GABRIELA BANNERS FLY HIGH IN PEASANT MARCH TO MENDIOLA FOR FOOD, LAND AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

The week-long peasant march for food, land and social justice led by the Kalipunan ng Samahang Magbubukid sa Timog Katagalugan (KASAMA-TK) culminated yesterday with peasant organizations from Central and Northern Luzon as well as the militant groups from Metro Manila, holding protest a few meters away from the historic Mendiola Bridge.

They commemorated the Mendiola Massacre that killed 13 peasants who were among protesters calling for genuine land reform. It had been 21 years since then and the demands of the peasants remain.

Gabriela Southern Tagalog Secretary General Helen Asdolo insisted there have been no changes despite the so-called land-reform program that has been in place since the Aquino regime.

“Those who till the land remain landless. Certificates of land ownerships were distributed then revoked. Peasants were forced to pay steep rates for the land that is rightfully theirs in the first place. Over twenty years of this sham land reform program, tens of thousands of hectares have remained in the hands of big landowners.”

Leona Entena, Gabriela Women’s Party vice chairperson for Luzon meanwhile expressed support for House Bill 3059 or the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill in Congress. “We call on members of the House of Representatives to support this bill. We will continue to march, lobby and gather signatures for this measure that will finally give land to the landless.”

LAKBAYANIS ARRIVE IN METRO MANILA TO COMMEMORATE EDSA II, MENDIOLA MASSACRE

Protesters from the Southern Tagalog provinces of Laguna, Quezon, Rizal, Cavite and Batangas arrived in Metro Manila on the fifth day of the Lakbayan, in time for the commemoration of EDSA II, the popular uprising that led to the ouster of former President Joseph Estrada.

The protest dubbed as “Lakbayan para sa Pagkain, Lupa at Hustisyang Panlipunan” or the March for Food, Land and Social Justice, started last January 16 in Batangas successfully held protest in front of the Ninoy Aquino Monument in Makati and the Edsa Shrine along EDSA and Ortigas Avenue.

Protesters decried the failure of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program and pushed for the alternative legislation filed in Congress by partylist groups Anakpawis, Gabriela and Bayan Muna.

Gabriela Southern Tagalog secretary general Helen Asdolo said there is no reason for the Arroyo administration to extend the CARP as this will only give landlords like the Cojuangcos and the Reyeses of Quezon another opportunity to consolidate their haciendas and their landholdings.

Women peasants join the call for the implementation of genuine agrarian reform that will give landless peasants the opportunity to finally own the land that they have tilled for generations.

The Southern Tagalog delegation of the Lakbayan is set to hold protests today at the National Housing Authority and the Department of National Defense. A solidarity gathering and cultural night will be held tonight at the Department of Agrarian Reform. The Lakbayan culminates tomorrow in a march to Mendiola to commemorate the 21st year of the Mendiola Massacre.

WOMEN MARCH IN WEEK-LONG LAKBAYAN FOR GENUINE LAND REFORM

Women from the Southern Tagalog provinces are set to join the week-long peasant march to Manila to bolster calls for genuine land reform as well as an end to the intensified militarization in the region that has driven peasant families away from their land.

“The failure of the Philippine government’s land reform program, from the time of Presidents Aquino, Ramos, Estrada and now, Arroyo has prompted generations of peasant families, including mothers and daughters, to call for an end to this sham land reform program. The lack of a genuine land reform program has intensified the poverty and heightened the vulnerability of peasant women to violence.”

Gabriela Southern Tagalog also expressed support for House Bill 3059 filed by militant partylist representatives from Anakpawis, Bayan Muna and Gabriela Women’s Party, which will ensure the implementation of a genuine land reform program.

The Lakbayan which kicks off from Batangas City today is led by the Kalipunan ng mga Samahang Magsasaka sa Timog Katagalugan (KASAMA-TK) and is set to arrive in Metro Manila by the 19th. Protesters will be setting camp at the Department of Agrarian Reform before joining the annual commemoration of the Mendiola Massacre on January 22.

January 16- Start of Lakbayan at Batangas

January 18- “Salubong” with Bicol delegation at Crossing, Calamba City, Laguna

January 19- (7:00 am) Lakbayan to Manila

January 19- (3:00 pm) “Salubong” with NCR delegation at Alabang

January 19- (7:00 pm) Cultural Night at the REdemptorist Church, Baclaran

January 20- (10:00 am) Picket protest against militarization at Department of National Defense, Camp Aguinaldo

January 20- March to Department of Agrarian Reform

January 22- Mendiola Massacre commemoration

GABRIELA-ST NOW ONLINE

Gabriela Southern Tagalog, the regional arm of the Philippines’ biggest and militant women’s alliance is now online!

The Gabriela Southern Tagalog blog will give the online audience updates on the Filipino women’s struggles in the region covering the provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon, Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan.

This blog will also allow easy access to statements coming from Gabriela chapters in the Southern Tagalog region.

More updates and changes to come as we develop this site further.