Panaghoy ng mga Magsasaka

24 Pebrero 2009

Panaghoy ng mga Magsasaka
Pinakikinggan ng Diyos ang Panaghoy ng mga Dukha
God Hears the Cries of the Poor
(cf. Exodus 3, 7-9)

Minamahal naming mga kababayan at kapatid sa pananampalataya,

Kami ay mahigit na isang libong magsasaka mula sa iba’t-ibang lalawigan ng Mindanao, Visayas at Luzon na narito ngayon upang ihinga sa mga namumuno sa atin ang aming mga problema sa lupa, kapayapaan sa kanayunan, at karapatan sa pagkain.

Ginawa na namin ang lahat ng aming makakaya upang ipatupad at patuloy
na itaguyod ang Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reform (CARPER). Naglakad kami, nakipagdayalogo, nagkampo at noong Disyembre 2008
nag-hunger strike kami sa Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) at sa Kongreso para pansinin ang aming panaghoy ng mga kongresista. Ngunit maliban sa tatlo sa kanila, walang sinuman sa amin ang pumansin at nakinig.

Sa halip, ipinasa nila ang isang walang kakuwenta-kuwentang Joint Resolution 19. Ang Joint Resolution (JR) 19 ay naglalaan ng anim (6) na buwang extension sa CARP subalit ang pamamahagi ng lupa ay boluntaryo at hindi maipipilit sa maylupa. Sa kasalukuyan, may humigit kumulang na 1.3M ektarya pa ng pribadong lupain ang hindi pa nasasakop ng repormang pang-agraryo kaya kung boluntaryo ang pamamahagi hindi na kailanman maipapamahagi pa ang mga lupaing ito sa mga magsasaka. Ito ay taliwas sa tunay na diwa ng repormang pang-agraryo. Kamakailan po lamang ay ipinasa na naman ang isang mapaniil na batas sa Committee on Constitutional Amendments ng mga kongresista. Ito ang HR 737 na nagbibigay ng ganap na karapatan sa mga dayuhan na makapag-ari ng mga lupaing sakahan. Ang ibig sabihin nito kapag ang dayuhan ang may-ari ng ating mga taniman at sakahan, manganganib ang seguridad ng ating pagkain at kaunlaran.

Kaya ang panaghoy ng magsasaka ay panawagan nating lahat. Katulad ng JR 19, ito ay isa na namang paglabag sa ating Konstitusyon at isang mariing sampal sa aming mga maralitang magsasaka. Wala po itong saysay at hindi po ito ang kailangan namin.

Sa panahon ng mapayapang pagpepetisyon ng mga magsasaka para sa CARP mula 2001-2002, may 483 kasong paglabag sa karapatang pantao na nai-dokumento. Mayroong 19,800 na mga magsasaka na nabiktima ng iba’t ibang anyo ng karahasang pantao. May 48 na magsasaka ang pinatay ng mga pinaghihinalaang mga tauhan ng mga panginoong maylupa at mga armadong grupo.

Nagpapasalamat kami sa mga obispo, pari at relihiyoso sampu ng mga layko na sumang-ayon sa amin at umagapay sa lahat ng aming mga lakarin, nag-hunger strike, nanawagan ng suporta, nakipagdayalogo sa kinauukulan, kumupkop, nag-aruga at nagpakain sa amin, at naglaan ng aming masisilungan.

Kami ay nananawagan sa Presidente Gloria Macapagal Arroyo na:

1. Ipagwalang bisa ang Joint Resolution 19 at HB 737.
2. Isusog ang muling pagpapairal sa HB 4077 bilang Batas Pang-Agraryo.
3. Mabilis na paglilitis at pagbibigay ng katarungan sa mga kaso ng paglabag sa katarungang pantao at pagbibigay proteksiyon sa tuloy-tuloy na reporma sa lupa.

Kaya po, mga kapatid sa pananampalataya ang aming pag-asa ay nasa inyong suporta at pagtulong. Harinawa, damayan po ninyo kami at tulungan sa aming mga pangangailangan tulad ng bigas, tubig, pagkain, kumot, tsinelas at gamot habang kami ay patuloy sa aming pananawagan. Kami po ay inyong puntahan sa Caritas at handa po kaming magbahagi ng aming mga karanasan at buhay sa diwa ng Semana Santa.

Sa ika-3 ng Marso 2009, iniimbitahan po namin kayo sa isang misa na
gaganapin sa UST at isang lakaran ng pagrorosaryo mula sa UST hanggang Mendiola upang ipahatid sa Presidente Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ang mga panawagang ito. Sa atin pong lakaran, ang bawa’t dekada ng rosaryo ay may panalangin ng iba’t-ibang sektor sapagkat ang lahat ng ating kasalukuyang problema ay magkakaugnay. Naniniwala po kami at nananampalataya na ang Poong Diyos Nating Mahal ang magpupuno ng aming mga kahinaan, kasalatan at mga kakulangan.

“Ipinakita niya ang lakas ng kanyang bisig, ipinagtabuyan ang mga taong may maapagmataas na balak, pinatalsik niya sa luklukan ang mga makapangyarihan, itinampok naman ang mga bale wala. Binusog niya ng mabubuting bagay ang mga nagugutom at itinaboy namang walang wala ang mayayaman. Nilingap niya ang bayan na kanyang lingkod, inalaala ang kanyang awa ayon sa ipinangako niya sa ating mga ninuno… magpakailanman.” (Lucas 1: 51-55)


DUTA PARA SA MANGUNGUMA
(LUPA PARA SA MAGSASAKA)

ANG SA INYO’Y UMAASA,

JOSE RODITO ANGELES
Task Force Mapalad

ENRIQUE TAYO
Negros Federation of Farmers Association
(NOFFA) / UNORKA-Pilipinas

Sen. Pimentel speaks against Feb 12 dispersal

Press Release
February 17, 2009

WHY WERE FARMERS VIOLENTLY DISPERSED
DURING PEACEFUL RALLY ON MENDIOLA?

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today assailed Malacañang for ordering law enforcers to violently disperse farmers who were peacefully rallying on Mendiola street instead of allowing them to air their legitimate grievances directly before President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Pimentel said some 500 landless farmers from Negros Oriental, Negros Occidental, Leyte and Iloilo staged a protest rally on Mendiola, the gateway to the Palace, on Thursday to press for the enactment of a new law that will address the inadequacies of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) and to ask for the redistribution of the Arroyo landholdings in Negros Occidental.

For more on the press release, please visit: http://senate.gov.ph/press_release/2009/0217_pimentel1.asp

STATEMENT OF CONDEMNATION for the Inhuman and Violent Dispersal of Farmers in Mendiola

STATEMENT OF CONDEMNATION
For the Inhuman and Violent Dispersal of Farmers in Mendiola
on the Eve of February 12


“Defend the weak and the poor.
Maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.” Psalms 82:3



We, Jose Rodito Angeles, president of Task Force Mapalad (TFM) and Enrique Tayo, chairman of Negros Occidental Federation of Farmers Associations (NOFFA) and National Council Member of Pambansang Ugnayan ng mga Lokal na Organisasyon sa Kanayunan (UNORKA), issue this statement of condemnation on behalf of more than 500 farmers hailing from the provinces of Negros Occidental, Leyte, Southern Leyte and Iloilo.
 
We denounce in the strongest of terms the inhumane and violent dispersal by anti-riot policemen of our ranks last night at the foot of Malacanang in Mendiola.
 
The farmers were on their knees saying rosary when the anti-riot policemen charged. At every blow of whistle from Col. Jimmy Tiu, the policemen would make a step forward and make an audible sound of their shields striking the ground. Seeing that the farmers lay prostrate, looked unfazed and were not moving, the firemen trained water cannons on them, while the anti-riot policemen used truncheons to hit backs and knock heads and metal shields to smash the feet and legs of farmers, rendering them helpless on the ground. The assailants knew no age and gender.
 
The farmers withstood the torment for almost an hour. Several farmers lost consciousness. Their companions who tried to retrieve them were met with greater violence by the anti-riot policemen. Although a few of assailants were seen backing out and breaking down to tears, many of them appeared to indulge in what they were doing.
 
Never have we imagined that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo would allow this kind of inhumanity and barbarianism among the so-called peace-keeping forces. We all came to Mendiola in hopes that we would get her reply to our letter, which we sent her the other day.

In the said letter, we asked her to: a) re-certify House Bill 4077 and urge Congress to prioritize its immediate passage, b) urge Congress to reconsider Joint Resolution #19, which runs counter to the principles and heart of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) – just distribution of lands to landless tillers through compulsory acquisition, c) direct the Department of Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman to revoke his Memorandum Circular deferring all landholdings in the pipeline for redistribution, d) make true her promise to subject lands of Arroyo lands in Negros Occidental under CARP, and e) direct the DAR to immediately and swiftly act on all pending cases under its jurisdiction.

We were told that there was already a reply. Eager in anticipation, we remained in our place and waited for that letter of reply to land in our hands. After waiting for more than seven hours, no letter landed in our hands but the steel-like flow of water, wooden truncheons, and fiberglass shields on our heads, faces, torsos, and feet.

Today, we speak before the press and the public nursing our wounds and bearing with our pains, physically and psychologically. In so doing, we cannot help but wonder whether these wounds and pains are the very reply from the President. And those dreaded objects – water cannons, truncheons, and shields – were the media she used to write it. We also wonder whether the faces of the assailants were themselves her face.

This we say to the President: If you think your administration can stop the farmers’ campaign for reforms and social justice through repression and violence, then, you are on the wrong side of history. For history is on our side. Our forefathers made history by resisting repression, by marching to Mendiola. Last night's action is part of history in the making.
 
God is, indeed, also on our side. God is against evil, against oppression of the poor. And truth to tell, we have been awestruck by the significant support we have been gaining from the Church. We draw our inspiration from them as we remember the travails that our forefathers or the previous generation of farmers went through in their fight for land reform.

Church is for the poor. God, in whose image we were created, makes history.

We earnestly appeal to other groups and sectors who love peace based on freedom and justice. Please join us in this campaign for CARP extension with meaningful reforms, all for authentic agrarian reform and rural development towards a progressive Philippines.

March with us. Pray with us. Lobby Malacanang and Congress with us.

This is not only the landless and poor farmers' battle. This is the people's.


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