Peasant offensives in Southern Tagalog Despite AFP Militarization (tags)
The Pesante NEWS based in Los Angeles reported today that the peasant movement in Southern Tagalog is gaining ground despite AFP militaization in that region. The PESANTE NEWS also learned that the impoverished masses in the Southern Tagalog (ST) countryside are now organized under a peasant movement with a strong regional center. Provincial chapters have begun to rise anew from the surviving 54 chapters in various levels found in areas with existing cases of agrarian disputes and where the peasant masses are being threatened with eviction. Chapters continue to expand and new ones built on varying levels.
ILOCOS PEASANTS TO MARCH IN LAKBAYAN 2010 (tags)
The Pesante Buletin reported today that Ilocos peasants under the banner of Solidarity of Peasants against Exploitation (STOP Exploitation) shall join the annual Lakbayan 2010 March of the Landless from October 19 to 22 to register their support for Justice and genuine agrarian reform. According to NORDIS , the STOP Exploitation Chairperson Avelino Dacanay said over one hundred peasants from La Union, Ilocos Sur, and Ilocos Norte will march in celebration of Peasant Month this October along with other peasant organizations in Luzon.
PESANTE CONDEMNS SOUTHERN TAGALOG ACTIVIST CRACKDOWN (tags)
The Philippine Peasant Support Network (Pesante)-USA condemns in the strongest terms what the Southern Tagalog peasant activist crackdown and witch hunt under the US-Arroyo fascist regime. This is how Pesante-USA, a human rights, Filipino peasant advocacy and environmental organization in Los Angeles and Southern Tagalog activists described what would come next after farmer leader Rogelio Galit was arrested Monday evening at Barangay Kaong, Silang, Cavite on murder charges filed at the regional trial court in Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro. Pesante-USA learned through media sources that around 15 armed men in civilian clothes arrested Galit, an officer of the Katipunan ng mga Samahang Magbubukid sa Timog Katagalugan and spokesperson of the Katipunan ng mga Magbubukid sa Kabite, said his wife Patricia who witnessed the arrest at their house.
Protest caravan from Southern Tagalog (tags)
Protests from the urban poor in Southern Tagalog geared towards Monday's State of the Nation Address (SONA) began as early as Wednesday and are now on the third day of a six-day caravan dubbed "Lakbay-Riles ng Maralita laban sa kagutuman, dislokasyon at karahasan ." The caravan took-off from Gumaca, Quezon around 8AM today and is set to reach San Pablo City at around 3PM, but protesters fear that they may be blocked again amid NCRPO chief Vidal Querol's statement that a special operations group of the New People's Army from Mindoro would try to sneak into the capital.