MikeLigalig.com

 Malacañang security were caught by surprise when some 20 farmers staged a lighting rally at the Palace Tuesday.

At around 10:15 a.m., the farmers of Task Force Mapalad (TFM) assembled in front of the New Executive Building, near the main Palace building where a Cabinet meeting would be held at 11:00 a.m.

Wearing only jeans, the farmers held placards and chanted "Ipamahagi lupa ng Arroyo [Distribute the Arroyo lands]." Slogans expressing their opposition to ethanol planting and calling on President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to give them their lands were also painted in red on their bare chests.

Lani Factor of TFM said the farmers have been camping out at the Department of Agrarian Reform building in Quezon City since April 17.

She said they were able to get into the Palace complex by boarding the jeepney to Malacañang.

She said that eight years ago, the President promised to distribute some 1,000 hectares of land owned by First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

However, Factor pointed out that of the original five or six Arroyo haciendas, three remain undistributed.

One of the properties, Hacienda Bacan, has been converted to agro-industrial use, mainly for the production of ethanol, a move Factor said TFM believes is intended to evade distributing the land to agrarian reform beneficiaries.

Another Arroyo property, Hacienda Grande, was subdivided and titled to a number of corporations, individuals, a foundation and a homeowner's association after CARP took effect in 1988, Factor added.

Still another hacienda, Paraiso in La Carlota City, was subdivided into parcels of around five hectares each. However, the Department of Agrarian Reform ruled in favor of the farmers and issued a notice to place the property under CARP coverage.

However, the Arroyos protested the notice of coverage, delaying the land’s distribution through litigation, Factor said.

"We urge the family of the First Gentleman to please respect and observe the law, and the promise of the President to distribute all these lands…It is a compelling moral issue for the country's highest leader who promised to set the example for social reform," Factor said in a statement.

The rally was held close to an hour before the legislative-executive development advisory council meeting presided over by the President and where among the topics to be discussed was the proposed extension of CARP, which is set to expire on June 10.

After about 10 minutes, police and members of the Presidential Security Guards stopped the rally. Police flagged down a passenger jeepney and asked the farmers to board it.

The Inquirer.net

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=11995.0