WHY is there no groundswell of support for these farmers? Did they really have a right to the land they are claiming or are they squatters who claim they are of indigenous ancestry and are entitled to the land?
Regardless of the nature of the claim the President should settle this now, give the peasants or pawns cash compensation from Pagcor [Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.) or the PCSO [Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office] just like she does the bishops, the knights, and the rooks.
This is a monumental game of chess and right now it is a stalemate, but the positions could change any minute and the game will be over.
– Alfonso DeMayo, Vancouver, Canada (via e-mail)
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March 24th, 2008 at 6:20 pm
I realize we do not live in the US but the plight of the Sumalo farmers is very similar to the US Indians. The white man took away the land and never gave it back…. Does that mean that the US should give every piece of land to the Indians? Trust me that is NOT going to happen. The Indians lived on and worked the land long before whitey…. The Farmers claim they were on the land… but to my knowledge.. no one has provided any proof of land ownership, the payment of taxes or any attempts to free patent title the land. I also realize there is the CARP deal…. that of course does not apply to politicians…. Thinking of a former President newly diagnosed with colon cancer.
My only last thoughts are.. SMC can and will provide employment.. many of those so called farmers will just become tuba drinking sqatters… apply for a free patent title on their newly acquired land wait 5 years and sell it for a profit with nothing but time as their initial investment.
It would be different if those 144 hectares became a coop farming community and turnd a decent profit. Mark my words.. It will never happen due to the GREED factor.
March 23rd, 2008 at 4:38 pm
One Trillion, Two Hundred Million pesos gone wild!
Last March 19, 2008, PGMA announced before the graduating PMA cadets a Billion pesos (P 1,000,000,000) funds for military housing. In the afternoon, she again made another announcement regarding One Billion and a Half pesos (P 1,500,000,000) for the purchase of certified rice seeds through the Department of Agriculture to augment rice production.
And early this morning, March 23, 2008, Easter Sunday, she again announces Three Billion related to food; for what ever it means.
I’m just wondering, how she will produce this money. Every time PGMA goes around, she makes announcements of giving this, giving that. Why, is there no long term planning any more in the government? Is this how the government spends the 2008 budget of One Trillion, two hundred billion pesos? The Filipino people are already at the brink of desperation how to pay these back breaking taxes and yet PGMA treats people’s money as her own to squander?
As a practical individual, I would suggest that government takes over rice businesses, abolish taxes or subsidize fertilizers, insecticides, including ‘certified’ rice seeds and vegetables, and tax free or subsidized diesel fuel for agricultural purposes. This will not only benefit the local farmers, but we save on importations.
She should import hi-breed cattle, goats, and swine. The government should take over the importation and distribution of animal feed so that the price will be within the reach of local livestock growers. In short, animal dispersal!
This is what I call long term planning.
Presently, prices of meat and poultry are sky-rocking because of cartels in these businesses.
We have to act now because there might come a time that people may run out of patience.
The price of meat and poultry is now beyond the reach of average earners.
I have a wild guess that the expenses incurred by PGMA for staying in Baguio this Holy Week, in just 4 days, can reach up to 15 million, considering the overtime pay of military/police escorts; and expenses on her hangers-on.
While majority of charity patients in Public Hospitals dies because of lack of medicine, and insufficient hospital staffs, PGMA and her hangers-on, are cooling themselves in Baguio, impervious of the dire problems in our Public Hospitals.
The government machinery, particularly, the Cabinet Ministers and Department Head’s are elected, not through the basis of merits and qualifications, but for being blabber-mouth, and sycophant to the President.
We are at the age of computers and internets, and it is within the ability of our government to properly coordinate the purchase and distributions of these basic needs.
PGMA, stop your photo sessions! They are nothing but cheap political propaganda. People don’t buy them anymore.
Your people deserve better living condition considering the gargantuan budget in your disposal. Awarding the Somilao farmers their long deserve land, is not the end, but just the beginning. There are so many agrarian problems still waiting for your favorable action. Why not prod the snail pace Supreme Court and decide in favor of the Hacienda Luisita farmers.
In this way, you may still earn what ever little respect your constituent may still have, in your administration.
No matter how much you augment your personal military/police, you will not succeed in your drive against insurgency. The only weapon is to provide everyone cheap food on the table, eliminate corruption, and establish an independent judiciary.
March 22nd, 2008 at 4:38 am
It is really a pity how our farmers should be plowing the field, tilling the soil with their carabaos in the province instead they are marching all the way to cemented pavements of the city of manila without their carabao but on their bare feet demanding justice that land is for the tillers of the soil.
Time has really changed. Gone are the days when our farmers are the most simple, hardworking filipinos, gone are the days when our fishermen are out in the sea all day long catching fish.
Now, they are also in the street of manila without their carabao and hook and line but with placards demanding rights and justice for their cause.
It is not that I am against their cause. But to travel all the way from bukidnon to manila and air their grievances, their rights to our madam president is not good at all.
Laws are for everyone, there is no qualification and distinction. It is applied to everybody whether one is in the remote area of the country or in manila.
Though GMA might be power that be, the power whom the farmers want to act on their cause, there are laws to follow.
These farmers don’t have to sacrifice their lives, their families, their lands, their animals and travel a thousand miles by land and sea just to let GMA know their fighting for.
Because Manila is not your place.
Manila is a jungle of people not for plowing and tilling.
Just go home, be with the family and loved ones and wait for the verdict and whatever that be, be content and happy.
March 22nd, 2008 at 3:51 am
No one really cares for the farmers, or the marginalized Filipinos, who live poorer each day. Not the corrupt politicians from the president down, not the “holy” catholic bishops who profess faithfulness to Christ whose heart only bleeds for the marginalized.
Hands up with the hopeless politicians, but I believe the catholic church can do more to alleviate our woes. We have the numbers and the influence. If only the Bishops live with Christ’s teachings by starting to help the farmers…
Unfortunately, this seems like a wishful thinking. Pwede ba mag quo d etat maginstall ng bagong bishops?
March 21st, 2008 at 8:25 pm
I call for a total change of the CARL. Its the root of so many more evils. It has never given us our daily bread. Worst, there is no more rice for us!