Pambansang Ugnayan ng mga Nagsasariling Organisasyon sa Kanayunan (UNORKA) _ Partnership for Agrarian Reform and Rural Development Services (PARRDS)

CONTACT PERSONS: UNORKA National Council Member Evangeline Mendoza (438-9762) and PARRDS Executive Director Belinda Formanes (926-1153)
Sr. Arnold Ma. Noel

THE SECRETARY OF JUSTICE : INJUSTICE PERSONIFIED?

Just as the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) through Undersecretary Bernardo Cruz announced that it would avail of military and police assistance to help and ensure peaceful installation of CARP beneficiaries in areas where there are possible violent resistance by landowners - which, in the first place, is basic standard procedure and is therefore nothing new, the Honorable Secretary of Justice swiftly butts in and issues an absolutely misplaced and unfounded warning by stating: “Don’t alarm the country. Don’t threaten the landowners. Take it easy. Don’t be harsh” which have been reported and published in newspapers. It is also informed that the Honorable Secretary has at one time or another, advised the Department of Agrarian Reform to “go easy” in the implementation of the (CARL).

Although we could simply ignore and dismiss these statements by the Honorable Secretary especially so that no less than the eminent and highly-respected Fr. Joaquin G. Bernas, S.J. says that “no intelligent person would take Gonzalez seriously” (PDI, May 14, 2006), we are alarmed nonetheless precisely because this affects the millions of beneficiaries many of whom are uneducated and unintelligent. We are therefore constrained to issue this statement to counter and effectively disprove the connotation of such absurd, preposterous and unfounded statements with the aim in view of assuring and re-assuring all those tasked to ensure peaceful installations that there is absolutely nothing alarming nor harsh nor threatening to the land-owners with the use of pre-emptive security measures.

On the contrary, if we are to “read between the lines” of these reported statements made by the Honorable Secretary, there are more than enough reasons to believe that he is fomenting injustice for he is practically telling DAR to let the poor and weak agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) to fend for themselves against powerful, rich and well-connected landowners. The Honorable Secretary is very much aware of the perennial trouble that comes along with the implementation of the CARL. He is likewise very much aware of the DAR’s raison d’ etre to ensure the attainment of the mandates prescribed in R.A. 6657 and he is most certainly aware of his Department’s vital role in the implementation as well as that of the other agencies of the government, all geared towards a coordinated and effective effort in attaining the law’s objectives.

Yet, despite all these, the Honorable Secretary attempts to dismantle or negate in one stroke all the gains thus far attained through the painstaking efforts of the different government agencies by dictating to the DAR (which is not even his turf) by giving pieces of advice which are all anathema to the CARP in ALL RESPECTS! And what alarms us even more is that no one in the administration admonishes or prevents the Honorable Secretary from issuing anti-farmer beneficiary statements such as those aforequoted.

Unless the Honorable Secretary clearly and categorically denies having made these statements, unless he could explain how and why the mere presence of those tasked to peacefully enforce the law is per se a threat to the landowners, or alarming to the country or harsh, the perception shall remain: that he is anti-social justice and personified injustice.

What is more, unless the administration clearly and categorically denies subscribing to this stance of the Honorable Secretary, unless it translates this denial into no-nonsense and persevering investigations of CARP-related atrocities in the past, the latest of which being the cold-blooded murder of UNORKA Secretary General Ernesto “ka Eric” Cabanit last 24 April 2006 in Panabo, Davao del Norte, and unless it truly and sincerely implements the use of the military and police to secure the would-be installed farmers against violent landowners, the perception will remain: that this administration is beholden to the powerful and rich landowners and that it merely pays lip service in the full implementation of CARP, and that it could not care any less on the wholesale slaughter of helpless farmers.

Having unwittingly revealed his bias against farmers beneficiaries, the Honorable Secretary ought to resign if only for delicadeza.

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