VP aspirant Walden Bello calls for faster land distribution

As the country commemorates the 17th anniversary of the Hacienda Luisita massacre,  vice presidential aspirant Walden Bello exhorted the  government to complete its land distribution to farmers.

Bello noted that only few lands were distributed since the agrarian reform program started in 1972 during the regime of Ferdinand Marcos until the current Duterte administration.

“Kokonti ho ang mga lupang naipamahagi sa ating mambubukid so widely recognized po na 'yung agrarian reform ni Marcos, was one of the most disappointing land reform programs in the world precisely because it mainly benefitted yung mga elitist, haciendero hindi ho yung mga karaniwang mambubukid,” Bello said during the Laban ng Masa press conference.

“Itong reporma agrario 70 years na ho itong na isang tinutulak ng ating mambubukid, 70 years of disappointment,” he said.

(This agrarian reform has been pushed for 70 years by our farmers, 70 years of disappointment.)

Bello, who is running with Leody De Guzman in Eleksyon 2022, said agrarian reform would be among their platforms to give farmers better lives.

He said the killing of seven farmers and wounding of over a hundred people pressing for land reform in Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac in 2004 must not be repeated.

“We must complete land redistribution of 700,000 hectares of land at hindi lang 'yon we need to stop yung agrarian counter reform kung saan binabawi yung mga lupain ng mga haciendero,” Bello said.

“Itutuloy namin itong transformation of the countryside for the benefit of the farmers, we will not stop until we have full and effective agrarian reform in the Philippines ‘yan ho ang pangako namin ni Ka Leody,” he added.

Both De Guzman and Bello are running under Laban ng Masa, a broad coalition of progressive groups.—Richa Noriega/LDF, GMA News