The militant Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) agreed with the Heritage Foundation’s assessment that President Gloria Macapagal- Arroyo is indeed weak but for entirely different reasons. According to Danilo “Ka Daning” Ramos, secretary general of the group, “Gloria is weak, not because of her reluctant decision to pull-out the troops in Iraq, but because of her unwillingness to uplift the welfare of her constituents and thereby losing their support,”

“As of now Gloria is nothing but a lameduck president at the call of big businessmen and landlords as if like a waiter in a restaurant ready to take orders and always delivering with a smile. But when it comes to dealing with us peasants, she does not even want to here our demands. For this reason peasants from all over the Philippines will for a pact called the Manila Declaration calling for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to resign from her post. We have had enough of her unflinching bias for the moneyed elite and her sacred cows, we are now showing her the door,” expounded the peasant leader.

The group will launch the declaration in October 20 and 3,000 peasant leaders will forge the pact. Then it will be circulated around the country to gather 1 million signatures to seal the fate of the doomed president. The activity will also feature a nationally coordinated series of protest actions and farm strikes, to highlight the demand of peasants to increase the farmgate price of palay (unmilled rice) from P7-P9 to P10.50-P12.

“Farmers have long suffered under the yoke of feudal bondage to landlords, they want to break free and the increase of the farmgate price of palay is a positive step forward. It is a small step but it would relatively alleviate the plight of the peasant masses, as a recent UP study would show that 7 of the 10 people below the poverty line are in the rural areas,” said Carl Anthony Ala, public information officer of KMP.

“We are pushing our calls because we know that they are legit and grounded on the concrete experiences of peasants. It is because of this that we are brave enough to strike the belly of the beast, for if we don’t she will only do more damage not only to farmers but the whole country as well,” ended Ala. # # #
 

KMP - 16 October 2004