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Issue That Never Was, and Never
Will Be
Jan 2012
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Kapatiran Issue
That Never Was, and Never Will Be, January 2012
CHALLENGE
TO THE NEW PHILIPPINE PRESIDENT:
Enduring Peace, Justice For The Murder Of 78-Year Old
Peasant Leader And All Victims of State-Sponsored
Terrorism
- Amie Dural
The killing of 78 year old peasant leader Pascual
Guevarra under the watch of new Philippine President
Benigno S Aquino III, along with four killings of
activists in his first ten days, do not give good signs
of end to the internationally condemned human rights
violations under his predecessor, the corruption-ridden
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Guevarra was shot dead
inside his house by a lone gunman in barangay San Isidro
, Laur, Nueva Ecija, around 4:30 p.m., July 9, 2010. His
death was witnessed by his daughter and four year old
grandson. The shots were heard by Ronnel Villoria, the
victim’s grandson who was tying their carabao (water
buffalo) in the yard. Ronnel rushed inside the house and
struggled with the assailant but the latter broke free
and shot Ronnel in the shoulder. The gunman escaped along
with a male companion on board a black motorcycle without
a licence plate.
Cowardly Killing In The Midst Of Land Dispute
Contrary to President Aquino’s statement that the
recent cases of extrajudicial killings are due to
personal grudges, peasant leaders point out that
Guevarra’s death is clearly because of the on-going
struggle for land rather than a personal feud. Who would
have the motive to silence a 78-year old peasant leader?
Guevarra’s family strongly believes that the
military, particularly the 7th Infantry Division (ID) of
the Philippine Army, was behind the killing. Guevarra had
been at the forefront of the struggle for the 3,100
hectare land located inside the Fort Magsaysay Military
Reservation (FMMR), home of the 7th ID. A fact-finding
team on the case also notes that there was an Army
detachment one kilometre away from the place of the
incident and the perpetrators sped away toward that
direction. Like the many cases of extra-judicial killings
under Arroyo, the killers has no fear that they would be
apprehended and caught by either the police or army.
Land And Peace
The struggle of peasants for the 3,100 hectare land
inside the Fort Magsaysay Military Reservation is only
one of the decades-old peasant struggles against
landgrabbing and monopoly all over the Philippines . In
the face of bogus land reform programmes of successive
regimes, including the 1986-92 Corazon Aquino
Administration, coupled with neo-liberal policies on
mining and agricultural liberalisation, the Filipino
people have remained landless in their own country while
the local elite and foreign businesses control vast
tracts of land.
In a statement, the National Democratic Front of the
Philippines expressed willingness to resume formal peace
talks with the new Administration of the Government of
the Republic of the Philippines (GRP). “We aim for
peace talks that address the roots of the armed conflict
through fundamental economic, social and political
reforms," NDF P peace panel chairman Luis Jalandoni
declared. “With the new Government, there is hope in
resuming peace talks,” said Paulynn Sicam,
representative of the GRP panel secretariat, during a
peace forum two days after the elections.
Pre-Election And Post-Election: Aquino’s
Stance On Land Reform And The Peace Process
In his April 22 speech at the height of the election
campaign, Aquino declared, “We must revive the peace
process on the basis of a comprehensive understanding of
the root causes of the conflict”. If Aquino will act
on his words, given that the land problem is one of the
outstanding issues that drive the Filipino people to wage
armed revolution, it is imperative for him to address the
demands of struggling peasant families like the Guevarras
in Nueva Ecija, and of course, of those in the disputed
Hacienda Luisita in the hands of his own clan.
But on 26th July, Aquino’s first State of the Nation
Address (SONA) was silent on the peasants’ clamour
for land reform, the unresolved cases of human rights
violations under Arroyo and the pattern of continuing
impunity under his watch. Worse, Aquino declared that a
ceasefire is the pre-condition for the Government to
pursue peace talks with the NDF P, a policy already
proven to bring the peace process nowhere in the past
Administrations. In a statement, Professor Jose Maria
Sison, NDF P Chief Political Consultant, pointed out:
“It is unjust for anyone to expect that the
revolutionary forces and the people to simply cease fire
and surrender to a rotten ruling system that shuns
patriotic and progressive demands and refuses to engage
in basic reforms”.
Prof. Sison further noted: “In his SONA, Aquino was
actually shutting the door to peace negotiations by
pre-conditioning the formal talks with his
"malawakang tigil-putok bago mag-usap”
(ceasefire before talks). This precondition is in gross
violation of The Hague Joint Declaration and the very
process of peace negotiations”. It is imperative for
the Aquino Administration to make sure that the 78 year
old peasant leader will be the last victim of land-rooted
human rights violations. But considering his stance on
the peace process and silence on the people’s
demands for land reform and other fundamental
socio-economic reforms, it’s clear that the Filipino
people must remain vigilant in struggle. Likewise, the
international community will also continue to play a
significant role in demanding that the Philippine
government uphold international human rights instruments
and stop State-sponsored terrorism against the people
clamouring for justice, peace and liberation.
Background On The FMRR Land Dispute
In 1956, President Ramon Magsaysay issued Presidential
Proclamation Order 237 declaring the 73,000 hectares of
land in Nueva Ecija as a military reservation. The Armed
Forces of the Philippines (AFP) used 15,000 hectares of
the 73,000 hectares as a camp and training ground. In
1991, the Corazon Aquino Administration allotted 3,100
hectares of FMMR to peasants displaced by the Mount
Pinatubo eruption through a Transfer of Deed between the
Department of National Defense (DND) and the Department
of Agrarian Reform (DAR). By virtue of this Deed of
Transfer, over a thousand peasants and other residents
were awarded Certificate of Land Ownership Awards or
CLOAs.
But on 24 June 2008, the newly appointed commanding
general of the 7th Infantry Division, Brigadier Gen.
Ralph Villanueva, wrote to Mr. Orlando Tumacay, the
Provincial Agrarian Reform Officer (Paro) of Nueva Ecija
requesting the latter to revoke the awarded CLOAs and to
defer the issuance of new ones pending the litigation of
a case filed by the Department of Environment and Natural
Resources (DENR) against the DAR before the Court of
Appeals. The 78 year old peasant leader, Pascual
Guevarra, who became a martyr in struggle, and other
residents in the 3,100 hectares organised themselves to
oppose the 7th IDPA’s plan to evict them from their
community.
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