Tillers get same rough treatment at Mendiola By Charlie V. Manalo 07/04/2010

POLICE ARREST 41 FARMERS SEEKING LAND REFORM Tillers get same rough treatment at Mendiola By Charlie V. Manalo 07/04/2010 Barely on its third day of office, the administration of President Benigno Aquino appeared to have bared its fangs when elements of the Philippine National Police-Manila Police District (PNP-MPD) yesterday dispersed the Farmers Camp-Out for Genuine Land Reform at the foot of Mendiola Bridge on its fourth day, arresting 41 striking farmers. The striking farmers from Southern Tagalog were seeking the distribution of the more than 7,000-hectare Hacienda Yulo in Canlubang, Calamba, Laguna. The first two days of the camp-out was joined by Hacienda Luisita farmworkers who are also demanding the distribution of the 6,000-hectare sugar estate owned by the Cojuangco family of the President. Anakpawis party-list Rep. Rafael Mariano condemned the dispersal and called on the police to immediately release the 41 farmers, including Servillano Luna Jr., campaign officer of the Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura and a consultant in Mariano’s office, who was arrested while negotiating with the police. Mariano said that the 39 farmers are “the first casualties of the Aquino administration” and that the incident “signals the continuation of state-sponsored human rights violations.” “This is a portent of things to come under the Aquino administration. Instead of heeding their demands, their peaceful demonstration was violently dispersed,” he said.  Reports said that the police unit that dispersed the farmers protest camp-out is in civilian clothes. “We demand the immediate release of Luna and all the arrested farmers. It is the right of farmers to demand the free distribution of the lands they cultivate and develop,” says Mariano, who also chairs the peasant group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas. As of press time, the farmers are grouped inside the jail while Luna was isolated at the General Assignments Section of the MPD.  Hacienda Luisita farmworkers also claim that the military have started harassing them.... MORE Source:  The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100704hed1.html

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