Rubi del Mundo
Spokesperson
Regional Chapter
Southern Mindanao
National Democratic Front of the Philippines
25 January 2017
The National Democratic Front in Southern Mindanao wholly supports the just demands of thousands of peasants presently encamped in Davao City. They braved the onslaught of flood and heavy rains to converge in Mindanao’s political center to call for food, genuine land reform and justice to be seriously addressed in the peace negotiations between the NDFP and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines. Pres. Duterte must decisively address these demands to show his seriousness to confront and dismantle feudalism, one of the pestering roots of the armed conflict.
Prime in the peasants’ demands is the enactment of genuine land reform, especially for the landless tillers of Madaum Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (MARBAI) in Madaum, Tagum City, Arakan, North Cotabato and Banarao, Tugbok District in Davao City. The farmers in these three areas are presently locked in struggle against feudal exploitation in the form of landgrabbing by the Lorenzo-owned Lapanday Foods Corp., the school reservation of Cotabato Foundation College of Science and Technology and the banana plantation DOLE, respectively. They demand a halt in the aggressive state-sanctioned expansion of agri-venture agreements that displace poor peasants from their lands and livelihood.
The peasants are also demanding food in the face of crop and livelihood loss due to calamities such as heavy rains and flooding, even as most of them have yet to recover from the damages caused by last year’s severe drought. Additionally, the peasants are resisting the continued assault against our agricultural sovereignty with the dominance of imperialist transnational and multi-national companies that for years have converted our productive lands into export-crop plantations and fettered our farmers to expensive and unsustainable crop varieties.
The peasants demand justice—justice for the many decades of feudal domination aggravated by state fascism that irrefutably resulted in the Mendiola massacre, the Hacienda Luisita massacre, the Kidapawan massacre, and many other extra-judicial killings against peasant leaders, Lumads, and activists. They oppose the newly-minted Oplan Kapayapaan which they know to be a mere rehash of the vile Oplan Bayanihan because combat and civic-military operations still pester their homes and communities despite the GPH’s much-vaunted ceasefire declaration.
The peasants’ demands are all the more meaningful as they come at the heels of the 30th year of commemoration of the Mendiola massacre, the three-decade old indictment of the reactionary government’s continuing injustice against Filipino peasants.
NDF-SMR urges all revolutionary forces and allies to take to the streets, to social media and other venues to show their unwavering support for the demands of the peasants for food, land and justice. We encourage them to especially join the peasants in their “Kampuhan” and help swell their ranks and amplify their demands.
Finally, NDF-SMR urges the Duterte government to enjoin and provide all political reinforcement to its agencies, especially the office of the Department of Agrarian Reform, the Department of Agriculture, the Commission on Higher Education and the Department of Social Welfare and Development in addressing the pressing demands of the peasants encamped in Davao City as soon as possible. It is an opportune time for his government to show its commitment and resolve in the peace process by helping the landless tillers in their decades-old struggle against feudal exploitation.
https://www.philippinerevolution.info/statements/20170125-decisive-action-on-land-issues-in-smr-will-show-pro-peasant-peace-agenda-resolve-of-duterte
Prime in the peasants’ demands is the enactment of genuine land reform, especially for the landless tillers of Madaum Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (MARBAI) in Madaum, Tagum City, Arakan, North Cotabato and Banarao, Tugbok District in Davao City. The farmers in these three areas are presently locked in struggle against feudal exploitation in the form of landgrabbing by the Lorenzo-owned Lapanday Foods Corp., the school reservation of Cotabato Foundation College of Science and Technology and the banana plantation DOLE, respectively. They demand a halt in the aggressive state-sanctioned expansion of agri-venture agreements that displace poor peasants from their lands and livelihood.
The peasants are also demanding food in the face of crop and livelihood loss due to calamities such as heavy rains and flooding, even as most of them have yet to recover from the damages caused by last year’s severe drought. Additionally, the peasants are resisting the continued assault against our agricultural sovereignty with the dominance of imperialist transnational and multi-national companies that for years have converted our productive lands into export-crop plantations and fettered our farmers to expensive and unsustainable crop varieties.
The peasants demand justice—justice for the many decades of feudal domination aggravated by state fascism that irrefutably resulted in the Mendiola massacre, the Hacienda Luisita massacre, the Kidapawan massacre, and many other extra-judicial killings against peasant leaders, Lumads, and activists. They oppose the newly-minted Oplan Kapayapaan which they know to be a mere rehash of the vile Oplan Bayanihan because combat and civic-military operations still pester their homes and communities despite the GPH’s much-vaunted ceasefire declaration.
The peasants’ demands are all the more meaningful as they come at the heels of the 30th year of commemoration of the Mendiola massacre, the three-decade old indictment of the reactionary government’s continuing injustice against Filipino peasants.
NDF-SMR urges all revolutionary forces and allies to take to the streets, to social media and other venues to show their unwavering support for the demands of the peasants for food, land and justice. We encourage them to especially join the peasants in their “Kampuhan” and help swell their ranks and amplify their demands.
Finally, NDF-SMR urges the Duterte government to enjoin and provide all political reinforcement to its agencies, especially the office of the Department of Agrarian Reform, the Department of Agriculture, the Commission on Higher Education and the Department of Social Welfare and Development in addressing the pressing demands of the peasants encamped in Davao City as soon as possible. It is an opportune time for his government to show its commitment and resolve in the peace process by helping the landless tillers in their decades-old struggle against feudal exploitation.
https://www.philippinerevolution.info/statements/20170125-decisive-action-on-land-issues-in-smr-will-show-pro-peasant-peace-agenda-resolve-of-duterte
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