The recent violence committed by a landlord’s personnel against farmers in Hacienda Escolastica, Barangay Mabini, Cadiz City, Negros Occidental on September 30 once again proved the inutility of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) and the government’s related programs. The landlord’s blue guards and private armed forces opened fire, injuring seven farmers.

The farmers said the blue guards destroyed and stole their corn crops. They also plowed over the public road in the area. These acts violated their human rights and and that of the land’s beneficiaries.

The Pambansang Katipunan ng mga Magbubukid (PKM)-North Negros denounced the violence against the farmers. According to the revolutionary group, the incident proves that CARP and the reactionary state are inherently useless in granting land ownership to farmers.

For 22 years, the CARP farmer-beneficiaries complied with the process and submitted documents to secure their rights over the 66 hectares of land in Hacienda Escolastica, owned by Lyndon Lim and the Zaldarriaga family. In fact, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) had already granted the farmers a Certificate of Land Ownership Award (CLOA) and a Writ of Installation.

DAR has until now remained useless in enforcing its own decision against the violent landlord. “In cases like this and in many others, DAR and the local government act as accomplices in preserving the landlords’ ownership of the land,” PKM-North Negros spokesperson Guillermo Manggubat said.

He said that the farmers of Hacienda Escolastica were clearly made to believe that they would finally acquire the land they had labored on for 22 years. Hence, the farmers themselves unsurprisingly decided to stand up and assert their right to cultivate the land despite the threat of violence and danger.

Ka Guillermo further explained that this situation reveals the feudal and semi-feudal exploitation suffered by farmers in Negros island and across the country. “It also shows the necessity of an agrarian revolution to smash land monopoly and defeat the landlords’ political power through armed struggle and the revolutionary mass movement in the countryside,” he said.

PKM-North Negros called on fellow farmers to “liberate themselves by joining the armed struggle and the New People’s Army, the true defenders of the people.” The group also promotes strengthening revolutionary mass organizations such as PKM, the Kabataang Makabayan (KM), the Makabayang Kilusan ng Bagong Kababaihan (MAKIBAKA), and others to establish the genuine people’s government and advance farmers’ welfare.