Consumers Domain
Harassment of Balasan farmers
"Come
See the blood along the streets
Come see
The blood along the streets
Come see the blood
Along the Streets! "
--from "I'll Explain Some Things" by Pablo Neruda
In the late afternoon of October 30, 2006, a farmer leader of Balasan, Iloilo, named Ronald Ocson, was wounded when he was shot by a gunman associated with influential landlords Andres and Susan Bedro (who was once Balasan's Vice-Mayor). The organization that Ocson heads comprise of farmers who are beneficiaries of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.
I am wondering (and partly concerned) why the media, particularly the print, did not cover the series of harassment of farmers by these arrogant landowners. I regularly read the online versions of various local and national news organization, both print and broadcast, based in the country and I did not recall any news item on this incident.
I searched through the web of events related to this and no mainstream media carried any report on it. Only the alternative media group Indymedia carried a news item narrating the episode. I myself only read about this in my advocacy networks' e-groups.
Is the shooting of a farmer leader by armed goons of a landowner not newsworthy enough that it doesn't merit a space in the newspapers? Is this incident a normal scheme of things that the harassment of leaders of people's organizations is like an everyday occurrence? Hmmm, this really worries me as the media is supposed to be a bastion and a voice for the oppressed.
Information that this column received disclose that the land of the Bedros were subjected to the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program and there is an on-going dispute between Ocson's organization, Asao Farmers and Residents Association (AFRA) and the landowners.
In the information, the gunman was identified by the victim as a certain Roberto Jordan alias Kasey. Kasey and Andres Bedro were seen together in a drinking spree prior to the shooting incident. Before shooting Ronald Ocson, Jordan even shouted "Ngaa, inyo ni duta?!" (Why? is this your land?), narrated Sherlina, wife of Ocson.
This terroristic act is actually part of the scare tactics employed by the Bedros to harass the farmers who are simply exercising their rights as beneficiaries of the law on CARP.
Weeks earlier, on October 11, it was also reported that Andres Bedro and his armed goons went on a rampage, attacking the village where Ocson and AFRA members were based. Boarding different vehicles they went on destroying crops and farm structures, and threatening villagers. Three days after, the house of another villager where fired at by unidentified gunmen.
Now this column is calling for the concerned agencies to act like one -- that is "CONCERNED". What is the Municipal Government of Balasan doing about this situation? Mayor, wake up! Don't pretend that nothing is happening around your area of responsibility.
What is the Municipal Police doing? Chief, wake up! We hope that you will do your assignment and arrest those who are blatantly violating our laws. This column also hopes that you are not in the payroll of the Bedros.
Mayor, Chief, these violent incidents are happening right in your backyard! So maybe both of you can initiate something to prevent the Bedros from escalating their violent campaign against the marginalized farmers.
To the Department of Agrarian Reform, the Provincial Government and the Commission on Human Rights, the Philippine National Police, please act now while there are still no lives taken.
If there is a bombing, government officials are fast to react to face the media and declare all-out war against the terrorists. But if the terrorists are among the landed or the elite or members of political clans, it's as if they are dragging their feet to act.
If there is a threat to the life of a politician or a capitalist (who is a regular campaign fund donor), the government is always ready to provide protection and security. But if the threat is on the lives of farmers and the working class, expect no fast action from the them.
Tsk, tsk, What's new?
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