On the sixth day of their protest camp, “Kampuhang Magbubukid para sa Lupa at Laban sa Korapsyon,” farmers and farm workers from Negros Occidental were joined today by peasant organizations from from Central Luzon and Southern Tagalog to reiterate their condemnation of decades of failed land reform, illegal evictions, and widespread corruption under the Marcos Jr. administration. Almost 500 farmers will hold a protest program tonight after their dialogues with various agencies, including DAR.
The camp, which began on October 15, brings together Negros sugarcane workers and peasant delegations from Tarlac, Bulacan, Pampanga, Zambales, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, and Mindoro Occidental led by the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP). It serves as a center for protest, dialogues, and organizing in the lead-up to the October 21 nationwide people’s mobilization for genuine land reform and against corruption.
During the DAR dialogue, farmers from Negros highlighted unresolved land disputes and harassment in long-covered estates, including the Zayco and Hortensia Starke estates in Kabankalan City, where DAR has failed to complete distribution despite Notices of Coverage issued as early as 2002. In E.B. Magalona, more than 100 farm workers face eviction after DAR canceled their CLOA or Certificate of Land Ownership Award), citing a so-called “erroneous location” in land documents. Farmers said the cancellation paves the way for land conversion and commercial development.
“Ang legasiya ng mga Marcos ay kawalan at pangangamkam ng lupa,” says KMP Chairperson Danilo Ramos. “From Marcos Sr.’s PD 27 to the SPLIT program today, land reform remains fake and designed to divide farmers and legitimize the landlords’ hold over the land.”
KMP criticized DAR’s claim of distributing 195,000 CLOAs from July 2022 to January 2025, noting that 68% of these were merely parcelized under the SPLIT project, and not new land reform areas. The group called the program a “land-grabbing scheme in disguise” backed by the World Bank to dismantle collective ownership and justify land reconcentration.
Farmers also condemned the upcoming DAR-World Bank project Inclusive Partnership for Agrarian Reform Communities – a support services program targeting SPLIT beneficiaries.
Tomorrow, October 21, KMP and allied sectors under Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) will lead a nationwide mobilization, culminating in a major march from Liwasang Bonifacio to Mendiola under the call: “Mamamayan at Magbubukid, Wakasan ang Korapsyon at Pang-aapi!”
updates from the peasant movement of the Philippines 