Duterte to place rebel-infested Nueva Ecija under land reform
Credit to Author: The Manila Times| Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2019 04:19:42 +0000
LAUR, Nueva Ecija: In a bid to counter the communist insurgency in the province, President Rodrigo Duterte vowed to place Nueva Ecija under the government’s agrarian land reform program.
In his speech during the inauguration of a drug treatment facility here, Duterte said he would deploy concerned officials next week to implement land reform in the province.
The President said he met with some community members who were concerned about the problem of land and water in the province.
“Kaya mga NPA, nakikinig diyan ngayon. Hoy mga NPA, alam kong problema ninyo. Na kung hindi ako nagpupunta dito, hindi ko alam. Kaya may papupuntahin ako Lunes dito, huwag ninyong — hayaan ninyo (To members of the NPA if you’re listening, hey NPA, I know your problem. If I did not come here, I wouldn’t know. That’s why I will ask somebody to come here on Monday, please allow them)… I will declare land reform in this area next week,” the President said.
Duterte was referring to the communist rebels’ armed wing, the New People’s Army, which regards genuine land reform program as a cornerstone in any peace deal with the government.
“At this time of our national life, I would even say that I’ve been telling the military and the police that unless we solve this age-old problem of getting the lands to the people, we can never end the insurgency problem in this country,” he added.
Duterte said that he wanted to distribute lands, initially idle government lands, to agrarian reform beneficiaries so they could cultivate the land and improve their plight.
He claimed that so far he has distributed 60,000 land titles to land reform beneficiaries.
“So 10 years from now, mga anak ninyo makatikim ng pera. At least sa buhay nila, ‘yung generation niya makatikim ng milyon,” Duterte said.
“I do not work for the — I work for the people. I do not work for… I serve no master. I am a worker of government. The military and the police are workers of the government and we work for the people,” he said.
In the same speech, the President disclosed plans to visit Sagay, Negros Occidental soon for another agrarian reform event.
He lamented that the government has been wrongly blamed for the death of some farmers in Sagay.
“Ito ubusin ko talaga ito and then Sagay, doon ‘yung pinagpatayan ng mga — itong mga komunista nag-aaway-away doon at kami naman ang pinagbibintangan (I will finish this land distribution progra and the in Sagay, the farmer were being killed, it was the communist who are fighting there and they’re blaming us),” the President said.
Duterte issued the remark nearly four months after the massacre of nine farmers in Sagay, Negros Occidental last October 20 who allegedly tried to occupy parts of Hacienda Nene in Barangay Bulanon.
The President tagged the communist rebels in the killing of sugar farmers, saying it is the “style” of the NPA to kill its own members and put the blame on the government.
The communist rebels see free distribution of agricultural land as a basic principle of genuine agrarian reform. This was among issues tackled by the government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines peace panels before the talks collapsed in November 2017.
Duterte had promised that he would place available land in the country under land reform within the remaining three years of his term.
He had also implemented land reform in Boracay and other areas in Aklan following the six-month closure of the tourist destination.
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