"Demand justice for those who were killed, but do not muddle the issue."
I remember growing up to movies inspired by real-life gangsters who, instead of being abhorred, ended up being idolized by the people for toeing a Robin Hood-like life, that is, robbing the rich and then distributing the loot among the poor.
This just came to my mind after reading the news story on the Sagay incident and the fate that befell nine farmers, which included minors.
According to the report, the nine were shot to death by still-unidentified armed men after a group of famers led by National Federation of Sugar Workers tried to occupy a piece of land, the 75-hectare Hacienda Nene in Barangay Bulanon in Sagay City, under its Bungkalan Campaign.
The group had sought to replicate other Bungkalan activities in other parts of the country wherein the farmers successfully took over some piece of land from big landlords in other parts of the country.
And it is not only the farmers who have been resorting to this kind of action. The urban poor group Kadamay had also launched a series of occupation activities on some government housing projects intended for other beneficiaries.
However, the Sagay Act not only failed but proved to be fatal and now the Left is blaming the government for the killing of the nine farmers.
This is a bit of overstretching on their part. They would not stop blaming the foul-mouthed president.
First of all, who would, in his right mind, willingly give up ownership of his property to anyone?
I’m not saying killing those farmers who tried to forcibly take over Hacienda Nene did the right thing. However way you look at it, it is wrong. Whoever perpetrated that must be punished.
Still, that occupy activity was out of line and it elicited a horrendous reaction from the property owners or whoever deployed those armed men.
And where was their Robin Hood-like leader who egged them to such kind of illegal activity? Nowhere to be found. In fact, he could never ever compare with that of Robin Hood because he egged the farmers to occupy a piece of property owned by not-so-rich individuals—from those coming from the middle class at the most.
In condemning the killing of the nine farmers, Agrarian Reform Secretary John Castriciones said the land holdings were not covered under the CARP in 1988 due to the fact that each of the land owners of the hacienda owned less than the allowable ownership ceiling of five hectares for land owners.
Castriciones, while stressing DAR had always pushed for the peaceful resolution of land disputes between landowners and farmers through dialogues and mediation meetings, pointed out that the farmers entered the premises of Hacienda Nene with no legal basis for occupation or ownership.
Nonetheless, Castriciones directed the central, regional and provincial agrarian reform offices to immediately look into the incident. The DAR secretary added that he would form a task force comprising of DAR and the CARP-implementing agencies and he call for an emergency meeting of the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council executive committee to look into the issue.
It is not only Castriciones’ office which is seeking a probe on the incident. Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra announced that the National Bureau of Investigation will step in to join investigations into the Sagay incident.
The Philippine National Police, which had started its own investigation, has even put up a P500,000 reward for information that would lead to the arrest of the gunmen.
And yet the Left, which instigated the act, insists on blaming the government. Why? Because it cannot gain public sympathy for their occupy adventurism as this time, they were not “robbing the rich to distribute the loot among poor” but from someone who’s just a little well off than those farmers.
Blame the government for implementing the law which was conceptualized and nurtured by the very same people the Left is in cahoots now?
The CARP Law, which set the ceiling of land ownership at five hectares, was enacted by the Cory administration. The equally-anomalous CARP with Extension and Reforms or CARPER, was authored and pushed by lawmakers with whom the Left has opted to align itself now.
It is only right to demand justice for those who were killed. But it is not right to muddle the issue.