THE militant Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas on Tuesday said the distribution of lands in Hacienda Luisita should go beyond the confines of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program that is limiting the possibilities and ways on how to fairly distribute the lands to its rightful beneficiaries.
“Like what we have been asserting for the past 12 years since the gruesome massacre of peasants of Hacienda Luisita, only genuine land reform can address the perennial problem of land monopoly in the hacienda,” says KMP Secretary General Antonio Flores.
Flores said the “ongoing contradiction and political division” among groups inside Hacienda Luisita beneficiaries is the handiwork of the Cojuangcos using the very same sham CARP.”
“CARP is a total failure. It will never be effective in providing the legal framework for a truly redistributive land distribution that is based on social justice,” the peasant leader said.
“We call on the Department of Agrarian Reform [DAR] and Luisita farmer-beneficiaries to go beyond the legalities and explore other ways on how to distribute Hacienda Luisita lands in the swiftest way possible. Farmers have waited for decades, blood was spilled and many lives were sacrificed for the life and death struggle in Luisita. Justice is long overdue,” Flores said.
The KMP leader also urged Luisita farmers and farmworkers to relentlessly campaign for genuine land reform that is supportive of free land distribution.
“Hacienda Luisita farmers should muster the strength and unity under the call for a genuine land reform. Farmers should resist and counter the Cojuangco-Aquinos continuing maneuver to maintain control over the lands,” Flores said.
“Land distribution beyond the confines of the sham CARP is the only way to break land monopoly in Hacienda Luisita and other vast landholdings,” the KMP leader said.
Hacienda Luisita lands can be distributed for free to enable poor peasants, farmworkers and peasants in the lower to middle tier uplift their economic and social conditions.
In the distribution of land, the principle of equity can be applied based on the following considerations: the total labor power of the beneficiary family or household; the quality and location of the land, and the type amount of land available for distribution in the area; the size of crop to be planted.
“Farm collectives and cooperatives can also be set up in Luisita to promote agrarian reform and raise all agriculture-related production,” Flores said.
“Farmworkers in Hacienda Luisita have been engaged in land cultivation activities or bungkalan since 2006. Mechanisms on how to effectively distribute and cultivate the lands accordingly can be derived from their best and most effective practices,” Flores concluded.