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Leftists insist: Tell Danding to leave Sumilao

The left-leaning fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) on Wednesday reiterated its challenge to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to order business tycoon Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco to immediately leave Sumilao and allow farmers to get back the 144-hectare estate.

Likewise, Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap pressed Malacañang to immediately order the dismantling of the 40 structures built by San Miguel Foods Inc. (SMFI) which it constructed for the ambitious multi-billion state of the art vertically integrated agro-industrial estate in Sumilao.

“This is not a tough task to follow. Mrs. Arroyo can do this in less than a week’s time if she has the political will to confront Mr. Cojuangco, her no.1 closet crony and political benefactor,” Hicap said.

Likewise, Pamalakaya’s Hicap told Malacañang not to use taxpayers’ money in paying Cojuangco the amount of P 2.4 B, the sum of money the business tycoon paid to former Sumilao landowner Norberto Quisumbing, nor pass the burden of paying the compensation to the struggling farmers of Sumilao.

“Not a single centavo of taxpayers’ money should be spent for compensation of Cojuangco. The Sumilao farmers should get it for free, that’s the essence of true-blue genuine agrarian reform program and justice,” the Pamalakaya leader said.

Pamalakaya said the decision of President Arroyo to place the 144-hectare under what it called a bogus Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) and thus-revoking the land-use conversion of the Sumilao estate remains an empty promise and a toothless tiger.

“Mrs. Arroyo is aware that her decision can be contested easily before any regular court, because under Republic Act 7881 lands classified or re-classified by the national government through the Department of Agrarian Reform as commercial farms or agro-industrial lands cannot be covered by the inutile CARP,” the group said.

Pamalakaya said Mrs. Arroyo is also aware that the Supreme Court in 1999 had upheld the conversion of Sumilao for agro-industrial and commercial purposes based on the previous decision of DAR to re-classify and exempt the 144-hectare estate from CARP. The group said what Mrs. Arroyo did was to pacify the angry farmers and further prolong their agonies by locking them to scores of court battles they will face in the next 8 months to one year.

“In reality, Malacañang merely treated the Sumilao farmers into a merry go-round of waiting, waiting and waiting only to learn one day that what Mrs. Arroyo delivered during their meeting were empty promises, false hopes and class betrayal,” the militant group said.

Pamalakaya said Mrs. Arroyo should have instead issued a categorical statement and in black and white ordering Cojuangco to give up the land and respect the rights of the tillers in the 144-hectare Sumilao estate. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 08:20 | link | comments |

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