Sagay 9

REJOINDER TO MALACAÑANG’S OUTRIGHT LIES REGARDING SAGAY MASSACRE

Published on October 23, 2018 in Statements

Communist Party of the Philippines
23 October 2018

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) dismisses as outright lies the statements of Malacañang claiming that the NPA is behind the massacre of nine farm workers last Saturday in Hacienda Nene, in Sagay City, Negros Occidental.

The CPP denounces Duterte and his officials for twisting facts and sowing disinformation to confuse the public and conceal the responsibility of the military- and police-backed private armies and paramilitary groups behind the Sagay massacre and the spate of killings against peasant leaders in Negros island.

Ultimately, it is Duterte himself who is culpable for having spread contempt for human rights and incited the AFP and PNP to commit widespread violence and mount attacks against the people under his Oplan Kapayapaan war of suppression.

The conjecture by police officials that the NPA committed the massacre to stir up the masses is garbage. Everyday, the peasant masses, especially in Negros, are roused to revolt by the the big landlords and the fascist regime who subject them to all forms of exploitation, oppression and armed violence.

The NPA is a largely peasant army that wages people’s war to advance their democratic demand for land reform. It will never put the peasant masses and people in harms way.

It exerts all effort to defend the lives of the peasants against the violent attacks of the rural despots and their armed goons.

It is the landlords of Negros and all over the country who zealously oppose land reform. They do not want to accede even a square inch of land to the peasants who are merely demanding the right to plant food crops in the small patches of land between or around the vast sugarcane haciendas.

The revolutionary authorities in Negros are now conducting its investigation into the Sagay massacre. A special people’s court can be convened soonest in order to try the criminals behind the massacre and heed the cry for justice of the peasants and farm workers.

#AgrarianRevolution
#JusticeForSagay9

NDFP RWC-SER: SAGAY 9 MASSACRE UNDERSCORES EVILS OF HACIENDA SYSTEM AND THE NEED FOR GENUINE AGRARIAN REFORM

Published on October 23, 2018 in Statements

Juliet de Lima
Chairperson, NDFP RWC-SER
22 October 2018

The NDFP Reciprocal Working Committee on Social Economic Reforms (RWC-SER) strongly condemns the massacre of nine peasants, including two minors, in Sagay City, Negros Occidental on the night of October 20.

The victims, who were members of the National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW), were having supper after working on their land cultivation area in the 75-hectare Hacienda Nene in Barangay Bulanon as part of efforts to stave off hunger during the “tiempo muerto” or dead season in the sugar industry. The peasants plant food crops to feed their families in idle lands that are already covered by, but remain undistributed under the government’s land reform program.

This massacre bring to 197 the total number of peasants killed under the Duterte regime in connection with agrarian struggles.

The murder of the Sagay 9 underscores the evils of the hacienda system and the failure of the GRP to effect social justice through genuine agrarian reform.

As long as a handful of landlords monopolize land ownership and perpetuate their power through force, the Sagay 9 will not be the last victims of agrarian-related violence. Agrarian unrest will persist as the peasant masses continue to suffer from widespread poverty, high indebtedness, severe hunger and malnutrition.

President Rodrigo Duterte and the militarists in his cabinet have blood on their hands for terminating the peace negotiations that would have resulted in the adoption of the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER)’s section on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ARRD).

The draft ARRD, which was scheduled for signing last November before Duterte abruptly cancelled the peace talks provides for the free distribution of big landholdings and landed estates including lands targeted by the government for distribution, haciendas that are under the control of private individuals or entities, disputed lands with local agrarian reform and peasant struggles and lands already occupied by farmers through various forms of land cultivation and collective farming activities.

The break-up of land monopolies and free land distribution are the just, necessary and urgent corrective measures to the centuries-old social injustices suffered by the peasantry. ###

#JusticeForSagay9
#StopKillingFarmers

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