Land reform policy best proof there’s no change under Aquino

Today’s march of farmers from all over Luzon to Mendiola to demand land and justice is the best and clearest proof that President Aquino has not instituted real change in the country. It is yet another proof that the country’s centuries-long problem of land has yet to be resolved, in a kind of “change” that is real and thoroughgoing.

Land reform as an issue demands nothing less than a clear and committed partisanship – either to the farmers who till the land or to the landlords who benefit from others’ toil like parasites. Empowering farmers to rise from poverty through genuine land reform demand nothing less than a commitment and capacity to overhaul the existing socio-economic order.

Aquino has failed the test of land reform – miserably. He has shown nothing less than a clear subservience to his class and family’s landowning interests. He has not shown the commitment nor the capacity to reform the system responsible for his family’s continued accumulation of wealth and power.

We have every reason to believe that today’s march forms part of a rising crescendo of protests that will intensify in the coming years. The Filipino farmers, workers and people have every reason to be outraged and to rise up in revolt against another regime that upholds continuity of oppression and deprivation. #