TACLOBAN CITY—Hundreds of farmers and fishermen on Thursday gathered in the city to dramatize their demand for help after the 2013 Super Typhoon “Yolanda” flattened their houses and livelihood.
Dubbed as “Dignity” caravan, survivors from Leyte and Samar provinces reiterated their appeal on rights to land, food, shelter, coconut levy fund, and full recovery more than two years after Super Typhoon “Yolanda” damaged their sources of income.
“This is to reclaim our life with dignity which was started with a march from Sariaya to Manila. This is because we are ignored by the government,” said Dhon Daganasol, spokesman of the 5,000 strong members of farmer group Katarungan in Eastern Visayas.
“We hope to create enough noise around their issues,” he added.
During the caravan, protesters towed a small banca filled with Certificate of Land Ownership Award or CLOAs and other farm products to dramatize their struggle.
Claro Pasion, national chairperson of Katarungan, said that over 14,000 CLOAs have remained undistributed to Leyte farmers, causing the delay and deprivation of assistance during Yolanda.
He then demanded a full audit of CLOAs’ distribution from the Department of Agrarian Reform in the region on the said issue.
Pasion enjoined the call for the government to investigate the poor and anomalous implementation of the agrarian reform CARPER in Leyte which, according to him, resulted in thousands of undistributed CLOAs, deprivation of tenants’ rights, land grabbing and human rights violations in many parts of the province.