Protesting farmers camp out outside DAR, DENR reg’l offices

By CONG B. CORRALES
Associate Editor .

HUNDREDS of indigenes and farmers from across the region have camped out in front of the regional offices of the Department of Agrarian Reform and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources here over the weekend.

Datu Jomorito Goaynon, chairman of Kalumaran, said their encampments in front of the DAR-10 office in Macanhan, Upper Carmen, and DENR-10 in Puntod, this city, were part of the regionwide commemoration of the International Peasants’ Day.

Kalumaran is a federation of indigenous people’s organization in Northern Mindanao.

Goaynon said they would hold simultaneous short programs and picket protests in front of the offices of DAR-10 and DENR-10 today.

“Ang International Peasants’ Day kay nahulog sa Domingo (Oct. 21) man gud busa among nahiusahan nga sa Lunes namo ikasa ang lihok protesta pero gisugdan namo sa pagkampo sa Sabado sa hapon,” Goaynon said.

Goaynon said tribal communities in the region are one with the farmers in calling for the lifting of martial law in Mindanao.

“Panawagan usab namo nga ipatuman ang tinuod nga repormang agraryo, ihunong ang expansion sa plantasyon ug bungkagon ang coal-fired power plant sa Balingasag,” said Goaynon.

He said they would converge both forces for a big rally in Divisoria tomorrow to cap off the International Peasants’ Day.

This year’s International Peasant Day carries the theme: “For land and for life! Enough Free Trade Agreements, enough impunity!”

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization in its latest study, peasants and small farmers make up half of the world population and grow at least 70 percent of the world’s food.

“However, despite the importance of this group, its contribution is far from being recognized. Rural people have very little visibility on the public scene and peasants, in most places, are looked down on and often considered ignorant, backward or underdeveloped,” the FAO study reads in part.