“CARP failure not only in Negros” — KMP

Militant farmers push for Genuine Agrarian Reform Law

The militant Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) reiterated its analysis that the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) is a complete failure in distributing lands to farmers in the whole country, in lieu of the report that in Negros, 41% of CARP beneficiaries have quit farming.

According to Rafael “Ka Paeng” Mariano, chairman of KMP and concurrent president of ANAKPAWIS party list, “the recent data of the Department Agrarian Reform (DAR) office showing that 41% of so-called farmer beneficiaries in Negros island have stopped tilling their land is another evidence of CARP’s inutility and failure. Though we doubt that there has been significant land distribution in Negros, this data shows that farmers are further being bankrupt by the CARP because of the amortization they have to pay for the land as well as there is almost no support service for the beneficiaries,”
“The sad truth is that CARP is not only a failure in Negros but in the whole country. Up till now seven out of ten farmers do not own the land they till. The supposed accomplishments being announced by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the DAR are doctored. In fact 82% of the 1.9 million hectares of private land that they are boasting of being already distributed are still locked in court litigations and no actual land distribution has taken place,” said Mariano.
“The land problem must first be addressed before the matter of farm support can be properly solved. If farmers still do not own the land they till, they would also be neck deep in debt and no amount of farm support can solve that,” added the peasant leader.
“This is the main reason why we are pushing for the Genuine Agrarian Reform Act, so that the basic problem of landlessness will truly be addressed. The CARP has only served to further concentrate land in the hands of landlords and big trans-national corporations and its extension would mean another death sentence to farmers and their livelihood,” ended Mariano. # # #

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