Hacienda Bacan tillers
court CBCP's help

ARMED with white roses, guitars and modulated voices, almost 20 farmers from First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo's Hacienda Bacan in Negros Occidental yesterday serenaded the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines in Intramuros, Manila to appeal for the prelates' support in their bid to reclaim the 157-hectare land.

Task Force Mapalad leader Renato Garay said the farmers see the CBCP as the only institution capable of convincing the landowners to agree to land distribution. "We face great odds because the landowner is related to President Arroyo and therefore, is very powerful. We want the Catholic bishops to help arrange a dialogue between us and the President," Garay said.

In their two-page letter addressed to CBCP president Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, the farmers said Hacienda Bacan remains undistributed to farmer-beneficiaries until now despite President Arroyo's order in 2001 to have the land covered by CARP. The letter was received by CBCP Secretary General Msgr. Juanito Figura, who assured farmers that the letter will be brought to Lagdameo.

The farmers took a break from their campout outside the Department of Agrarian Reform office in Quezon City, which has been going on for 22 days now, for the brief visit to the CBCP office.

Lagdameo had urged DAR officials last Tuesday to level the playing field in implementing the land reform program by not excluding the Arroyo estates.

DAR, meanwhile, expressed skepticism over House Bill 3059, or the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill (GARB) being pushed by militant farmers belonging to the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas as a replacement for CARP.

"It is not tenable, in a democratic setting. Of course, everyone has rights, there are several stakeholders here, not only farmers, there are also landowners," DAR Secretary Nasser Pangandaman said.

He said GARB basically involves getting lands without remuneration from their owners and distributing these to farmers without payment. "In other words, the mode is confiscatory. Without compensation, GARB is not tenable in the country," Pangandaman said.

Some 70 farmers, farm-workers and fisherfolks represented by KMP, Unyon ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) and the Samahan at Ugnayan ng Magsasaka at Mamamayan sa Calatagan (SUMAMACA), Claimants 2000, and the Haligi ng Batanguenong Anakdagat (HABAGAT) planted rice in front of DAR's gates yesterday to demonstrate the link between CARP's supposed failure and the current rice supply crisis.