Farmers hold ‘cleansing ritual’ for anti-CARP solon Carla Gomez Visayas Bureau
February 01, 2008
BACOLOD CITY, Philippines -- Protesting farmers burned incense, lighted candles and offered a chicken as sacrifice in front of a congressman's house here as a way to "drive away evil spirits" which they say are against the agrarian reform program's extension.
About 1,000 members of the Task Force Mapalad conducted the "cleansing ritual" on Thursday in front of the house of Bacolod Representative Monico Puentevella who they alleged has opposed the extension of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).
The ritual was one of the activities that capped the four-day "Walk for Land Reform and Justice," which was participated in by TFM peasant-members from the different towns and cities in Negros Occidental.
TFM-Negros president Jose Rodito Angeles said Puentevella, along with Representatives Ignacio Arroyo and Jeffrey Ferrer, (Negros Occidental, 5th and 4th District, respectively) favor the extension of the CARP program only for the production of bio-ethanol.
"We do not question this as long as the lands are distributed so that we will earn whatever income it will generate," Angeles said.
If the congressmen are against the extension of the CARP program, they are not listening to the real voice of the people, he said.
They offered burnt incense, which symbolizes the cleansing of oneself, and lighted candles, symbolic of enlightenment, so that those in the government will be guided to do what is right, Angeles said.
Puentevella said he favored the extension of the CARP program but it must be reviewed first.
He said he has authored House Resolution No. 179, which directs the appropriate House Committee to inquire into the need to extend the land reform program, and House Bill No 1868, which seeks to strengthen the implementation of the CARP.
Puentevella said H.B. No. 1868 would provide farmer-beneficiaries more rights to maximize the benefits they can derive from the land awarded to them.
It would also allow CARP beneficiaries to use their Certificate of Land Ownership Award as collateral for loans with which to pay for agricultural inputs and other things that will help them increase their harvests, he said.
The farmer's protest action was preceded by a Mass at the San Sebastian Cathedral where the farmers spent Wednesday night after their march.
After the Mass, the farmers went to the Provincial Agrarian Reform Office in Dawis where they called on Agrarian Reform officer Teresita Depeñoso.
They urged Depeñoso to immediately issue a certification that would place all private agricultural lands, especially the Arroyo property in Hacienda Bacan, under CARP to hasten their coverage by the program.
