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 Southern Tagalog 