senior citizens. All suffered bruises, contusions and cuts inflicted by the Anti- Riot Police of the MPD on two separate rallies; February 10, 2009 at the Malacañang gate near the Executive House and yesterday’s, (February 12) mobilization at the historic Mendiola bridge.

The battered CARP beneficiaries and petitioners belong to the Task Force Mapalad (TFM), PEACE and UNORKA network. These farmer-organizations coming from Negros Occidental, Iloilo, Leyte, Oriental Negros and Southern Leyte marched towards Manila to demand to the President and Congress CARP extension with reform to include funding of its components particularly the land Tenure Improvement (LTI) and Compulsory Acquisition (CA).


Government Accountable for Human Rights Violations

PARRDS hold responsible the police for blatant violations of the civil and political rights of the poor farmers.

The right to peaceful assembly to seek or air grievances through rallies is guaranteed by the 1987 Constitution under the Bill of Rights (Art. III, Section 4). The same is clearly expressed in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and Article 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) of which the Government of the Republic of the Philippines is state party.

Because of the injuries inflicted on the farmers, the failure to exercise maximum tolerance and the absence of imminent danger to public safety and morals, the Manila Police District is liable for commission of human rights violation.

We likewise hold Congress responsible of omission for failing to pass a Bill that would extend and reform CARP thereby depriving the many poor farmers of their right to means of subsistence, standard of living and reforming the agrarian system as stipulated in Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights(ICESCR) of which the government is also a state party.


Farmers Complaint and Demands

Recent developments on CARP when it was extended for six (6) months only, to exclude the Land Acquisition & Distribution (LAD) component is unacceptable to the beneficiaries and petitioners particularly those with pending cases for resolution. This caused uncertainty among thousands of poor farmers who have pinned their hopes of someday owning the lands they till.

Recognizing that their human rights and the future of their families is in a precarious situation, they have organized themselves, with the help of the church and civil society to seek redress of their grievances through peaceful protest actions.

Following are the farmers’ demands addressed to the President forwarded and
received on February 11, 2009:

1. Re-certify HB 4077 and urge Congress to prioritize its immediate passage;

2. Urge Congress to repeal Joint Resolution # 19, which runs counter to the principles and heart of CARP – just distribution of lands to landless tillers through
Compulsory Acquisition;

3. Direct the DAR Secretary Nasser Pangandaman to revoke its Memorandum Circular deferring all land holdings in the pipeline for redistribution, be they identified under CA or problematic Voluntary Offer to Sell (VOS) or Voluntary Land Transfer (VLT). Surely, a large number of agrarian reform beneficiaries have been denied of
their rights as stipulated in the Constitution and agrarian law;

4. Subject lands of your kin in Negros Occidental under CARP. This way, other big landowners will give way and follow suit; and

5. Direct the DAR to immediately and swiftly act on all pending cases under its jurisdiction.

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“The way of peace they do not know; there is no justice in their paths. They have turned them into crooked roads; no one who walks in them will know peace.”
(Isaiah 59:8)