BMFI

Jan. 23 update:
Sumilao farmers hold vigil in support of CARP reform and extension

The Sumilao farmers momentarily put a hold on their walk to school campuses and parishes around Metro Manila today to hold a vigil in front of the Pope Pius XII Catholic Center where the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) is holding its plenary assembly. A representative of the Sumilao farmers was invited to speak in the session of the bishops yesterday. The Sumilao farmers said that they were inspired and encouraged by the Catholic bishops who last year issued a pastoral statement on The Dignity of the Rural Poor.

According to Rene Peñas, a leader of the Sumilao farmers, the bishops have shown concern on the situation of rural poverty in the Philippines and had in fact called for the completion of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) before the law will lapse in the middle of this year. He added that the CBCP statement as early as last year called for the extension and “improvement” of the agrarian reform law. “We are the rural poor. Our faces are the faces of the rural poor. We are encouraged and inspired by the concern of the bishops towards people like us and we want to show them that they are giving us hope. That is why we will hold a vigil here” Peñas.

The Sumilao farmers also learned that the bishops will meet legislators from both the House of Representatives and the Senate this morning to discuss agrarian reform. Peñas said that they will also enjoin these legislators to immediately respond to the call of the CBCP for the extension and reform of the CARP law. “The DAR said that 1.3 million hectares of agricultural land remains untouched by the CARP. We call on the legislators to ensure that Notices of Coverage be issued on these lands to begin the process of distribution. If the Sumilao farmers, who had won the revocation of the conversion order in our land still have to push heaven and earth to get a Notice of Coverage, the farmer beneficiaries of other lands are in a more difficult situation” Peñas said.

Hilda San-ahan and Linda Ligmon said that they also want to meet again the 19 bishops who have supported them in the 2-month walk to Manila late last year to update them on the developments in their case. “We want the bishops to know how thankful we are for the continued support and we want to let them know what has become of our walk” Ligmon said. Manang Hilda said that they will also reach out to the other bishops whom they have not yet met to personally thank them for the concern that the Church has shown them. “Our struggle is still far from over. We stand face to face with a giant corporation – San Miguel Corporation and the government seemed to have abandoned its promise of returning us to our land. We want the bishops to know that.” San-ahan said.

Atty. Arlene Bag-ao, legal counsel of the Sumilao farmers said that they still have not received their copy of the petitions filed by Quisumbing in the Supreme Court and by SMFI in the Office of the President. “We cannot comment or respond to anything that we have not yet read. We continue to call on the Office of the President and the Secretary of the DAR to stop making these legal dilatory tactics a reason not to act on the revocation order and on their promise to return the land to the farmers. “We still have a pending petition for the issuance of a cease and desist order that the Office have to address. That petition is almost 4 years old and we have reiterated our petition time and again but the government remains silent on the cease and desist order” Bag-ao said.