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.”