October 21, 2013

Pahayagan ng Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas ANG Pinapatnubayan ng Marxismo-Leninismo-Maoismo English Edition Volume XLIV No. 20 October 21, 2013 www.philippinerevolution.net Editorial Corruption weighs down on the peasant masses and must be eliminated he vast countryside is a picture of extreme oppression and under the Arroyo regime. Under abuse. It is where millions of peasants and farm workers suffer the Aquino regime, the practice Tfrom intensifying feudal and semifeudal exploitation and where persists, especially in the agri- hunger and penury are the fruits of their efforts to enrich the land and cultural sector, but with the produce food. It is where they are victimized by widespread landgrab- "righteous road" slogan as a bing, back-breaking debts, and incomes that are woefully inadequate cover. Aside from the funds to buy even food and other basic needs. flowing from Congress and the Senate, huge amounts have also Thus, it is doubly enraging to agricultural inputs. been sourced directly from Ma- know that the peasants' poverty In truth, however, these so- lacañang through the DAP pro- and oppression have been in- called farmers' programs and gram. voked by corrupt bureaucrat fake NGOs have been mere con- Avaricious bureaucrats and capitalists in connivance with duits for the laundering of bil- their cohorts have also made other exploiters as pretexts to lions of pesos of public funds and bundles of money by feeding on amass ever larger sums of mon- served as smokescreens for cor- the suffering of the rural poor ey for themselves. ruption. who have been victimized by The syndicate of Janet Lim- Instead of benefiting the strong typhoons and massive Napoles and high-ranking offi- peasant masses, these humon- floods and landslides. cials of the reactionary govern- gous amounts of public funds But however startling these ment has stolen mind-boggling have merely ended up in the cases are of stealing from the amounts of public funds through pockets of bureaucrat capital- public coffers, they are minus- the use of bogus non-govern- ists. This anomalous system of cule compared to the hundreds mental organizations purporting using NGOs became widespread of billions of pesos plundered by to serve the interests of the various reactionary govern- peasant masses. ments in implementing one of These racketeers have used the peasants' needs and de- Inside this issue... mands to cause the Peasant release of month billions of commemorated 2 pesos for the pur- Bungkalan chase of in Negros 6 seeds, fertilizer, Tactical pesticides offensives and other in NCMR 10 the grandest and most deceptive way to mining companies. Amor- Peasant projects in the country's histo- tization papers held by CARP ry—bogus land reform. "beneficiaries" are being can- month From the Marcos dictator- celled on a massive scale, with ship's PD 27 to the CARP of the landlords and compradors never marked Corazon Aquino, Fidel Ramos running out of means sanctioned and Joseph Estrada regimes to by reactionary laws to continual- armers’ organizations the CARPER under Gloria Arroyo ly expand their landholdings. launched a series of and Benigno Aquino III, the re- All reactionary land reform mass actions and initia- actionary state has spent programs have resulted in the F tives to commemorate Peas- `259.5 billion for land reform. further entrenchment of land ant Month this October. They But the face of feudal and semi- monopoly because like other called for the abolition of ha- feudal exploitation has hardly farmer-oriented programs of the ciendas and free and immedi- changed even on the eve of bourgeois state, they are noth- ate land distribution, as well CARPER's conclusion in 2014. ing but money-making schemes. as the repudiation of, and re- There is no other instance of They are no different from the sistance to, the repressive land reform's failure more strik- Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) and landlord US-Aquino re- ing than the agonizingly slow program which purportedly aims gime. process of land distribution in to alleviate poverty, especially in On October 2, the Kilu- Hacienda Luisita, which is owned the countryside. Greedy bureau- sang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas by the Aquino-Cojuangco clan. crats lost no time in seizing on charged Secretary Proceso Aquino likes to boast of how the CCT as a means of raiding Alcala and other officials of "historic" CARP's implementa- the public coffers. the Department of Agricul- tion at the vast estate is. In fact, The peasantry can never ex- ture with plunder in connec- the only things that have been pect any change in their wretch- tion with their roles in steal- distributed at the hacienda are ed conditions, especially under ing the pork barrel funds of certificates requiring decades of the Aquino regime. Aquino and senators and congressmen. amortization on the part of the his fellow corrupt bureaucrats On October 14, peasants farm workers. will continue using rural poverty held a protest camp in front of Meanwhile, landgrabbing is to plunder state funds unless the the Department of Agrarian rampant nationwide as hacien- system that engenders corrup- Reform office to condemn the das and plantations expand tion, exploitation and oppression continued inutility of the anew and land is cleared to give is put to an end. ~ Comprehensive Agrarian Re- form Program (CARP) and its ANG Contents successor, the CARP Exten- sion with Reforms (CARPER). Editorial: 1 They called for a resolution of Vol XLIV No. 20 October 21, 2013 Peasant month commemorated 2 the widespread problem of Ang Bayan is published in Pilipino, Anti-corruption forces expand 4 landlessness nationwide. Bisaya, Iloko, Hiligaynon, Waray and Big SSS bonuses assailed 5 On October 15, they cele- English editions. It is available for downloading at Bungkalan in Negros 6 brated International Peasant the Philippine Revolution Web Central Aryendo system in Negros 7 Women's Day. And on Octo- located at: ber 16, they commemorated Ka Mely and Ka Dado 7 www.philippinerevolution.org. the International Day of Hun- The sugar industry in Negros 8 ger instead of International Ang Bayan welcomes contributions ST farmers are victims of corruption 9 in the form of articles and news. Food Day to protest the wide- Readers are likewise enjoined to send Tactical offensives in NCMR 10 spread poverty and back- in their comments and suggestions for Military suffers 19 casualties in ST 11 the betterment of our publication. You wardness of the agricultural can reach us by email at: Ambush in Capiz 11 sector in the Philippines. [email protected] Military’s onslaught against minorities 12 Oust Alcala News 13 Alcala is guilty of a myriad of sins against the peasantry. Ang Bayan is published fortnightly by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines It was under his term that the use of the DA by high-ranking 2 ANG BAYAN October 21, 2013 state officials to plunder billions giants. ally distributed. of pesos worth of public funds A big portion (70%) of lands was exposed. The thievery of CARPER's inutility distributed through the Volun- supposed farmers' NGOs in ca- It is not only the DA that is tary Land Transfer (VLT) hoots with congressmen and involved in widespread corrup- scheme are fraud-ridden. No senators that has been going on tion. In 2012, the Aquino regime less than the DAR has reported since the previous Arroyo re- provided the Department of that landlords have been using gime up to the current adminis- Agrarian Reform (DAR) with the VLT to transfer ownership of tration forms but a small part. `7.2 billion via the anomalous their lands to relatives and oth- In a recent exposé, the US- DAP allegedly to accelerate land er fake beneficiaries. Aquino regime reportedly re- distribution under the CARP. leased `7.9 billion in funds This is on top of the `10 billion Agriculture in the doldrums through the Disbursement Ac- allotted for "land acquisition In the face of all this, peas- celeration Program (DAP) pur- and distribution" for the year. ants have become even poorer portedly for agrarian reform. At that time, however, less than due to decades of agricultural At the same time, the peas- 10% of the targeted 10,000 hec- liberalization. The liberalization ants assailed plans by the Aqui- tares (out of a total of 115,000 of the sector has meant the re- no regime to deprive small farm- hectares) had been distributed. duction of tariffs on imported ers of the `70-billion coco levy The use of CARP and CARP- agricultural products, the re- fund (CLF), contrary to the Su- ER as instruments of corruption moval of protection, the weak- preme Court's orders. Among is further proof of their inutility. ening of local agriculture and the items that Aquino and Alca- These programs have long been the collapse of the country's la want to fund through the CLF assailed as anti-peasant, serv- ability to produce food for its is the construction of an agricul- ing only the interests of the own consumption. tural-industrial center that will landlord class. Ever since the all-out liberal- benefit landlords controlling the On CARPER's fourth year, ization of agriculture was begun coconut industry. only 30% (or 381,000) has been in the 1990s, importations of Alcala also conspired with distributed out of the total tar- basic foodstuff like rice, garlic, the rice cartel to artifically push get of 1.2 million hectares. Al- onions, coffee, pork, chicken rice prices up. He spread the lie most all of these lands (94%) is and beef have risen severalfold. that there was a rice shortage to privately owned and most (75%) With the local market flood- pave the way for anomalous rice are plantations and haciendas.

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