The militant Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) together with its regional chapters the Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Ginang Luzon (AMGL) and the Katipunan ng mga Samahan ng mga Magbubukid sa Timog Katagalugan, (KASAMA-TK) lambasted the government for letting business tycoons like Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco and Henry Sy land grab the soil that the farmers have tilled for so long. 

According to Danilo “Ka Daning” Ramos, secretary general of KMP, “this proves beyond reasonable doubt the inutility of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) and a glaring testament that it is but a tool to appease farmers. In all its 17 years of existence, it has been used to reconcentrate land in the hands of landlords, as the case of the 8,650 hectares of land in Hacienda Looc, their Certificates of Land Ownership Awards (CLOA) were revoked and now they are being forced out of their lands to give way for a tourist resort to be built in the area by Fil-Estate and Manila South-coast Development Corporation. (MSDC),”

Meanwhile Ka Lita Mariano, secretary general of AMGL added, “reliable sources from inside the Hacienda Luisita management, have found out that from the initial 2,000 hectares that Danding Cojuangco leased from his cousins, now he controls 4,000 hectares of the more than 6,000 hectare hacienda. He is said to have designated as his front man Tony Boy Cojuangco, who will administer the 4,000 hectares and the proceeds of the 3,000 hectares will go to Danding while that of the 1,000 hectares will go to Tony Boy. This is a prelude for the total land use conversion plan of the Cojuangcos for the hacienda and the displacement of the more than 33,000 people in its scope,”

On the other hand Guillermo “Ka Gimo” Bautista, chairperson of KASAMA-TK, “Henry Sy has set his sights on our lands and now he is planning to erect a SM mall in Hacienda Looc to complement the Harbortown tourist destination also planned to be built, bulldozers have already destroyed the plots of lands of peasants in the area,”

“It is in this light that we are calling for the ouster of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who has done nothing to alleviate the plight of peasants. She is the heaviest burden upon our backs now, so we have no other alternative but to oust her from power. In our view she has nowhere to go but down and out,” ended Ramos. # # #
 

KMP - 7 June 2005