Oct. 21 – Farmers challenge land grabbing and land-use conversion in Bicol
Kilusang Magbubukid ng Bicol (KMB) held a picket-dialogue at the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Bicol Office in Rawis, Legazpi City to raise urgent issues of land use conversion and demolition faced by farmers across Bicol provinces.
In their dialogue with DAR Region V Supervising Agrarian Reform Program Officer Reuben Loria, KMB demanded concrete government action to stop land grabbing and displacement of farmers. Farmers who are resisting land grabbing are facing threats of demolition, intimidation, and civil cases,” said Regina Barbacena, KMB spokesperson.
KMB also denounced the proposed National Land Use Act (NaLUA) and the 99-year Land Lease Act for foreigners, warning these measures would intensify land use conversion and the loss of farmlands to landlords and foreign corporations. “These laws do not benefit our farmers, only the big landlords and corporations,” Barbacena said in a report from Baretang Bikolnon.
Farmers reiterated their demand for genuine land reform and an end to government policies enabling the corporate takeover of agricultural lands.
Oct. 24 – Black Friday protest against corruption
Farmers from Bicol, joined by the newly-formed Albay Movement Against Corruption (AMAC), Bunyog, and BAYAN Bicol, launched the Black Friday Protest Against Corruption in Legazpi City. Protesters from Daraga Assembly Point marched to Peñaranda Park before holding successive actions at Sunwest Inc. in Brgy. Bogtong and the DPWH Bicol Regional Office.
The protesters condemned the massive flood-control corruption scandal involving Rep. Elizaldy “Zaldy” Co and his firm Sunwest Construction and Development Corp., demanding accountability for the billions of pesos lost in ghost or overpriced projects.
They reiterated the demand to prosecute Zaldy Co, Sunwest Inc., and complicit DPWH officials. Farmers stressed that every peso lost to corruption is a peso stolen from farmers’ welfare, free irrigation, and disaster rehabilitation. “Farmers face hunger and floods while the corrupt get richer. This is injustice that must end now,” declared KMB.
updates from the peasant movement of the Philippines 