Lakbayan starts amid sweltering heat
Farmers from Negros Oriental and Occidental
march through Victorias plaza in Victorias town,
Negros Occidental.
Bacolod City – The sweltering heat did not prevent at least 2,000 farmers yesterday from starting their four-day pilgrimage to this province's capital to demand for the immediate extension of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) and to dramatize their determination for the continued acquisition and distribution of land under it.
But the action is not without its political content as the Negros peasants under the Task Force Mapalad-Negros (TFM-Negros) and the Negros Carp Reform Movement (NCRM) are also warning solons here not to "frustrate their dreams" of having their own land under the government's land reform program.
"This is the road of determination," TFM-Negros chairman Jose Rodito Angeles said as Ilonggo as he vowed that they are not about to give up in the face of what he called as "desperate measures" being employed by recalcitrant landlords and their "puppets in Congress."
Around 10 a.m., the southern contingent, composed of farmers from Oriental Negros and southern and central parts of the province, took off from Kabankalan City, which is located around 83 kilometers from here.
They are expected to spend the night in Hinigaran town to complete the first leg of their journey that would have them walking for 36 kilometers.
A short program was held by the farmers in Himamaylan town and a signature campaign was also launched to solicit support from other sectors for the extension of CARP.
In Sagay City, 99 kilometers north, around 500 farmers took, most of them farmers who have yet to be installed in their lands, off also around that time but had to take 15-minute breaks every half an hour due to blistering conditions.
Three marchers, two of them elderly women, have already fainted into the first nine kilometers of the northern leg. They were identified as Narciso Cañete, 48, of hacienda Rose Marie; Amparo Caontoy, 66, of of hacienda Minacalao; and Milagros Estrada, 54, of hacienda Caridad.
In the south, two farmers – Carmer Raydan, 52, and Elizabeth Bangit, also collapsed due to stress and extreme heat.
Today's stopover is Manapla town, around 37 kilometers from the starting point.
"Grabe gid ang init pero sige lang, sobra pa di ka layo kag kabudlay sang lalakton namon nga mga mangunguma agud makaagum sang amon kaugalingon nga duta (The heat is unbearable but this is nothing compared to our arduous struggle to own land)," said Edwin Amores, one of the participants of the march.
"This is what the peasants, the people want, land reform now," said Edna Sobrecaray, TFM-Negros spokesperson.
Congressmen Monico Puentevella of Bacolod City, Jeffrey Ferrer of the Fifth and Ignacio Arroyo of the Fourth should "see for themselves that the people in Negros are desirous to own land under the CARP, it would be a disservice to them if these three solons continue to delay its extension," she added.