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 IMPAC T June 2007 / Vol 41 • No 6

CONTENTS
EDITORIAL
ASKED to comment about the last midterm elections, one
archbishop was overheard as saying, “it was very peaceful, Carping Up and Away .................................................. 23
the vote buying was so peaceful”. He said it as calmly as one COVER STORY
would with a tinge of resignation after a long battle with a
system that has never, and probably will never ever, budged.
“Our volunteers were very frustrated,” said another bishop.
The vote-shaving, the killings and ingenious ways of cheating
aside, even just the making of a simple voters’ list to order the
COMELEC could not do.

Cover photo by Denz Dayao

In a precinct near the central COMELEC headquarters
in Intramuros, it took me an hour and a half (and a couple of
arguments) to find my name—in a barangay with just about
three hundred or so voters. There are 3 years in between
elections, why can’t COMELEC put the voters list to order?
Cellphone companies in the country have subscribers twice
more than the registered voters. And yet names are listed with
admirable precision so that when you pay your phone bills
over the counter, it just takes a split-second to get all your
billing data to the last detail up to the name of your father who
has decided to rest to thy-kingdom-come.
This is neither inefficiency nor indolence. This is an
agenda, a political mechanism so that disenfranchisements
and technical cheating would be as easy as making perspiring
and lining-up voters splendidly stupid. And this is not talking
yet about the likes of Maguindanao or Lanao where electoral
schemes are hatched years ahead. Or of the clones of “garci”
and the jueteng money that operates as smoothly as a double-
faced commissioner.
Unless this country’s electoral system is reformed noth-
ing else will ever be reformed. For, why will I have the guts
to give credence to a president or her subalterns if she herself
had been a fruit of a rotten, hence heavily doubtful, electoral
process—even if they promise reforms to the high heavens?
This issue opens with Sister Aida Velasquez, OSB,
talking about climate change. Without being alarmist, this is
an issue that should not be taken for granted due the impending
effects of global warming.
But most of the discussion in this volume is about the
Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) of the
government. And how we wish there were more pages to
accommodate more submissions on the issue. After 19
years—and that’s a year before its scheduled maturity—has
CARP ever made a dint? Can anybody call it a success or a
rueful failure? Does it need to be extended after its expiration
next year or shall it naturally fold up and courageously accept
its deformities?
Answers do not come easy—especially when you now
reckon with hundreds of lives murdered under the aegis of
CARP, and families—especially of helpless farmers—wasted
to naught. Read on.
Twenty Years of CARP: What Has Been Achieved
and How? ...................................................................... 16
ARTICLES
Facing Climate Change Together ................................ 4
CARP in Cojuangco Lands: Of Great Dreams and
Blood Spilt! ...................................................................... 6
GMAs Reform Paradigm Will End Equity and
Justice-based CARP ....................................................... 8
Renewed Confidence and Hope Among Peasants:
The Landmark Legal Victory of the Beneficiaries of
Hacienda Maria ........................................................... 10
Rural Empowerment through Agrarian
Development: The Victorious Struggle of Peasants
in Central Luzon ........................................................ 12
Has CARP Really Helped the Farmers? ................... 14
Land Reform Struggles of Bondoc
Peninsula Tenants ...................................................... 20
Salvaging our Politics ................................................... 22
DEPARTMENTS
Quote in the Act ................................................................ 2
From the Blogs ................................................................ 25
News Features ................................................................ 26
From the Inbox ............................................................... 28
Book Reviews .................................................................. 29
CINEMA Review ........................................................... 30
Quotes in Quiz ................................................................ 30
News Briefs ...................................................................... 31
Volume 41 • Number 6 3
ARTICLES
Facing Climate
Change Together
By Sr. Ma. Aida Velasquez, OSB
O
ur beautiful and bountiful earth is
now facing the scourge of a global
economy that has been operating
at the cost of the destruction of the life
support systems of our planet leaving
teeming billions of people poor. There
have been movements to change this situ-
ation and demands to change this global
economic pattern. Voices have been raised
to warn world leaders and communities of
this ecological crisis since the late 80’s.
People, old and young, have been told
that the temperature of the earth is rising.
That this will melt the ice in the polar regions
and that there will be a rise in sea level.
Scientists have warned that a rise in
temperature can lead to extremes of weather.
There can be more frequent and stronger
typhoons accompanied by flooding. More
incidents and longer periods of drought can
4 IMPACT • June 2007
occur.
These will affect food supply from the
land and from the sea. New diseases may be
triggered; there may be resurgence of those
that may have been eliminated in the past like
tuberculosis and malaria. Many species of
plants and animals will disappear.
In 2001, UN Environment Programme
(UNEP) Executive Director Klaus Topfer
referring to the Third Assessment Report of
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) said “Intensive climate re-
search and monitoring over the past few
years has given scientists greater confi-
dence in their understanding of the causes
and effects of global warming. The scientific
consensus presented in this comprehensive
report about human-induced climate change
should sound alarm bells in every national
capital and in every local community.”
© Roy Lagarde / IMPACT
Newspapers reported that global warm-
ing was more severe than scientists previ-
ously thought and the effects would endure
for centuries according to a panel of UN
experts. With the rise in global sea levels and
temperatures there would be much pressure
in agricultural production and strain on wa-
ter resources.
By early 2002, many started fearing that
the drought, floods and rising sea levels due
to warmer weather would create millions of
refugees from drowning island—nations and
possible wars over increasingly scarce fresh
water.
It was seen that economies would likely
take a blow as farming, fishing and business
would be affected by the change of climate.
At the 12th Conference of Parties to the
UN Framework Convention on Climate
Change (November 2006), many speakers

pointed to the fact that climate change has
been happening in the Artic, East Africa and
the Pacific and many other parts of the world.
They decried that those countries which
contribute least to greenhouse gas emission
stand to suffer the worst consequences of
climate change.
Recently the reality of climate change
has been brought to millions of viewers
through Al Gore’s very disturbing and terri-
fying documentary entitled, “An Inconve-
nient Truth”—the melting of polar ice, ice
shelf collapses, the inundation of coastal
areas of several well-known places, inci-
dents of polar bears swimming for long miles
and then drowning because of thin ice sheets,
newly hatched birds dying because their
usual food is not available on time due to
weather changes.
Then some
weeks ago a sum-
mary of the massive "In order to cope with the daunting prospects of
Fourth Assessment
Report of the IPCC
reiterates: “As a re-
climate change Filipinos need to discover the
sult of human activi-
ties the global atmo- vision of a sustainable Philippines in the PA21,
spheric concentra-
tions of carbon diox-
ide, methane and ni-
and creatively, diligently and painstakingly
trous oxide have
markedly increased. meet its challenge."
The global increases
in carbon dioxide
concentration are due primarily to fossil fuel
(oil, coal) and land-use changes, while those
of methane and nitrous oxide are primarily
due to agriculture.
Warming of the climate system is un-
equivocal, as is now evident from observa-
tion of increase in global average air and
ocean temperatures, widespread melting of
snow and ice and rising global average sea
level.”
“More intense and longer droughts
have been observed over wider areas since
the 1970s, particularly in the tropics and
subtropics… The frequency of heavy pre-
cipitation events has increased over most
land areas… Widespread changes in ex-
treme temperatures have been observed over
the last 50 years. Cold days, cold nights and
frost have become less frequent, while hot
days, hot nights, and heat waves become
more frequent…”
The Report assesses the past and fu-
ture impact of rising temperatures on the
planet’s ecosystems and inhabitants.
According to the report there will also
be far-reaching consequences for the
planet’s biodiversity. It predicted that a tem-
perature rise of 1.5-2.5 degrees Celsius will
Facing Climate Change Together
threaten 20-30 percent of species. If tempera-
tures rise by 4 degrees Celsius, “few ecosys-
tems will be able to adapt”.
The IPCC Fourth Assessment Report
gave a projected average sea level rise at the
end of the 21st century ranging from a low
estimate of 0.18 to a high of 0.59 meter based
on different scenarios. Keeping this in mind,
it may be helpful to know that last April 2007
a report from Greenpeace warns that “the
entire Philippines is a climate hotspot” and
the country is “vulnerable to the worst mani-
festations of climate change”. Conservative
estimates from Greenpeace foresee that a
one-meter rise in sea level may affect 64 of the
country’s 81 provinces, which cover at least
703 of the 1,610 municipalities and submerge
almost 700 million square meters of land,
including islets, across the country. The
Greenpeace study also identified the top 20
provinces in the country which are vulner-
able to a one-meter rise in seal level. These
are Sulu, Palawan, Zamboanga del Sur, North-
ern Samar, Zamboanga Sibugay, Basilan,
Cebu, Davao del Norte, Bohol, Camarines
Sur, Quezon, Tawi-Tawi, Masbate, Negros
Occidental, Camarines Norte, Capiz,
Catanduanes, Samar, Zamboanga del Norte,
and Maguindanao.
What can citizens do? What can
each one of us do?
There are lists of what everyone can do
to “save the Earth”. Foremost are reducing
consumption to what is necessary and con-
serving water and energy. We are reminded
for years to reduce what we buy; reuse and
recycle them. These actions can become
habitual only when a person is driven by an
inner urge to do her/his share in rehabilitat-
ing the Earth. Many have been inspired by
the new story of creation which unravels,
with the aid of scientific data, the story of the
universe and how life has evolved. Accept-
ing the story can mean doing something
daily to help get rid of the throw-away men-
tality. Serious efforts to do away with plastic
bags, is a good indicator of this resolve. The
problem of solid wastes in the country points
to the enormity and difficulty of casting out
the throw-away mentality.
A much greater undertaking is rehabili-
tating, protecting and enhancing our eco-
systems. Our decimated forests and degraded
lowlands, coastal and marine areas and fresh-
water areas need all the attention and care
that can be given them.
This rainy season individuals, families
and communities, who recently suffered from
the many hot days, will be prudent and wise
to plant trees and/or actively support groups
committed to increasing the forest cover
estimated in 1998 at 22.8%.
Add to all these tasks the numerous
issues like mining, ge-
netic engineering/ge-
netically engineered
(modified) organisms
(GEOs/GMOs), the Ja-
pan Philippine Eco-
nomic Partnership
Agreement, the Laiban
Dam, etc. and advoca-
cies for sustainable ag-
riculture, food sover-
eignty, Indigenous
Peoples, human rights,
renewable energy, etc.
At present numer-
ous intermeshed
socio-economic, political, cultural, ecologi-
cal issues and activities are pursued sepa-
rately. And to think that all these endeavors
will be burdened and complicated all the
more by the effects of climate change!
While it is important to insist that our
government honor its commitment to the
Kyoto Protocol and demand that rich coun-
tries put in mitigation schemes to keep global
temperature increases as low as possible, it
is essential that sufficient time, resources
and efforts are focused on what can keep our
islands stable and sustainable.
Certainly a comprehensive, integrated
approach that can address the complex situ-
ation is imperative. More than ever there is
need to change the present development
paradigm. All kinds of compromises, espe-
cially by governments, have brought people
to this wretched stage of our planet.
As the grim reality of the consequences
of global warming dawns on economists and
governments, more voices are now heard
calling for a shift to low carbon economy.
And FAST! so as to avoid a much greater
financial cost (and suffering ) of dilly-dally-
ing and procrastination.
Facing p24
Volume 41 • Number 6 5
ARTICLES
CARP in Cojuangco Lands:
Of Great Dreams and
Blood Spilt!
As recounted by Evangeline Mendoza
H
acienda de Los Reyes is approxi-
mately 246 hectares in land area,
covering about half of Barangay
Imok, in Calauan, Laguna. Its main product
is coconut with vegetable and fruits such
as rambutan, gabi, garlic, cassava, string
beans, and peanuts as secondary crops.
The estate was previously owned by
Geronimo de Los Reyes, who died in 1988
and was inherited by the heiress Margarita
“Tingting” de Los Reyes-Cojuangco, wife
of Don Peping Cojuangco. At first, there
were 15 farmer families who lived inside the
hacienda as tenants and began planting
coconut trees in the area. By the 1950-
1960s, their number increased to about 67
families.
Life inside the hacienda has been
exploitative and unbearably tyrannical.
The sharing arrangement between the land-
lord and the tenants was 70-30 in favor of
the landowner. Basically, all movements in
6 IMPACT • June 2007
the hacienda were controlled. Everyone guards and declared as thieves. Old ten-
will have to secure a gate pass to go to the ants recounted that 13 farmers were killed
uplands and harvest coconuts. Farmers as they tried to fight the system.
were not allowed to grow animals for food To secure their estate, the landown-
or to augment their incomes. They could ers installed barbed wires around the ha-
not even gather grasses as these were to cienda. Security was beefed up and around
be used in feeding the horses of the land- thirty (30) armed men were hired to main-
owner. When they needed to see the tain order inside the hacienda. This forced
Señora, they had to bring fruits with them the tenants to relocate near the roads, by
and kneel as an obeisance to her authority. the highway. When they were allowed to
The farmers resisted the oppressive build a chapel, they had the roofs over-
environment. Fifteen of the original ten- extended to accommodate twelve (12) ten-
ants filed a case in court to secure recog- ant families. Others just built small huts
nition as tenants. In 1987, the Supreme with no electricity. When the community
Court decided and recognized the 13 peti- was wrecked by typhoons, the tenants
tioners as legitimate tenants, but denied were prevented from renovating huts since
recognition of two other tenant-leaders. In they were considered squatters and illegal
retaliation the houses of opposing ten- occupants. As if not enough, the land-
ants’ were burned to the ground. They owners issued notices of eviction against
were not allowed to their farms and those the sixty-seven (67) tenants. The tenants
who continued to resist were killed. Some countered and filed petition for CARP
went to their farms at night and shot by coverage but they lost.
This failed to dissuade them and by
1989, SMHDLR (Samahan ng Magsasaka
sa Hacienda de Los Reyes) a new local
peasant organization was formed. Mobili-
zations were planned ushering series of
engagements with the DAR. The tenants’
vigorousness was evident in the packets of
successes attained through concerted ef-
forts. Their one (1) week picket in front of
the DAR-CO for one resulted to the issu-
© mejanmhi@www.myislandsphilippines.net
ance of a notice of coverage in their favor
signed by then Secretary Benjamin Leong.
Consequently, the landowners filed crimi-
nal cases such as qualified theft, malicious
mischief and libel cases against all the sixty-
seven (67) families imprisoning some of its
members. They persisted with mass actions
until all cases were dismissed.
 CARP in Cojuangco Lands:
The petitioners also encountered
doldrums in their long-drawn land reform
struggle. One factor that caused the long
delay of the CARP coverage aside from the
landowners themselves was the revolu-
tionary movement. It called for free distri-
bution of lands. For them, CARP is a sham.
In effect, some petitioners doubted and
chose not to be covered by the distribu-
tion program. Compounding the situation,
the landlords protested the government’s
cheap valuation of the de Los Reyes estate
which was pegged at P3M for the 130
hectares covered. DAR decided in 1998 to
proceed with the CLOA distribution pro-
cess. At this point, the local DAR official
was changed. Barangay officials inter-
vened by bloating the original number of
petitioners from 67 to150 beneficiaries
some of whom were not actual tillers.
By 2001, parts of the retained areas
were also covered. This time the organiza-
tion was on top of everything and strictly
supervised the process. The provincial
Of Great Dreams and Blood Spilt!
DAR also worked closely with the group.
On February 14, 2007, CLOAs were handed
swift and fair.
Today, the farmer-beneficiary CLOA
awardees declared their lives have
changed for the better, for real. As a
testimony, since 2001, there are 10 families
who were able to buy vehicles transport-
ing their produce to other areas to haggle
for better prices.
In contrast, those awardees who were
not farmers but were included in the list by
insistent barangay officials sold their
awarded lots instead of developing them.
Freed from the 70-30 sharing arrange-
ment, the SMHDLR members claimed, they
can now afford to buy food more than
enough. Such opportunities became pos-
sible as they now have many alternative
sources of income from varied farm pro-
duce aside from coconut, pineapple, veg-
etable and animal integration. Instead of
makeshift huts, the farmers now live in
houses built of concrete materials, with
© http://qc.indymedia.org
electricity and appliances. Their children
now go to school. While most Filipinos
need to work as domestic helpers or enter-
tainers abroad, the farmers here develop
their lands, their families and their commu-
nities without losing dignity and breaking
their families. Also, the land valuation is
affordable: the homelot of one beneficiary
was valued at P900.00 and the farmlot was
P15,000.00.
Today, the entire community has food,
plants and products. The situation has
greatly improved, with farm to market roads
and people working with dignity. Those
who petitioned not to be covered by CARP,
now want their areas covered, in fulfill-
ment of their long dream of owning the
piece of land that has taken the lives of so
many farmers…. their grandparents who
fought so that the hacienda can be redis-
tributed to their grandchildren! I
(Evangeline Mendoza is a land reform beneficiary and
leader of a national federation of landless rural poor,
Ugnayan ng Nagsasariling Lokal na Organisasyon sa
Kanayunan)
Volume 41 • Number 6 7
ARTICLES
GMAs New Land
Reform Paradigm
Will End Equity and
Justice-based CARP
By Danilo Carrranza
O
ne critical issue confronting the
government in the run-up to the
“second” deadline of CARP in 2008
will have to do with how to complete land
redistribution in communities undergoing
agrarian reform transformation. To date,
thousands of struggling rural poor com-
munities all over the country have actively
engaged the government to claim their
rights under the Comprehensive Agrarian
Reform Program (CARP) and to fulfill a
dream—to own and till a piece of land.
While CARP is already about to expire
after nearly two decades of implementa-
tion, it is only belatedly that many rural
poor communities are submitting their
claims as potential beneficiaries. To a great
extent, this belated claim to land rights
exposes the inadequacy of the govern-
ment to inform the rural poor of their rights.
It also manifests the powerlessness of the
rural poor in claiming their rights under
existing laws due to grievous risks that
include physical annihilation and eco-
nomic dislocation evident in many rural
communities today.1
There are communities that are lo-
cated somewhere in the middle of the te-
dious and contentious process of land
redistribution. These communities are
continually trying to influence the land
reform processes in their favor including
actual coverage of the lands they till
against, among others, landowners ma-
neuvers to exempt their lands from land
reform. There are also communities in the
8 IMPACT • June 2007
“almost there” type, where potential ben-
eficiaries are waiting for their respective
titles to be formally awarded or to be prop-
erly installed in the land awarded to them.
There are communities that are mobi-
lizing to redefine their entitlement in favor
of direct land control due to the failure of
the specific CARP scheme implemented in
their respected areas: the farm workers of
Hacienda Luisita as well as farm workers in
corporate farms in Negros Occidental who
are affected by the stock distribution op-
tion (SDO). They also include a significant
number of farm worker-beneficiaries in
plantations in Mindanao under the lease-
back option who are now campaigning to
rescind onerous contracts between them
and the former owner-leasing corpora- equity and justice-based clamor for land
tions. Finally, there are communities that by the rural poor is replaced by “new farms
are mobilizing against land reform rever- for agribusiness” and where awarded Cer-
sals such as cancellation of EPs and tificate of Land Ownership Awards
CLOAs, land-use conversion of farmlands, (CLOAs) can be used as collateral for
and exemption of livestock areas and re- loans 2. Accordingly, this new paradigm
classified lands (industrial, commercial intends to create job opportunities for the
residential or eco-tourism) that have been rural poor through the development of 2
covered under CARP. million hectares of new lands for
With no other alternative in sight, for agribusiness and generate 2 million out of
many of these potential agrarian reform 10 million jobs targeted in 2010. These new
beneficiaries, the end of CARP in 2008 is lands for agribusiness will include big pri-
the end of their dream of having a land to vate lands, government-owned lands and
own and till. Ironically for the current public lands, lands that have not been
government, as articulated time and again redistributed under the CARP.
by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Yet, this “new paradigm” is not en-
the end of CARP is the beginning of a new tirely new. It is as old as the big haciendas
land reform paradigm: the paradigm of operating under corporate set-up con-
“non-confrontational” land reform, where trolled by a few landowning Philippine
GMAs New Land Reform Paradigm Will End Equity and Justice-based CARP
elite and profit-oriented foreign capital.
The export-oriented pineapple and banana
plantations in Mindanao are forms of
agribusiness that create a lot of profit for
the multinationals and big private corpo-
rations. Its workers, however, remain very
poor that they continue to demand for
redistributive land reform. Corporate-
owned sugar plantations in the Visayas as
well as in Luzon are considered
agribusiness ventures but they neither
provide secure incomes nor security of
tenure and basic rights like minimum wage
among its thousands of workers. Their
tillers continue to demand fair labor condi-
tions as well as, expectedly, the implemen-
tation of agrarian reform. This kind of
agribusiness set up enables a privilege
few maintaining stranglehold of vast land
© Denz Dayao / CBCPMedia
resources that should be redistributed
through agrarian reform.
A key feature of this new land reform
paradigm includes the promise by govern-
ment to open up public lands as “new
lands” for reform, to include “idle and
under utilized public lands as well as alien-
able and disposable lands. This promise
does not conform with realities at the
ground. It is a fact that even public lands
in the country are under the control of big
and influential landlords: in Quezon, Iloilo,
Negros, Masbate and many other prov-
inces in the country, vast expanse of pub-
lic lands that include inalienable forest
lands are directly controlled by big land-
lords with thousands of occupants work-
ing as tenants or settlers and control of
lands must be transferred to actual occu-
pants through redistributive reform to ef-
fect equitable access to and benefit from
public lands.
The recent RP-China agreement that
will allow Chinese agribusiness investors
to use thousands of hectares of public
lands is one such example of agribusiness
venture under the “new land reform” para-
digm. Most unfortunately under this set
up, utilization of lands are determined by
the needs of people in China at the expense
of rural poor Filipinos and over the need
for food sovereignty.
Nine crop species (cassava, corn,
soybean, fruit trees, coconut, oil palm,
rubber cassava, abaca and coffee) were
listed as priority commodities for
agribusiness. Four crops (cassava, corn,
soybean and sorghum) are raw materials
for feed supply to be raised through cor-
porate tie-up with San Miguel Corporation
(SMC). They shall occupy 24.4% of the
1.35 million hectares of the supposedly
idle/under utilized lands targeted for
agribusiness3
This “new paradigm” cannot be
equated with equity and justice-based land
reform: it veers away from land redistribu-
tion. It will not result in income redistribu-
tion in favor of the vast majority of the rural
poor. The main task of completing land
reform still depends, to a great extent on
the implementation of CARP. To be more
effective, reforms in the law have to be
made to expand the coverage of land redis-
tribution to include public lands, all ten-
anted landholdings and agriculturally pro-
ductive lands. The most undesirable sce-
nario among potential beneficiaries of
agrarian reform is to be abandoned with-
out any option to claim land rights due to
the untimely termination of the CARP. But
certainly the new paradigm being proposed
by the government involving the estab-
lishments of agribusiness is not an agrar-
ian reform option. It is business, pure and
simple. I
1
From 2001 to the present, there were 38 farmers
killed in the course of their agrarian reform struggles
and 2,342 victims of continuing frustrated murder,
evacuation, criminalization of agrarian struggles,
imprisonment, arson. This also represents farmers
whose lives are in great peril. (PARRDS, An NGO
Report to the United Nations Pertaining to Violations
along Agrarian Reform and Human Rights, June
2006)
2 In a speech in Bacolod last April 2007, President
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo articulated her new land
reform paradigm in response to questions on whether
the government would review its policies on the
implementation of land reform to prevent further
bloodshed and whether the Comprehensive Agrarian
Reform Program (CARP) should be implemented
beyond 2008.
3
“New Lands for Agribusiness”: Deathblow to Agrarian
Reform and Adequate Food, an Occasional Paper by
PEACE Network, May 2005.
Volume 41 • Number 6 9
ARTICLES
Renewed Confidence and Hope Among Peasants:
The Landmark Legal Victory of the
Beneficiaries of Hacienda Maria
By Jane Lynn D. Capacio
B
efore their victory at the Supreme
Court, Samuel Estribillo, one of the
farmer beneficiaries from the con-
tested land in Barangay Angas, Sta. Josefa,
Agusan del Sur, looked tired and appre-
hensive. He is weary from the drawn out
case, untrusting of government officials,
yet still possessing a glimmer of hope that
things will, in the end, be alright. However,
in June 2006, when the Supreme Court
made a landmark ruling in favor of farmer
beneficiaries, Sammy’s face lit up. His eyes
looked relax and his smile was no longer
slow in coming. When joked about his new
aura, he would answer that a heavy toll
10 IMPACT • June 2007
was lifted from his shoulders.
Hacienda Maria Inc. (HMI) purchased
527.8 hectares of untenanted land from the
government in December 1950. HMI
brought in sacadas or farmworkers to im-
prove and till the land. In 1972, when
Presidential Decree (PD) 27 declared that
all tenanted rice and corn land be covered
by Operation Land Transfer (OLT) and
awarded to peasants, a representative of
HMI, Joaquin Colmenares, offered the
entire property under OLT and began re-
ceiving payments for landowner’s com-
pensation.
Records showed that HMI, through
Colmenares, actively participated in the
OLT proceedings. HMI was even a signa-
tory to an undated Landowner and Tenant
Production Agreement (LPTA) for the
entire property that was submitted to the
Land Bank of the Philippines in 1977. In the
same year, HMI executed a Deed of As-
signment of Rights, which was registered
at the Registry of Deeds.
Erroneous Coverage?
Nothing was heard of from HMI until
1997 when it legally questioned the distri-
bution of 277 hectares portion of the land
to 25 tenants. HMI sought the cancella-
The Landmark Legal Victory of the Beneficiaries of Hacienda Maria

tion of the beneficiaries’ Emancipation
Patents (EPs), land titles issued under PD
27, claiming that the area is erroneously
annotated under agrarian reform. Twenty
years after the OLT and despite continu-
ous receipt of landowner’s compensation,
the HMI insisted the area was not ten-
anted and was not devoted to rice and corn
at the time of coverage.
The Regional Agrarian Reform Adju-
dicator (RARAD) of CARAGA granted
the petition of HMI to cancel the EPs and
Transfer Certificates of Title (TCTs) of the
beneficiaries. The Department of Agrarian
Reform Adjudication Board (DARAB) af-
firmed the decision of the RARAD when
the claimants appealed the case. The Court
of Appeals issued a similar ruling on tech-
nical grounds. Estribillo vouched that the
property was tenanted and was planted to
rice and corn. He lamented that he and his
fellow beneficiaries had been tilling the
land for two decades and most have al-
ready fully paid for their awarded land
when the petition to cancel their EPs was
granted. When they were even told that
their titles were fake, he felt helpless.
ganization of the beneficiaries, and in-
creased sense of confidence and hope of
the people. Because of the legal battle that
they faced, the beneficiaries decided to do
something about their problem. They
formed the Kahiusahan sa Malahutayong
mga Mag-uuma para sa Ekonomikanhong
Kalambuan or KAMMPE (Union of Sus-
tainable Farmers for Economic Develop-
ment) in 1997. KAMMPE became the rural
people’s direct response to the problems
and threats brought about by the claim of
the HMI to their land. It became their voice
in the many dialogues, rallies, and court
hearings that they went to in the course of
their battle.
The case also led to the increase in
knowledge and skills of the peasants.
Through the assistance of NGOs like
KAISAHAN, HEED, and BALAOD
Mindanaw, KAMMPE members and lead-
ers became active paralegals that are
equipped with capacities in understand-
ing the case and finding solutions.
(KAISAHAN, HEED Foundation, and
BALAOD-Mindanaw (Balay Alternative
Legal Advocates for Development) are
NGOs that assisted KAMMPE.
KAISAHAN is based in Quezon City, HEED
in Agusan del Sur, and BALAOD
Mindanaw in Cagayan de Oro City.)
Today, Sammy and the other mem-
bers of KAMMPE, are reaping the ben-
efits of their victory. While a decade of
their lives was spent in struggle, they are
now finally the full owners of their prop-
erty. For some of KAMMPE’s members,
the victory happened when they are al-
most too old to enjoy their landownership.
But nevertheless, the victory is for their
children and grandchildren. For the first
time in years, they have a renewed sense
of hope that the future is better for their
successors. I
(Jane Lynn D. Capacio is the Executive Director of
KAISAHAN tungo sa Kuanlaran ng Kanayunan at
Repormang Pansakahan, an NGO that served as
legal counsel of the beneficiaries in their legal battle
against HMI. KAISAHAN is a member of the Partnership
of Agrarian Reform and Rural Development Services,
PARRDS).

The indefeasibility of EPs

EPs, like CLOAs or Certificates of
Land Ownership Award, are proofs of
ownership. Like other titles that are en-
rolled in the Torrens System of Registra-
tion, the validity of EPs and CLOAs can-
not be questioned or contested one year
after the document was issued. Under this
system, the period for cancellation of a title
is one year.
In a 19-paged decision written by Jus-
tice Minita V. Chico-Nazario, the Supreme
Court ruled that the whole HMI property
was placed under land reform in 1977 with
the consent of the landowners who had
been paid for their property. “The unrea-
sonable delay of the HMI in filing the
petition for cancellation more than 20 years
after the alleged wrongful annotation of
the deed of assignment… and more than
10 years after the issuance of the TCT to
the farmers is apparently motivated by its
desire to receive a substantially higher
valuation and just compensation should
the disputed 277 hectares be covered un-
der Republic Act 6657 instead of PD 27,”
the ruling said.

The domino effect of the case

The case not only brought about legal
victory in terms of the increased security
of tenure of the beneficiaries, it also led to
the enhancement of judicial policy through
jurisprudence, strengthened people’s or-

Volume
Volume 41
41 •• Number
Number 66 11
11
ARTICLES
Rural Empowerment through
Agrarian Development:
The Victorious Struggle of
Peasants in Central Luzon
By the Project Development Institute/ PARRDS
T
he Project Development Institute
(PDI) initiated an alternative resettle
ment program for Mount Pinatubo
victims in 1991, using the concept of genu-
ine agrarian reform. PDI entered into a
Memorandum of Agreement with the De-
partment of Agrarian Reform to implement
a resettlement and reconstruction program
for farmer-victims of Mount Pinatubo’s
eruption. Both the Department of Agrar-
ian Reform Region III and PDI referred to
this program as MARC or model agrarian
reform community. DAR Region III repli-
cated the resettlement concept. The DAR
National Office adopted the concept but
revised the operational design and
launched it as the Agrarian Reform Com-
munity (ARC) Program in the following
year. PDI replicated the conceptual frame-
work of the MARC in a part of Fort
Magsaysay, located in Laur, Nueva Ecija.
The farmers resettled there were the for-
gotten victims of the July 16, 1990, earth-
quake in the Caraballo Mountains.
PDI’s program was different from other
resettlements. The problem after the erup-
tion was not merely landlessness but the
total loss of the land due to lahars. The
program responded according to these
situations. Under the program each family
received a 240-square meter home lot and
a 1.3-hectare farm lot. The program also
provided other support services, from
housing to food production assistance,
necessary to sustain the people through
the long and arduous process of resettle-
ment in a new place.
12 IMPACT • June 2007
DAR provided the agricultural lands
to the farmer-victims while PDI instituted
a capacity building and strengthening
program for them accompanied by eco-
nomic support structures.
The program had already completed
its resettlement phase. Sibol, the name
given by the people to their new home, is
now a new community. The problems and
aspirations of the people are already be-
yond the Mount Pinatubo eruption. The
Sibol Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries MPCI
(SARBMPCI) is one of the few coopera-
tives in Zambales. The women’s organiza-
tion in the area,Samahan ng Kababaihang
Magbubukid ng Sibol (SKMSI), has also
initiated several projects on its own. PDI
also expanded its program reach by initiat-
ing the Low External Input Sustainable
Agriculture or LEISA programs in
Barangays Bulawen, Salaza and Sto. Niño.
PDI is also helping in the reorganization of Hanover, Germany.
the people’s organizations not only in the By 2001, PDI developed The Commu-
above mentioned barangays but also in nity Enterprise Development Program in
other areas in Zambales. The unique situ- Zambales (CEDZ) as an alternative ap-
ation in each area nonetheless suggests proach to enterprise development for the
that new and creative approaches should people of Zambales. The program makes
be used. Instead of reviving the coopera- use of the talents, skills and creativity of
tives in each of the barangays, PDI is community organizers in convincing the
organizing associations of LEISA/SA prac- people to raise their own social and finan-
titioners. The LEISA practitioners in each cial capital before, during and after the
area are the direct beneficiaries of the PDI agricultural lands have been transferred to
marketing program. the farmer-beneficiaries. Through savings,
For its effort in developing and put- the people raise capital to be used as
ting into practice such a concept, PDI was counterpart for the program. The very act
given world recognition in the Basic Needs of saving develops an important value –
category at the World Expo 2000 held in something that was lost from the Filipino
 The Victorious Struggle of Peasants in Central Luzon
value system over the years. One of the
objectives of the program is to re-educate
the people with regard to the benefits of
saving. The very act of saving is in fact a
success indicator itself.
The capital build up process will also
be a learning process for the people.
Through meetings and regular consulta-
tions among the members of the savings
group or association, the people learn more
about themselves and their fellow mem-
bers, creating an atmosphere of mutual
trust within their group. Capital, raised
from the savings associations could also
be used by the people for enterprises or
other uses. The people will have many
options once a substantial amount, of
both social and financial capital, has been
raised. Enterprise development would only
be initiated after the people raise their
counterpart. No counterpart means no en-
terprise. This policy has been strictly en-
forced. One of the objectives of the pro-
gram in Zambales is to support or invest in
the social capital of self-help groups and
other poor communities in the province.
The program process restored the
basic endowments to rural households
whose primary means of generating liveli-
hood, accumulating wealth, and transfer-
ring resources to the next generation is
through land ownership. PDI has suc-
cessfully assisted the various POs in © Denz Dayao / CBCPMedia
Zambales in acquiring land rights and in
pushing the government to provide lands
to till. PDI provided economic support to
the target areas that are demand-driven
and based on local priorities. Through the
program, regional peasant and women’s
federations were established in Central
Luzon that help them organize and assess
their real condition.
Gains have been achieved in empow-
ering the peasants and women through
their transformation from being victims to
becoming owner-cultivators of their own
land, actively participating in local gover-
nance. I
Volume 41 • Number 6 13
ARTICLES

I
n Laborem Exercens of Pope John Paul
II, we read:
“Agriculture is of “fundamental
importance.” (101)
“Millions of people are forced to
cultivate the land belonging to
others and are exploited by the big
landowners, without any hope of
ever being to gain possession of
even a small piece of land of their
own.” (102)
“A call to church people to help bring
about “radical changes” in order to
restore to agriculture and rural
people in their just value as a basis
for a healthy economy.” (103)
For us farmers, land is a gift and a
realization of God’s promise of salvation to
all people. Depriving the farmers of a piece
of land to own and grabbing the indigenous
peoples’ ancestral land in the name of de-
velopment are concrete expressions of one’s
refusal and denial of the demand of the
Gospel. We can never discount the value of
our farmers nor can we belittle the signifi-
cance of agriculture for our nation and its
impact to the over-all economic develop-
ment of our country.
We toil, cultivate and plant, however,

Has CARP Really Helped

others are the ones benefiting and enjoying
from our harvest and production. Land is
still in the hands of the few landlords.
There have been so many laws en-

acted and innumerable Land Reform Pro-
grams prepared in the different presiden-
cies. One of which is Presidential Decree
(PD) 27 which was launched in October of
1972 during the Marcos dictatorship and
was revered to be the “cornerstone” of the
“Bagong Lipunan” (New Society). In this
program, farmers were given Certificates of
Land Transfer (CLT) and Emancipation
Patents (EP) which were subsequently with-
drawn and in toto nullified. Under this
program also, farmers were forced to plant
High Yielding Varieties (HYV) coming from
the International Rice Research Institute
(IRRI), a rice variety which was utterly de-
pendent on imported and costly fertilizers
and hazardous pesticides. To add insult to
injury, this “cornerstone” agrarian reform
program had a provision that mandated the
surrender and the destruction of all tradi-
tional and native rice varieties known to
poor farmers. These varieties did not re-
quire voluminous chemical inputs and have
been proven for consumption.
With CARP nothing substantial
has changed
Fast forward to 2007, Republic Act
(RA) 6657—the Comprehensive Agrarian
the Farmers?
By Danilo H. Ramos
Reform Law (CARL) or the Comprehensive
Agrarian Reform Program (CARP)—has
been in existence for 19 years. Nothing has
changed with the horrible systematic feu-
dalistic exploitation of farmers. It has done
nothing to reverse the semi-feudal rela-
tional structure in the countryside and in
agricultural regions. Nothing has changed
in the exploitative relationship, in terms of
production, between landowner and farmer.
In the current Philippine setting, 7 out of 10
farmers do not own the land they culti-
vate—and the remaining 3 who own their
land cannot continue farming with security.
The farmers are called “partners” by land-
owners, but in practice they are taxed to
death and are treated as scumbags. Exorbi-
tant interests on loans are rampant. Costs in
production are sky-high while the prices of
farm goods such as rice, corn, copra and the
like remain rock-bottom.
Chapter 2 of CARP provides for the
retention of 5 hectares to the landowner and
3 hectares to the landowner’s children. If
utilities are made available for free to ten-
ants of the hacienda, commercial farms or
plantations, then not less than 75% of the
private land controlled/owned by the land-
owner or the agro-corporation may be ex-
empt of agrarian reform—which conse-
quently overturns any proceedings towards
the achievement of genuine land reform.
In Section 17 of the same law, landown-
ers are allowed to seek “just compensation
according to fair market value,” therefore
giving them a free hand to collect land fees
or “taxes” from tenant farmers. This is clearly
a provision that follows the dictates of
landowners—oppressive and exploitative.
Again in that same law, the last to be af-
fected are the large agricultural land hold-
ings monopolized by landlords—powerful

14 IMPACT • June 2007


or not. These are but a glaring few of the
© Denz Dayao / CBCPMedia
palpable proofs that the RA 6657 is contra-
farmer, anti-agrarian reform and only exists
to serve the interests of a wealthy, powerful
few—nothing else than a rescript of foreign
domination.
Farmer beneficiaries of CARP were
given Certificate Land of Ownership Awards
(CLOA). This measly piece of paper is never
a guarantee that the land tilled by farmers
would be under their ownership, nor is it a
form of security to reside in the land area
farmers take care of. It is precisely govern-
ment agencies that disregard, withdraw and
cancel these certificates. These govern-
ment agencies turn a blind eye when land-
owners exact exorbitant rent and fees from
farmers or their tenants, and even when
payments have already exceeded the just
interests collected since 1972 when PD 27
came into effect. More than 2,000 CLOAs
and EPs which constitute 380,000 hectares
of land were cancelled in mid 2004, which
include CLOAs and EPs granted in the past
2 decades—affecting thousands of farmers
and their families. (cf. IBON Facts and Fig-
ures May 2006.)
According to the present regime, “…as
of December 2005, the Department of Agrar-
ian Reform (DAR) has secured the land
tenure of 2.13 million farmers through the
distribution of 3.7 million hectares of agri-
cultural lands nationwide.” These fabrica-
tions and trickery seemingly intends to
purport the shammed success of the GMA
administration’s agrarian reform. This ploy
is no different from the already debunked
land reform ‘magic’ of the Marcos dictator-
ship.
Even the so-called 1,784 Agrarian Re-
form Communities (ARC) in the country
which would only highlight land tenure
improvement, do not turnover land owner-
ship to farmers and would not even recog-
nize the contribution of farmers and the
agricultural sector in nation-building and
national development.
Using CARP to raise funds
What is more painful and utterly shame-
ful is that this present regime used farmers
and farmers’ concerns in soliciting funds—
amounting to billions of pesos—from the
international community through various
International Financing Institutions (IFI)
where only a corrupt DAR official and
pseudo-farmer organization (which con-
nived with the government and the con-
cerned agency) benefited.
One other evidence showing that
CARP works against the interest of agricul-
tural workers is the forcible implementation
Has CARP Really Helped the Farmers?
of the Stock Distribution Scheme (or Option
– SDO) at the Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac,
which covers 6,453 hectares where more
than 6,000 families of farmers and agricul-
tural workers live. Instead of granting land
ownership to its constituents, Hacienda
Luisita distributed stocks thereby retaining
monopoly and ensuring oligarchic control
of landowners over thousands of hectares
of land on one hand, and, on the other,
perpetuating the debilitating poverty and
despicable conditions of existence for agri-
cultural workers and their families.
Another slapping burden for the peas-
antry is the ‘agricultural liberalization’ un-
der the World Trade Organization (WTO),
which is the primary contributing factor for
the proliferation and dumping of foreign
agricultural produce in the Philippines like
corn, coffee, vegetables, fruits, and even
rice which is a staple in Filipinos’ diet. We
heard from GMA’s 2005 State of the Nation
Address (SONA) that up to 2 million hect-
ares of the Philippines’ agricultural land
resources will be allotted to agri-business.
In actuality, this will translate to the evic-
tion of thousands of farmers from their
lands, and their subsequent maltreatment.
This will aggravate the already confound-
ing food security problem our country is
hounded with. At the moment, more than
57,000 hectares have been requisitioned
(read: sequestered) for San Miguel Corpo-
ration (cassava), Dole (pineapples) and
Nestle Corporation (coffee).
Moreover, the program of militariza-
tion is now enforced in the countryside
which systematizes the persecution of farm-
ers who clamor for LAND TO THE FARM-
ERS and for food. This militarization scheme
is behind the revolting rampage against
activists and peace advocates in the church
sector. From January 2001 until March 2007,
there have been documented 430 murders
of farmers, fisherfolk, agricultural workers,
women peasants and indigenous people
under the Arroyo dictatorship. Peasants
across the nation demand: “Stop killing
peasants who feed the nation.”
Demands of farmers and peasant
advocates:
1. Implement genuine pro-poor/pro-farm-
ers agrarian reform, provide for full,
unequivocal land ownership to farmers
and agricultural workers. Subsidize
farmers ‘requirements and provide
higher state funding to the agricultural
sector at the grassroots’ level. Not to
the bogus and anti-farmer CARP.
2 Stop land-grabbing and stop fishing-
area grabbing. Put a halt to Stock Dis-
tribution scheme (SDO), corporative
farming scheme, joint venture arrange-
ment. Stop the withdrawal and cancel-
lation of Emancipation Patents, Certifi-
cates of Land Transfer and Certificate
of Land Ownership Awards which have
been issued to farmers.
3. Distribute and grant to farmers parcels
of agricultural land which are under the
government, which are public lands,
which are parts of military reservations,
and those agricultural lands controlled
or repossessed by banking or financial
institutions. Examples of which are Fort
Magsaysay military reservation in
Nueva Ecija, Central Mindanao Uni-
versity in Bukidnon, Hacienda Looc in
Nasugbo, Batangas, and Tumandok
Dumarao stock farms in Capiz.
4. Immediately cease land use conver-
sion and crop conversion, especially
those that have been appropriated for
food production. Stop the introduction
of commercialization, and proliferation
of genetically modified organism
(GMO) and genetically engineered food
crops, seeds and genetic materials. Stop
the field testing of BT corn and BB rice.
5. Immediately abandon the label and
program of “agricultural country” of
the WTO especially the terminology
and its accompanying restrictions on
the Philippines as part of the “food crop
sector”. Stop forthwith the implemen-
tation of policies on agricultural liberal-
ization, and the deregulation and
privatization of the agricultural sector
of our country.
6. Oppose and stop the militarization of
the countryside and of rural/Agricul-
tural areas. Respect the rights of farm-
ers/peasants to freely organize them-
selves in the hope for a more humane,
dignified and honorable living. Stop
the killing of farmers and peasants.
Indemnify and grant justice to the vic-
tims of political repression and state
terrorism enforced by the GMA dicta-
torship.
Farmers produce food that sustain the
Filipino people, they should be accorded
with the highest acknowledgement and
respect. Every grain they create is a seed of
life. Together let us advance the interest of
farmers and agricultural sector.
Farmers, fisherfolk, and the indigenous
call on church people to continue fostering
the journey towards the long hoped for
land, justice and freedom. I
(Danilo H. Ramos is the Secretary-General of Kilusang
Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, and Co-Chair, Church Peasant
Solidarity Council)
Volume 41 • Number 6 15
Twenty Years of CARP: What Has Been Achieved and How?
By Belinda Formanes, Evangeline Mendoza, Danilo Carranza, and Dr. Saturnino Borras, Jr.
L
and reform is a public policy that
aims to restructure social relations
between groups of people in an agrar-
ian society in favor of the poor. Land is an
important economic resource to the rural
poor, but also to the landed elite. However,
land is not just an economic factor of
production. Land has a multidimensional
character. Access to or control over land
resources, or lack of it, influences the rural
poor’s social inclusion or exclusion, politi-
cal empowerment or disempowerment, as
well as cultural and spiritual well-being.
Access to or control over land resources
in the context of the Philippine country-
side largely defines the rural poor’s au-
tonomy and capacity to define, assert and
exercise their citizenship rights.
Rural poverty is largely shaped by the
degree of access to land, or absence of it,
by the rural poor; and as such, poverty is
also multidimensional. Today, the Asian
Development Bank (ADB) estimates, that
three-fourth of the Philippine poor are ru-
ral poor. (ADB. 2005. Poverty in the Phil-
ippines: Income,
Assets and Ac-
cess). This makes
Land reform ur- "In light of these issues, it is clear that
land reform remains urgent and
gent and neces-
sary.
The Compre-
hensive Agrarian
Reform Program necessary for millions of landless
Filipino families nationwide."
(CARP) has been
carried out for the
past twenty years,
or from June 1988
up to today.
Legally though, the implementation
dates back to 1972 when the Presidential
Decree (P.D.) No. 27, or the limited Marcos
land reform program in rice and corn lands
was started; PD 27 was subsumed by the
CARP law. The Herculean task of CARP
was quite obvious: in 1988, the year the law
started, the Gini-coefficient (a measure of
the degree of inequality) in land owner-
ship was calculated by James Putzel of the
London School of Economics (LSE) to be
0.64—a figure that suggested a very high
degree of inequality. (James Putzel, 1992.
A Captive Land: The Politics of Agrarian
Reform in the Philippines).
CARP A Compromised Land
Reform Law
CARP is neither a revolutionary nor a
conservative land reform program. If by
16 IMPACT • June 2007
‘revolutionary land reform’ we mean a
national state law that calls for the uncon-
ditional expropriation of all private lands
for free distribution to peasants, then CARP
is not revolutionary because its expropria-
tion process has been made conditional to
a lot of factors. If by a ‘conservative land
reform’ we mean a land law that does not
challenge in any significant way the mo-
nopoly of big landlords over large land-
holdings, then CARP is not conservative
because it does challenge in some signifi-
cant ways elite control over land resources.
CARP is somewhere in between a conser-
vative and revolutionary land reform frame-
work, as defined here.
In fact, CARP is a compromise land
reform law. It has internalized within itself
the balance of forces within the state and in
society during the policy making process in
1986-1988. It has acquired elements of both
revolutionary and conservative land re-
form frameworks, as described quite aptly
in an early paper written by veteran activist-
scholar Francisco Lara Jr. about the ‘land-
marks and loopholes’ in the institutional
framework of CARP. (Francisco Lara Jr.,
1986, ‘Land Reform in the Proposed Con-
stitution: Landmarks and Loopholes’,
Agricultural Policy Studies No. 1).
While CARP subjects all farmlands in
the country to land reform, it includes
provisions for the potential exclusion of
some corporate lands; while CARP is ba-
sically expropriatory, it includes land ac-
quisition modes that are ‘voluntary’; while
CARP pegs the retention limit of landlords
at a relatively low level (5 hectares), it
includes provisions for landlords’ unlim-
ited number of kin to add to the retention
claim; while CARP asks peasant beneficia-
ries to amortize payment for the landlord
based on ‘affordability’, it provides an
open-ended legal framework for land valu-
ation interpretation for landlords. These
are just among the several important ‘self-
© Denz Dayao / IMPACT
contradictory’ features of CARP.
This ‘dual’ character of CARP be-
comes a defining institutional parameter
around which key actors in the land reform
process will compete against each other
and coalesce with others, because as Jen-
nifer Franco of the Amsterdam-based
Transnational Institute (TNI) emphasises,
state land reform laws are neither self-
interpreting nor self-implementing. (Jen-
nifer Franco [Forthcoming]. ‘Making
Land Rights Accessible: Social Move-
ment Innovation and Political-Legal
Strategies in the Philippines.’ )
It is the interactions among and be-
tween both state and societal groups and
actors that eventually make the actual
interpretation and implementation of the
land reform law—at times in favor of the
rural poor, but at times in favor of the
landed elite.
The maneuverings of the elite
The landed elite block the efforts of
poor peasants to their land claims made
explicit and effective
by a combination of
strategies: ‘sweet
promises’, tricks, co-
ercion, force, and, in-
creasingly, by assas-
sination of peasant
leaders. But in situa-
tions where poor
peasants persist in
their legitimate land
claims, landlords
evade land reform by
extending their political and legal manipu-
lation way beyond their locality—to the
provincial and regional centres, all the way
to the national capital where they have
influential allies in Congress, in the execu-
tive and even in the judicial branches of
government
Anti-land reform maneuvering by
landlords at different levels and within the
state and in society have prompted poor
peasants to also seek and forge alliances
with different groups in society and within
the state. Poor peasants sought alliances
with NGOs for legal assistance and politi-
cal resources, with the Church for refuge
especially in times of persecution, and
other influential sectors of society, includ-
ing reform-oriented officials within gov-
ernment. This interaction is not always
smooth because different actors and
groups that support poor peasants do not
 C O V E R
S T O R Y

Twenty Years
of CARP:
What Has Been Achieved and How?
Volume 41 • Number 6 17
C O V E R
S T O R Y
always share common motivations and
strategic agendas. Mutually reinforcing
interactions between pro-land reform mo-
bilizations from below and independent
reformist initiatives by reform-oriented
officials in government from above have
been referred to as the “bibingka strat-
egy”, notably by activist-scholar
Saturnino Borras Jr. (Saturnino M. Borras
Jr, 1999. The Bibingka Strategy in Land
Reform Implementation: Autonomous
Peasant Movements and State Reformists
in the Philippines.)
The bibingka strategy has serious
limitations. It is dependent on the conver-
gence of two autonomous initiatives: from
below and from above. The existence of the
two, is more the exception than the rule, at
least as shown in the Philippine land reform
experience – where it occurred mainly dur-
ing the period of 1993-1998 (and to some
extent, up to 2000). When pro-reform mobi-
lizations from below are thin, scattered and
intermittent, initiatives from above tend to
follow course. When autonomous reform-
ist nearly disappeared within the land re-
form bureaucracy and the top leadership of
the country’s governance, beginning in
2000, land reform from below resulted in
limited outcomes and unrestrained violence
against claim makers.
Violence against land claimants
The past few years have been marked
by widespread violence against poor peas-
ants claiming land rights, violence has
come in forms ranging from criminalization
of land claim making initiatives (i.e. charg-
ing peasants in courts with fabricated cases
such as ‘qualified theft or estafa’); to ev-
eryday forms of intimidation and coer-
cion; to all out violence in the form of
assassination. It was in this deteriorating
context that Eric Cabanit, secretary-gen-
eral of UNORKA (Pambansang Ugnayan
ng Nagsasariling Lokal na mga Samahang
Mamamayan sa Kanayunan) and a re-
trenched farmworker with his own land
claim in the vast banana plantation owned
by the influential Floirendo family, was
assassinated by masked men in April 2006
in Panabo, Davao del Norte.
The escalating violence against peas-
ant land claimants is combined with an
increasing sophistication in legal maneu-
vers by landlords and allies in govern-
ment. It is to be recalled that during the
past few years, there have been several
strategic legal cases that marked the de-
feat of social justice and the triumph of
greed and elite monopoly, e.g. reaffirma-
tion of the exemption of livestock, court
18 IMPACT • June 2007
decision that places the price of a hectare
of land at an incredible level – of PhP 1.4
million, as well as the continued implemen-
tation of anomalous and anti-reform
mechanisms such as the stock distribu-
tion option (SDO), leaseback based either
on problematic voluntary land transfer
(VLT) or voluntary-offer-to-sell (VOS), as
explained in recent works by veteran com-
munity organizer and CARP analyst Danilo
Carranza. (Danilo Carranza and Pepito
Mato, 2006. Subverting Peasants’ Land
Rights: The Supreme Court Decision Ex-
empting Livestock Area from the Cover-
age of Agrarian Reform. In Agrarian
Notes, Quezon City: PEACE Foundation
(www.peace.ne.ph; downloaded 06 May
2007); Danilo Carranza, 2005; ‘Haci-
enda Luisita Massacre: A Tragedy Wait-
ing to Happen’. Agrarian Notes.)
To extend CARP or not
And so today we are confronted by
the question of whether or not to extend
CARP. We have explained above the con-
text within which hard data about CARP
implementation outcomes must be exam-
ined; it is necessarily a political context.
Having examined that, we now take look at
the figures, and for this, we refer to Tables
1, 2 and 3:
Table 1: Total Land Redistribution by Land
Type, Under the Department of Agrarian Re-
form (DAR)*, 1972-2005
Table 1.1: Total Land Redistribution by Land Type Under the Department of Environment and
Natural Resources (DENR)**
A few critical observations are war-
ranted, before discussing possible impli-
cations.
First, land redistribution accomplish-
ment has been relatively significant. Offi-
cially, to date nearly 6 million hectares of
private and public lands were redistrib-
uted to more or less 3 million poor peas-
ants, another 1.5 million hectares of land
were subjected to leasehold reform, ben-
efiting about a million tenant households.
Altogether this data comprises about half
of the total farmlands and two-fifths of the
total rural households. Pessimists who
saw only complete failure of CARP have
been proven wrong—but only partly so.
There are indeed serious failures, but suc-
cesses in several areas can also be seen,
most especially in agrarian reform commu-
nities (ARCs) established by the govern-
ment, where land redistribution has been
complemented by a more systematic deliv-
ery of support services. Increasing in-
comes of beneficiaries in these areas have
contributed significantly towards poverty
reduction. (DAR Quezon 2, August 2006.
Report on Comparative Incomes of ARC
and non-ARC Beneficiaries).
Second, the land redistribution out-
come is not, however, as high as the gov-
ernment claims or as rosy a picture as the
government paints. The official data is
highly contested. We believe there is evi-
dence to indicate that actual land reform
accomplishment is far from the official
claims. There are several reported accom-
plishments that we believe do not consti-
tute real reforms — such as all the volun-
tary land transfer (VLT), overpriced vol-
untary offer-to-sell (VOS), fake or elite
beneficiaries for the Community-Based
Forest Management (CBFM) and Alien-
able and Disposable (A&D) programs,
bloated leasehold accomplishment report,
outright record tampering, and lands
awarded where beneficiaries do not oc-
cupy lands. For these reasons, we do not
believe government’s claim that land re-
distribution program is 85% complete. We
 Twenty Years of CARP: What Has Been Achieved and How?
Table2: Yearly Summary of Leasehold Accomplishment, Area in Hectares, by Region and by Year (as of 1986 to 2003)
Table 3: Number of Beneficiaries of Land Reform Program, 1972-2000
Notes:
CARP = Comprehensive Agrarian Re-
form Program
LAD = Land Acquisition and Distribution;
OLT = Operation Land Transfer;
CA = compulsory acquisition;
VOS = voluntary offer-to-sell;
VLT = voluntary land transfer;
GFI = government financial institution;
KKK = Kilusang Kabuhayan at Kaunlaran;
LE = Landed Estate;
A&D = Alienable and Disposable Land
CBFM = Community-Based Forest Man-
agement.
* DAR data = 1972 to 31 March 2005
** DENR data = beginning 1987 to 31
December 2004
Sources:
DAR-MIS (2005) ‘Land Acquisition and
Distribution Status (Table 4) as of De-
cember 31, 2005’. Quezon City: Manage-
ment of Information System (MIS), DAR.
Photocopy version. DENR (2004) ‘Sum-
mary of DENR’s Land Distribution Ac-
complishments by Land Type, By Re-
gion. Quezon City: DENR, CARP Secre-
tariat, computer print-out.
believe it is most likely to be half of what
the government claims (or even slightly
below that) – or just around 40% — if we
factor in the few millions of hectares of
private and public lands that mysteriously
disappeared from official scope of CARP.
Third, two policy areas are usually
missed in most discussions within civil
society, namely, public and government-
owned lands as well as the implementation
of leasehold system. Most civil society
groups tend to downplay the importance
of public lands as well as leasehold reform.
Yet, upland and public land occupants
who depend on these lands have been
increasing and are expected to reach 25
million by 2015. Likewise, tenants in most
of the remaining CARP target of 700,000
hectares of coconut lands have been suf-
fering decades of unequal sharing (nor-
mally 60% - 40% sharing in favor of land-
owners, where tenants shoulder the cost
of production) when the law mandates for
leasehold system where they are entitled
to a minimum of 75% of net production of
the land. As a result, many groups do not
have systematic work in these policy areas
– permitting the effective maneuvers by
anti-reform forces in subverting the CARP
law.
In light of these issues, it is clear that
land reform remains urgent and necessary
for millions of landless Filipino families
nationwide. The task is far from complete.
This is true especially when we recognize
that even the partial reform secured over
the years might have already been can-
celled out by the anti-rural poor macro-
policies of government, such as
privatization, import liberalization and de-
regulation. New mega projects within these
policies, such as the recent RP-China agree-
ment, may well altogether reverse all pre-
vious modest land reform gains and com-
pletely block in future efforts for redis-
tributive reform.
At this juncture, civil society ‘engage-
ment’ at all levels of governance is truly of
the most profound and critical importance.
The debate on the extension will be empty
if there is no significant spread and inten-
sity of land reform struggles from below.
The current extent and level of struggles are
admirable – but far from sufficient to influ-
ence a progressive framework and course
of policy contestation for or against land
reform extension. The peasants have no
other course of action but to fight for their
rights. But they need allies in the broader
society, especially among institutions that
strongly promote social justice, such as the
Catholic Church. I
(Belinda Formanes is the Executive Director of
Partnership for Agrarian Reform and Rural
Development Services (PARRDS); Danilo Carranza
and Dr. Saturnino Borras come from Philippines
Ecumenical Action for Community Empowerment
Foundation Network (PEACE); Evangeline Mendoza
from Pambansang Ugnayan ng Nagsasariling Lokal
ng mga Samahang Mamamayan sa Kanayunan,
UNORKA).
Volume 41 • Number 6 19
ARTICLE S
Land Reform
Struggles of
Bondoc
Peninsula
Tenants
By Danilo Carranza
T
he Bondoc Peninsula in the prov-
ince of Quezon is notorious for two
types of violence: The first type is
structural violence, a consequence of a
highly skewed landownership in favor of
a very few landowners. The second type is
armed violence resulting from a persistent
insurgency that has fed on the poverty of
the majority of the population. Both types
of violence are undeniably linked to how
land resource is controlled and allocated
in the area.
A study by the Asian Institute of
Management in 1989 revealed that only
1.1% of the population controlled 44% of
the most productive lands in the area. In
the years prior to the Comprehensive
Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), ten-
ants in coconut lands never earned enough
and had to survive from a sharing system
of 70% - 30% or 60% - 40% in favor of land
owners, with production cost shouldered
by the tenants. In 2000, the Philippine
Coconut Authority estimated that coco-
nut farmers in the area earn more or less
P10,000/hectare annually.
The alienation of tenant-tillers from
the fruits of their labor has been a constant
source of social tension between tenants
and landlords and makes the tenants vul-
nerable to the agitation and recruitment of
20 IMPACT • June 2007
the armed movement. The latter’s insis-
tence on the orthodox framework of over-
throwing the state via ‘protracted people’s
war’ based in the countryside has for the
most part failed to mesh with peasant
social realities and rights claim-making
initiatives at the grassroots. Ironically, the
CPP-NPA maintains an entrenched rela-
tionship of mutual reciprocity with the
region’s biggest landlords, and has even
become part of the established system of
oppression1
This setting produced in the late 1990s
a new peasant movement oriented towards
rural reform. This organization is united by
its unprecedented drive to induce state-
sponsored expropriation and redistribu-
tion of heretofore untouchable hacienda
lands. This movement of some 3,800 tenant
families under the Kilusang Magbubukid
ng Bondoc Peninsula (KMBP) has made
significant land reform breakthroughs in
recent years. Its initial successes in reform-
ing lands through the Comprehensive
Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) (making
the results legally binding) have resulted
largely from innovative collective action
initiatives that defy landlord power while
sustaining creative engagement with the
government that resulted in titles granted
through the state law.
The first significant agrarian reform
breakthrough was recorded in Brgy.
Catulin, Buenavista in 1999, when a 174-
hectare parcel of the landholdings of the
biggest landowning family in the area, the
Reyes family, was distributed to 55 previ-
ously landless tenants. In late 1998, prior
to the redistribution of the land, the ten-
ant-petitioners were forcibly evicted and
their houses bulldozed by the men of
Reyes. Eddie Lopez, 47 years old, current
KMBP Chair and one of the beneficiaries
in Brgy. Catulin remembers how they had
to defy all forms of threats and harassment
to make their rights to the land real: “Prior
to our eviction, we were told by the farm
manager that if we push through with our
campaign for land redistribution, we will
be tied to poles and paraded to the town
plaza like pigs. But we could not be
stopped, for outside of these threats, a
greater danger awaits us, the spectre of
hunger”.
In September 1999, after getting a fa-
vorable decision from the DAR, they were
reinstalled to the land by a combined force
of the Philippine National Police and the
Armed Forces of the Philippines. They
eventually received their Certificate of Land
Ownership Award in September 1999. The
campaign for reinstallation was supported
 Land Reform Struggles of Bondoc Peninsula Tenants
by non-government organizations and the
Roman Catholic Church in the area led by
Bishop Emilio Marquez, who was then the
Bishop of the Diocese of Gumaca. A new
community based on family-owned farms
had since evolved from this struggle where
former tenants and their families are in full
control of the lands they till. With land
reform came increases in incomes as free-
dom from the onerous sharing system
automatically increased their incomes
three-fold. Because of this, the farmers
have been able to build semi-concrete
houses, and are now free to raise farm
animals. With the help of the Department
of Agrarian Reform (DAR), a new farm-to-
market-road was constructed to facilitate
the marketing of farmers produce. An area
for putting up a school has been desig-
nated from within the distributed area.
Rebecca Ruga and former tenants in a
540-hectare landholding located at
Barangay Pagsangahan, municipality of
San Franciso, had to endure various forms
© www.bondoc-solidarity.de
of physical threats and a number of crimi-
nal cases that led to their imprisonment in
2001, before they won their struggle for
land reform. The entire family now owns
more than seven hectares since three fam-
ily members qualified to become beneficia-
ries. They have been cultivating the land
as owner-beneficaries since early 2003.
The transfer of land significantly increased
the family’s income and has enabled the
family to send the younger children to
school. With the financial support of a
daughter, Rebecca has also renovated her
house and put up a sari-sari store.
The land reform breakthroughs in
Bondoc Peninsula have been sustained
and organizing of tenants has spread out
to the biggest haciendas. As of December
2006, around 2,500 KMBP members own
more than 7,000 hectares of land awarded
through the CARP. Moreover, some 800
members of the KMBP also have direct
control of around 4,000 hectares of con-
tentious public lands in the municipalities
of San Andres, San Narciso and Mulanay.
At present, the KMBP continues to
push for the redistribution of around 23,000
hectares of private and public lands in the
area. This is more than twice the official
balance of the land distribution target of
the DAR. The DAR on the other hand, has
reported more than 80% accomplishment
of its land distribution target in the area
and has acknowledged the positive role of
organized tenants in facilitating land re-
form. Members of KMBP include tenants
in the three biggest haciendas in the area
that include Hacienda Villa Reyes (12,000
hectares), Hacienda Uy (3,800 hectares)
and Hacienda Matias (2,800 hectares). The
agrarian reform process in these hacien-
das, have been most difficult.
The cost of success in making their
land rights a reality has been quite high.
Anti-reform actors that include armed
goons, landlords and the armed left con-
tinue to employ various forms of harass-
ment, intimidation and physical violence
targeting peasant leaders and petitioning
communities. As a result, four peasant
leaders have been murdered since 1998:
three by goons of landlords and one by the
armed left. Likewise, more than 40 persons
have been injured by the continuing physi-
cal attacks on tenants. In January, 2004,
one of the key leaders of KMBP in the
municipality of San Narciso barely es-
caped an attempted assassination by the
armed left. The latest anti-reform violence
took place in March 2007, when a member
of a local organization in San Francisco,
Quezon sustained multiple hack wounds
on the head and the body and his left hand
was completely sliced off as a result of the
attack by a goon identified with a land
owner.
The pattern of anti-reform action
against organized peasants in Bondoc
Peninsula may have shifted to more con-
venient and “officially” state sanctioned
means of harassment. This is done through
the filing of various criminal cases against
tenants. As of December 2006, members of
the KMBP are facing more than 300 crimi-
nal cases that include qualified theft,
estafa, trespassing, murder, attempted
murder, libel, trespassing, grave coercion,
malicious mischief etc. The number is still
increasing as
cases filed
against tenants
continue to be
discovered in
court, some-
times by acci-
dent or through
information
from concerned
court employ-
ees. With the
aim of paralyz-
ing external
support, the
former commu-
nity organizer of
QUARDDS 2,
was included in
225 of the cases
of qualified
theft filed by the
farm manager of the biggest landlord in
San Narciso-San Andres area.
The criminalization of agrarian reform
cases has had serious consequences on
the lives of members of the KMBP. First,
they unnecessarily lose their freedom.
Since 1996, more than 300 tenants have
been imprisoned due to trumped up charges
filed by landlords. Last year, 25 farmers
were in jail for almost three months in the
district jail of Gumaca, while 21 more farm-
ers stayed in jail for five days due to a
bench warrant issued by the municipal
trial court in San Francisco. In addition, 68
more farmers were in “prisoner state” for
more than two months after they voluntar-
ily took refuge at the DAR office in Quezon
City to avoid arrest and the harsh condi-
tions in jail.
Second, criminalization brings pro-
found economic hardships, and contrib-
ute to making the tenants even poorer. The
cost of bail is too high and could not be
raised by farmers. For each qualified theft
case for example, a farmer will have to raise
P30,000 as bail bond. Yet some farmers will
have to raise more than P300,000 because
they are facing more than 10 counts of
qualified theft. Last year alone, under pres-
sure from the publicity generated by the
jailed farmers who voluntarily surrendered
to call the attention and expose the gov-
ernment of its inadequacies to deliver agrar-
ian justice, the DAR had to raise more than
P4 million to bail the farmers out. Certainly,
this amount is out of farmers reach.
The cost of attending hearings is also
quite prohibitive. The accused farmers and
their relatives had to travel 5-6 hours from
their place to reach the courts in Gumaca
Volume 41 • Number 6 21
ARTICLE S
and had to spend more than P350 for each
hearing to cover food and transportation
expenses, not to mention legal fees and
incidental expenses like photocopying, etc.
These scarce resources should have been
spent for food and clothing or for more
urgent needs in the household. Moreover,
the unnecessary imprisonment disrupts
the economic activities of entire families.
They lost productive days or months due
to imprisonment while family members had
to visit them in jail regularly to provide
moral support, in the process losing po-
tential productive hours they could have
spent tilling the land.
Lastly, criminalization is terrorizing
communities and is adding to the cynicism
pervasive among rural poor people The
questionable manner of effecting some of
the arrests (in the middle of the night and
with display of brute force as if arresting
notorious criminals) result in collective
anxiety of affected communities and ero-
sion of confidence in the existing legal
system.
Notwithstanding these difficulties,
the tenants are persevering in their
struggle for land rights and basic human
rights. With the help of external support
like NGOs based in Manila, the Diocese of
Gumaca under Bishop Buenaventura
Famadico, concerned individuals and
pubic officials in Bondoc Peninsula, the
KMBP is sustaining its engagement with
the government and has opened up is-
sues for advocacy on state and non-state
actors accountability on human rights
and international humanitarian law as well
as the need to decriminalize agrarian re-
form cases.
The remaining challenge in Bondoc
Peninsula is to complete the distribution
process. But with barely a year left, it is
highly improbable for the DAR to com-
plete the official CARP target, more so the
actual distribution of private and public
landholdings engaged by the KMBP. But
in the light of a new sense of organized
power, however, and with the sustained
external support, tenants in the area should
be expected to sustain its demand for the
fulfillment of their land rights anchored on
peaceful but persistent struggle for land
reform. I
1Jennifer C. Franco (2003). On Just Grounds: The
New Struggle for Land and Democracy in the Bondoc
Peninsula , Institute for Popular Democracy.
2The Quezon Association for Rural Development and
Democratization Services (QUARDDS) is the local
non-government organization directly assisting
landless peasants’ land reform struggle in the Bondoc
Peninsula since 1996, through community organizing,
legal and paralegal support and advocacy and social
mobilizations.
22 IMPACT • June 2007
Salvaging our Politics
By Fr. Roy Cimagala
A
fter going through hell in the last
elections, the seemingly only
positive lesson to learn and ac-
tion to take is to hurry and salvage our
politics. Let’s issue a distress call, an
SOS, a mayday. Let’s call 911 and sound
the alarm!
The new gadgets, the increased
awareness and vigilance of many people,
etc., have just made it more painful for us
to witness how ugly our electoral process
is. Is the picture truly reflective of us as a
people? Are we that depraved?
I don’t know if there are other coun-
tries like us in repulsiveness. But if there
are, we should quickly get out of that
league. It’s sickening. It’s completely
depressing.
Why are we still in the primitive age?
We need to modernize, and computeriza-
tion can help a lot. It can reduce cheating
into acceptable and irrelevant levels.
It seems our skills in cheating during
elections have been polished and per-
fected through the years by our crooks.
And the funny and sad thing is that no
one admits to any wrongdoing. Every-
one is as innocent as an angel!
But a lot more is needed: nothing
less than individual and collective con-
versions, a circumcision of the heart. If we
don’t start there, no amount of sophisti-
cation in our computerization can solve
our most shameful problem.
I suppose by now, everyone, includ-
ing our little children, knows how cheat-
ing can be done in utter disregard for any
trace of decency. What a curse we have
here! We are already poisoning the minds
of our future generations.
Soon after the elections, there were
talk shows assessing the political matu-
rity of the Filipino people. It’s like rubbing
it in.
How can there be political maturity
when a good sector of our populace are
still poor, ignorant, and very vulnerable
to be taken advantage of by our almost
completely conscienceless politicians?
Apathy and cynicism are obvious.
How can there be political maturity
when many of our politicians do not even
know the true essence and purpose of
politics? For them, it’s just about ego-
tripping, whether personal or family.
Or politics for them can just be the
field to give full play to their avarice,
greed, lust for power, their talent and
skills in deception. They must feel that
they are exempted from moral and legal
requirements during elections.
They have the nerve to present them-
selves as the only hero in town, the
indispensable savior and all that nause-
ating stuff. It seems that common sense
has fled, the last shred of good manners
and human decency blown away.
The level of rational, objective dis-
cussion of issues bottomed out. Only a
few managed to say something sensible.
For many others, the picture was horrify-
ing. All sorts of fallacies in the book were
flaunted. Passions flared up, while rea-
son was paralyzed.
How can there be political maturity
when many of the elections officials in
all levels, from the poorest clerks and
watchers up, are just dripping with dis-
honesty? They cannot even mask it. Their
Salvaging p26

Carping Up and Away
T
he program is basically acceptable in content and
praiseworthy in spirit. It can even be said that
program is in accord with the noble principle that
those who have less in life, should have more in law. It
has to be acknowledged that the program has already
benefited a good number of poor and humble land tillers.
But the truth begs to be said, may more small and
lowly farmers are still anxiously waiting for their piece
of land they can call their own translated into reality, the
Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) is
neither that affirmative of land reform, nor it is compre-
hensive. The culprit for this contradiction—as usual—
is the executive department with its highly paid and
much advertised agencies precisely tasked to imple-
ment the CARP.
It is enough to recall the infamous Mendiola massa-
cre, more recently; there was the hacienda Luisita
massacre. And since the advent of the present admin-
istration, farmers and their sympathizers were being
eliminated one by one with neither fear of the law nor
any remorse of conscience. And as long as this admin-
istration remains in power, it can be safely predicted that
the killings also remain in fashion.
In the event that the farmers concerned and their
EDITORIAL
supporters are not actually disposed of for good, they
are abused. Threatened or abducted, this is why to this
date, there are angry public rallies staged by farmers,
not to mention their hunger strikes every now and then.
It is already the age of information technology, climate
change and scientific marvels but many farmers are still
waiting for the right and full implementation of CARP.
And there is the issue of the fund already ear-
marked for the CARP implementation. Its source is
identified and its amount is determined. And as ex-
pected, the present administration has other concerns at
heart, other interests in mind as far as it is concerned.
The CARP funding is a subject matter to be either
avoided or considered a non-issue. Thus, the farmers’
rightful questions repeatedly come to fore: Where is the
money? What was it spent for? How much is left… if
any? Will CARP be still fully implemented at all?
Meantime, the farmers concerned have to wait—
as they have been always waiting for decades. The
national leadership is busy rebuilding its political sur-
vival, busy mouthing economic progress and flying from
one country to another.
Poor farmers—not only in resources but also in
dignity!
Volume 41 • Number 6 23
ARTICLE S
Facing from p5
Where can we turn? The Philippine
Agenda 21 (PA21), the national blueprint for
sustainable development (SD), offers us a
guide in the overwhelming work ahead of us.
What is PA21? As early as 1987 world
government leaders were warned that the
present global development pattern with its
damaging technologies is destroying the
life-support systems of our planet and so the
need to shift to sustainable development.
Respecting the Earth, this development can
enable the present generation to meet their
needs while it safeguards that future genera-
tion can also meet their needs.
At the Earth Summit in 1992 the UN
Framework on Climate Change and the Com-
mission on Sustainable Development, among
others, were established. The main docu-
ment of the Conference is the Agenda 21 for
SD – Agenda for the 21st century.
In response to its commitments to the
Earth Summit, to have its national Agenda 21,
the country, through the Philippine Council
for Sustainable Development (PCSD), crafted
the Philippine Agenda 21 (PA 21) in 1996.
The PA21 rests on initiatives and learn-
ing from many sources which were distilled
from long years of serious work towards SD.
This is the fruit of a two-year series of dia-
logues and consultations among govern-
ment agencies and members of civil society
with heavy, active NGO/PO representation.
The PA21 is a working document. Much
of the work that need to be undertaken by a
community for SD have been identified and
listed as action agenda across ecosystems
and for each ecosystem—forests, and low-
lands/agriculture, urban, coastal and marine,
and freshwater ecosystems. Action agenda
for critical resources—minerals/mines and
biodiversity, are also provided.
Regional action agenda from different
regions are proposed. A section on imple-
mentation of the PA21 delineating sectoral
roles and responsibilities ends the document.
“The journey towards SD involves both
a transition and a paradigm shift. The PA21,
therefore, adopts a two-pronged strategy in
defining and mapping out the action agenda:
1) creating the enabling conditions which
would assist various stakeholders to man-
age the transition and at the same time build
their capacities towards SD; and 2) direct
proactive efforts at conserving, managing,
protecting and rehabilitating ecosystems
through an approach that harmonizes eco-
nomic, ecological and social goals.” (PA21
Executive Summary, p. XXV).
“Operationally, SD is development that
draws out the full human potential across
24 IMPACT • June 2007
ages and generations. It is at the same time,
ecologically friendly, economically sound,
politically empowering, socially just, spiritu-
ally liberating, gender sensitive, based on
holistic science, technologically appropri-
ate, builds upon Filipino values, history
culture and excellence, and rests upon strong
institutional foundations”. (Executive Sum-
mary, PA 21 p. xxiv.xxv, PCSD, Manila, 1997).
In order to cope with the daunting
prospects of climate change Filipinos need
to discover the vision of a sustainable Phil-
ippines in the PA21, and creatively, dili-
gently and painstakingly meet its challenge.
The document is a handy guide for a
group of citizens, a barangay or a municipal-
ity who envision a sustainable community.
There are bright spots in the hard, pioneering
work in this area which spans many years,
even before PA21.
Through much NGO advocacy, some
LGUs have recognized the value of PA21.
Bohol’s version Of PA21 is called the Bohol
Environmental Code. Other places followed
with their provincial environmental code
including Mindoro. NGOs like the Philippine
Partnership for the Development of Human
Resources in Rural Areas (PHILDHRRA)
has made “sustainable integrated area de-
velopment” (SIAD) a thrust in its several
areas of work. In Zamboanga del Norte the
Center for Social Concerns and Develop-
ment (CESCOD) conducts training and semi-
nars for members of a barangay develop-
ment team enabling the members to partici-
pate in the formulation of their barangay
development plan. This also ensures active
participation of the community in the plan-
ning process and decision-making.
In 2005 it was heartwarming to see how
the residents in Barangay Tongan-tongan,
Valencia, Bukidnon have used the principles
of PA21 in making and implementing their
barangay development plan with a strong
focus on sustainable agriculture. Together
with other places, they
want to make Valencia
the organic capital of
the Philippines. The
self-confidence of the
villagers was a sign of
growing empower-
ment among them.
In Imugan, Sta Fe,
Nueva Vizcaya, the
missionary labor of
Pastor Delbert Rice for
about thirty years has
nurtured a sustainable
forest community
among the Kalahans.
One can see that he
has woven creatively together indigenous
wisdom, knowledge and practices and the
insights and principles of the PA21.
At the community, barangay or parish/
municipal level, those active in the church
are in a good position to help bring together
the three main actors of SD—the govern-
ment, business and civil society. The
Church’s option for the poor makes it more
urgent for her to address the worsening
ecological crisis which is inextricably linked
to socio-economic, political and spiritual
concerns.
Church Teaching
The situation also calls for a greater articu-
lation of the Church’s pronouncements on
development coming from such documents as
PCP II, Populorum Progressio, Sollicitudo
Rei Socialis, Centesimus Annus, PJP II Mes-
sage on World Peace Day, 1990, etc.
The teaching of the Church regarding
respect for life and the integrity of creation
and on total human development can pro-
vide a wider and firmer base for the principles
of the PA21 and influence its implementa-
tion, as this teaching inspire dedicated indi-
viduals and groups in their work for the
sustainability of our islands.
Pope John Paul II reminds us, “Chris-
tians, in particular, that (our) responsibility
within creation and (our) duty towards na-
ture and the Creator are an essential part of
(our) faith.
This invites all in the community—
families, the school, the churches, govern-
ment and business, to unite and do as much
as can be done together in a very organized
manner with the hope and certainty of God’s
help, knowing fully well the kind of hardship
and suffering that can be expected from the
ravages of climate change, and to hold the
hand of our merciful and loving God. I
Sr. Ma. Aida Velasquez, OSB is the Coordinator of
Lingkod Tao-Kalikasan
© Dennis M. Sabangan/epa/Corbis

The
Pampanga
Phenomenon
I
t’s a divine crusade!” “It’s people
power!” “It’s a miracle!” These are
some of the impressive and impress-
ing exclamations made by some people
on the occasion of the euphoria caused
by the election of a priest to the office
of Pampanga governor. And the ex-
traordinary claims have their basis in
the socio-political realities that surfaced
in the province before, during and after
the last elections.
The political majority of the
Pampangueños amply showed they had
enough of the perceived corruption of
the two other candidates aspiring for
the same office before the priest filed
his own candidacy. It was then com-
monly said that the political contest
between the two previous aspirants for
the office of the governor, was in sub-
stance “balas vs bolitas”. The former
stands for the continuous corruption in
the quarrying business in the province.
The latter on the other hand represents
the flagrant corruption brought about
by the jueteng syndicate, whose Vatican
equivalent is said to be in Lubao,
Pampanga.
Furthermore, a good number of the
people demonstrated that gold and
goons were no match for their collec-
tive good will and resolve. The Filipino
bayanihan spirit unquestionably
proved stronger than all the die-hard
allies, practically limitless resources and
dubious expertise of traditional politi-
cians. All the massive propaganda and
big promises of the other two candi-
dates bowed down before truth, sincer-
ity and commitment on the part of the
third lowly candidate.
Finally, it has become evident that
even Pampanga is no longer a GMA
kingdom. No less than the both other
losing candidates were close and pre-
cious Malacañang allies. Both were
rejected by the people. Both fell by the
wayside. Both must be bewildered how
could they have lost the elections when
they have behind them all the machin-
ery and wealth, power and influence of
no less than the incumbent national
leadership.
But after all the above good news,
when the euphoria is gone and the
exhilaration stopped, there are at least
three, realistic and objective bad news
to consider.
The Catholics in Pampanga—and
they are unusually good and fervent
ones—are now not lightly divided, con-
sidering that the big composite major-
ity of the followers of the three candi-
dates profess and practice the same
Catholic faith.
The clergy of Pampanga is said to
be also divided in the sense that while
some favor and endorsed the candi-
dacy of a fellow-priest, there are those
however who are perceived as decid-
edly against it as something offensive
to good sense.
There was even the public occa-
sion when the praying of the Holy
Rosary and the singing of Church songs
here heckled and ridiculed by the fol-
lowers of the other two candidates.
How and when will these deep
wounds be cured—if at all?
www.ovc.blogspot.com
FROM THE
B L O G S
Kapatiran
I
is a rather well known fact that the three
“Kapatiran” senatorial political candi-
dates are adorned with impeccable integ-
rity, competence and commitment. They
clearly and passionately professed their
mission to exercise the public office they
pursued in the last elections in line with the
mandates of justice and truth, honesty and
transparency.
Their resources were admittedly very
limited. Political machinery they had none.
But just the same, they were credible and
trustworthy. That was why a good number
of people voted for them. The votes however
were far from enough. They lost the elec-
tions. They accepted their electoral defeat
with grace and kept their heads high.
They remain upright men. They con-
tinue being committed followers of Catholic
faith and morals. They faithfully subscribe to
the social doctrine of the Church repeatedly
and consistently teaching that political life is
the arena proper of the laity in the Church.
Truth to say, they can be readily considered
as good citizens and exemplary Christians.
All the above lay attributions however
did not help them win the elections. The
question wherefore comes to fore: Was it
because they were not priests who could
have used their priesthood to gather enough
votes? Had they been priests, would they
have used such a reality as a convenient
political instrumentality to win the elections?
Meantime, there was a priest who was
elected to a gubernatorial office in a certain
province. He too had meager resources with-
out however any political party, much less
the machinery that goes with it. But just the
same, he won the elections with much praise
and joy from his fervent followers.
The question is, were he not a priest,
would the people have in fact voted him as their
provincial governor? Could he have in effect
actually used his priesthood to get elected?
Were he not a priest and just a plain layman like
all “Kapatiran” candidates, could be have re-
ally won the elections just the same?
One thing is certain, it is bad taste to say
the least, that a priest uses precisely his
priesthood to win an elective public office in
a province precisely known for their fervent
Catholic faith. The Church all over the globe
has consistently held and fervently taught
that the sacred priest is inherently meant for
the preaching of the Word of God and for the
administration of the sacraments of the
Church—never for political ambition.
www.ovc.blogspot.com
Volume 41 • Number 6 25
N E W S
FEATURES
Journalists
in Macau
Come out
Against
Growing
Censorship
MACAU, China, May 29,
2007—The Macau media mar-
ket might be growing but cen-
sorship seems to be doing the
same according to critics who
are urging the government to
stop meddling with press free-
dom.
The warning comes from
the Macau Media Workers
Association whose anger was
fuelled by the government’s
handling of Chief Executive
Edmund Ho Hau-wah’s re-
marks on the Labour Day rally.
Only a government-owned
television station was allowed
to film Mr. Ho’s meeting with
local journalists on May 4, and
government information offi-
cials supervised the editing of
the footage before it was re-
leased to other media.
In a strongly-worded state-
ment issued on May 11, the
association condemned “the
Information Bureau’s interfer-
ence in press freedom and edi-
torial independence”.
The bureau responded
saying that it “absolutely” re-
spected press freedom, noting
that on “May 4, our staff went
to Teledifusão de Macau only
to obtain footage for use on the
Information Bureau’s website.”
For Macau Legislator José
Coutinho, the editorial integ-
rity of many local media has
been tainted by government
subsidies.
A media subsidy plan was
launched in the December 1999
shortly after the former Portu-
guese colony was handed over
26 IMPACT • June 2007
Protestant Pastor
Tortured by Police
LAGUNA, Philippines,
May 29, 2007– A Protes-
tant clergyman reported
abducted on Sunday as he
made his way home to
Biñan, Laguna, south of
Manila, was found yester-
day in Camp Pantaleon
Garcia, near Laguna.
In a statement, Cavite
Police Superintendent Fi-
del Posadas said that con-
trary to early reports that
Berlin Guerrero had been
abducted by military men,
he was in fact arrested by a
team of police officers from
the Intelligence Division of
Camp Pantaleon Garcia. An
arrest warrant had been is-
sued against him by the
Regional Trial Court (RTC)
in Biñan for inciting to se-
dition and murder in 1991
and 1993.
According to the
statement, Guerrero, his
wife and their three chil-
dren had just attended a
to mainland China, but how-
ever controversial it was at the
time, it caused few ripples.
In fact, Mr. Coutinho said
that despite government sub-
sidies the Portuguese-lan-
guage press in Macau has re-
mained largely independent—
perhaps because of the long
tradition of press freedom in
Europe.
Macau’s 500,000 resi-
dents are served by eight Chi-
nese-language and three Por-
tuguese-language daily news-
papers, five Chinese-language
and one Portuguese-language
weekly, an English-language
daily and dozens of magazines.
A host of Hong Kong publica-
tions can also be bought in the
city. (AsiaNews/Agencies)
worship service and were on
their way home when they were
stopped at 5.30 pm local time
by two white vans.
Witnesses report that
two of the three occupants of
one van took Guerrero. The
suspects shoved him inside
the van after hitting him at the
back of his head with a gun
and sped towards an unknown
direction leaving his wife and
children behind.
Guerrero’s kidnapping
follows his colleague Pastor
Caloy Dela Cruz’s abduction
last March 29 in front of the
Union Theological Seminary-
Philippine Christian University
in Barangay Pala-pala. Dela
Cruz, however, was released
the next day after his abduc-
tors realized that he was not
Guerrero, a former secretary
general of Bagong Alyansang
Makabayan (Bayan)-South-
ern Tagalog.
Chief Superintendent
Nicasio Radovan has ordered
Salvaging p22
rationalizations and even the
very tone of their voice give
them away.
And the media, how did it
behave? There were many shin-
ing moments. Sad
to say, there were also many
lapses. Partisanship ruled in
many instances, not objective
and balanced views.
It monitored the events
well. But it still needs a lot to learn
about how to educate people on
politics. There were also many
shallow, knee-jerk reactions that
were sensationalized and made
to scream in the media.
The whole experience ap-
proximates the case of a demonic
possession urgently needing
exorcism! I pity the many good-
a thorough investigation
into the incident.
The United Church of
Christ of the Philippines
(UCCP), to which Reverend
Guerrero belongs, con-
demned the abduction stat-
ing that it is probably re-
lated to a crackdown
against militants and activ-
ists defending workers and
the poor in the area. Jour-
nalists and human rights
activists have suffered
from similar actions with
thousands killed, wounded
or made to disappear.
A paper about know-
ing one’s enemy issued by
the Filipino military had
classified the Church as a
leftwing organization.
Since the current presi-
dent, Ms Gloria Macapagal-
Arroyo, came to power
more than 30 UCCP pastors
and several lay workers
have been killed. (Santosh
Digal / AsiaNews)
hearted citizens who tried to help
but were swept away by the sav-
age force of our sick electoral
system.
Ok, let’s stop lamenting.
Let’s just hope that this night-
mare be an occasion for every-
one to do something drastic to
make a change for the better.
God always has to come to the
picture.
There should be more
stable and ongoing initiatives
in this regard, not on-the-spot
improvisations. Advocacy
groups for this purpose should
abound. Church leaders have
to do their part in actively evan-
gelizing our people to infuse
true Christian spirit in our po-
litical exercises. I

Iraqi Government Offers its “Full
Support” to the Persecuted
Christians of Baghdad
BAGHDAD, Iraq, May 24,
2007—The Iraqi government
has expressed its solidarity to
the Christians of Baghdad and
has pledged to protect them. In
a statement in English reported
yesterday by the AINA news
agency, a spokesman for the
Iraqi government said that the
“Iraqi Cabinet addressed the
issue of threats and expulsions
of Christian families in Baghdad
by terrorist groups.
The Cabinet expressed its
full support to provide all nec-
essary assistance needed to
protect them, and provide any
assistance to face this threat
that is rejected by our orthodox
Islamic religion and the forgiv-
ing Iraqi society, between all of
its components—especially
the relationship with our Chris-
tians brothers.”
Iraqi Christians, both at
Congo Prelate Outraged by
Slayings Asks Government for
Solutions, not Useless Talk
BAKAVU, Congo, May 30,
2007—The Church is asking for
troops to be sent to the eastern
region of Congo, following the
slaying of 18 people in Kaniola
last weekend.
Archbishop François-
Xavier Maroy of Bukavu ap-
pealed to the French ambassa-
dor in Congo, asking the gov-
ernment to “treat the security
problem in the east of the coun-
try as a priority and stop trying
to distract public opinion with
proposed plans for negotia-
tions, dialogue and a round table
which leads to nothing,” Aid to
the Church in Need reported.
Saturday night and Sun-
day morning, two villages were
attacked in the region of South-
home and abroad, have wel-
comed the government’s state-
ment, which they have been
waiting for a long time follow-
ing many complaints by bish-
ops and the clergy.
They note however that
the statement is only about in-
tentions and that it does not
contain any concrete steps to
limit the campaign of persecu-
tion directed at the Christian
community in the capital and
Mosul. These two cities are at
present the most affected by
violence, threats and abuses,
including seizure of property
and forced conversion to Is-
lam.
Similarly, Muslims are
coming to the defense of their
‘Christian brothers’ in two
ways. On the one hand, there
are secular groups, unarmed
and with no political influence,
Kivu. Besides the 18 killed in
their sleep, another 27 were
wounded and 18 others kid-
napped.
“The massacre in Kaniola
was carried out almost in the
presence of the major of the
regular army,” the archbishop
continued. “The cries of the
people clearly did not disturb
his sleep, even though the mas-
sacre took place not far from
the place where he is stationed.
...As in 1996, our army... was
incapable of protecting the
people.”
“How are we to interpret
the silence of the institutions of
the republic, of the head of state,
the Parliament, the central gov-
ernment and the military, in the
who in Baghdad have orga-
nized some protection for per-
secuted Christian families, in-
cluding giving them refuge in
their own homes; on the other,
there are Muslim religious lead-
ers who are speaking out
against bloodshed regardless
of faith.
This is the case of the sec-
retary general to the grand mufti
of Iraq who in a signed mes-
sage said: “We hear with sad-
ness and distress about what
is happening to our Christian
brothers in Iraq. We [. . .] in-
criminate the perpetrator (sic).”
A few days ago, Shia leader
Hussain Sadr also spoke about
the issue. In an interview to a
Christian satellite channel, he
expressed his solidarity vis-à-
vis his “Christian” brothers and
all of Iraq’s minorities.
(AsiaNews)
face of these repeated massa-
cres in Kaniola?” Archbishop
Maroy said. “In other countries
the taking of a hostage, even if
it is only a matter of a single
person, immediately prompts
the state apparatus to react.
“So far as the government
of the Democratic Republic of
Congo is concerned, all they
can offer us, in the face of the
threat of a new war and while
massacres are being perpe-
trated against the civilian popu-
lation, is an ‘inter-communica-
tive’ round-table discussion,
instead of tackling the real prob-
lems, which involve the resto-
ration of military order and se-
curity. Is this complicity or ig-
norance?” (Zenit)
Volume 41 • Number 6
N E W S
FEATURES
4,000
Christians
in India
Arrested
During
Protest
DELHI,India,May29,2007—
More than 4,000 protesters
were arrested as they
marched through the streets
of India’s capital, asking the
government to break the si-
lence on violence against
Christians.
Today’s rally was orga-
nized following recent tele-
vised attacks on Christians
and increased anti-Christian
incidents, AsiaNews re-
ported.
Event planners expected
2,000 people, but nearly 5,000
showed up to demonstrate
near the Parliament in New
Delhi.
Speeches at the event
demanded protection of hu-
man dignity and constitu-
tional rights for the Christian
community and other minori-
ties.
Police later confirmed the
arrest of approximately 4,000
people, though they were re-
leased shortly afterward.
John Dayal, secretary-
general of the All India Chris-
tian Council, and president of
the All India Catholic Union
said: “This was the first time
since November 1997 that
such large numbers of Chris-
tians have been arrested in
the Parliament Street Police
Station.
“It was incredible to see
Catholic nuns, Protestant
pastors, civil society activ-
ists and others singing Chris-
tian songs of liberation within
the police station.” (Zenit)
27
FROM THE
I N B O X
And This Too
Shall Pass
O
ne day Solomon decided to
humble Benaiah ben Yehoyada,
his most trusted minister. He
said to him, “Benaiah, there is a certain
ring that I want you to bring to me. I
wish to wear it for Sukkot which gives
you six months to find it.”
“If it exists anywhere on earth,
your majesty,” replied Benaiah, “I will
find it and bring it to you, but what
makes the ring so special?”
“It has magic powers,” answered
the king. “If a happy man looks at it, he
becomes sad, and if a sad man looks at
it, he becomes happy.” Solomon knew
that no such ring existed in the world,
but he wished to give his minister a little
taste of humility.
Spring passed and then summer,
and still Benaiah had no idea where he
could find the ring. On the night before
Sukkot, he decided to take a walk in one
of he poorest quarters of Jerusalem. He
passed by a merchant who had begun
to set out the day’s wares on a shabby
carpet. “Have you by any chance heard
of a magic ring that makes the happy
wearer forget his joy and the broken-
28 IMPACT • June 2007
hearted wearer forget his sorrows?”
asked Benaiah.
He watched the grandfather take a
plain gold ring from his carpet and
engrave something on it. When Benaiah
read the words on the ring, his face
broke out in a wide smile.
That night the entire city welcomed
in the holiday of Sukkot with great
festivity. “Well, my friend,” said
Solomon, “have you found what I sent
you after?” All the ministers laughed
and Solomon himself smiled.
To everyone’s surprise, Benaiah
held up a small gold ring and declared,
“Here it is, your majesty!” As soon as
Solomon read the inscription, the smile
vanished from his face. The jeweler had
written three Hebrew letters on the gold
band: “gimel, zayin, yud”, which began
the words “Gam zeh ya’avor”—”This
too shall pass.”
At that moment Solomon realized
that all his wisdom and fabulous wealth
and tremendous power were but fleet-
ing things, for one day he would be
nothing but dust.
rowena.dalanon@cbcpworld.net
24 Things
To Always
Remember
Your presence is a present to the world.
You are unique and one of a kind.
Your life can be what you want it to be.
Take the days just one at a time.
Count your blessings, not your troubles.
You will make it through whatever comes
along.
Within you are so many answers.
Understand, have courage, be strong.
Do not put limits on yourself.
So many dreams are waiting to be
realized.
Decisions are too important to leave to
chance.
Reach for your peak, your goal and you
prize.
Nothing wastes more energy than wor-
rying.
The longer one carries a problem the
heavier it gets.
Do not take things too seriously.
Live a life of serenity, not a life of regrets.
Remember that a little love goes a long
way.
Remember that a lot … goes forever.
Remember that friendship is a wise
investment.
Life’s treasure is people together.
Realize that it is never too late.
Do ordinary things in an extraordinary
way.
Have heart and hope and happiness.
Take the time to wish upon a start.
AND DO NOT EVER FORGET ….
FOR EVEN A DAY
HOW VERY SPECIAL YOU ARE !
rowena.dalanon@cbcpworld.net

T his book opens with a bar
rage of questions: Who are
the laity? Who are laymen and
laywomen? Who are the lay
youth? Why are they such?
What are they in the Church?
Are they but passive members
of the Church? Do they always
have to depend on the clergy
before they could move or act?
What can they do and may do
on their own instance and ini-
tiative? What are their rights
vis-à-vis their obligations as
lay persons in the Church? A
canon lawyer by discipline and
T his book is heavily en
dorsed by heavy weights.
The Foreword is written by
Archbishop Antonio Franco,
then Apostolic Nuncio to the
Philippines. The Preface by
Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales,
Archbishop of Manila. But, of
course, books are neither val-
ued by the size of endorsers
nor by the cheers of magazine
reviews. Like food, books merit
by their own taste and by the
time readers have savored on
them. Fr. Henry Bocala came
to popular memory when, as
a student, his design won the
T his book carries with it a
very tall order: plotting a
road map for the Philippines for
completion by year 2030. It
sounds quixotic, at first blush.
If there is a thin line that divides
between economists, sociolo-
gists, millenniarists and reli-
gious fanatics, and, recently,
demographers and environ-
mentalists—it is their pen-
chant to do business with plot-
ting the future as probably Ma-
dame Auring would or any main-
stay of Quiapo. But this volume
does not carry the stuff of which
futurists are made of. It actually
stirs a movement, a revolution,
T his volume is fresh from
the oven. This is probably
the latest of Nil Guillemette’s
battery of books published by
the Paulines Publishing
House. This is the 31st volume
of his “God-tales”. Unlike pre-
vious volumes, this one has
only 25 stories but exquisitely,
if serenely, craf ted like the
cameo in his first story. Sur-
prisingly, as it may seem from
an author who is a graduate
of the Pontifical Biblical Insti-
tute with an expertise of the
New Testament, but Father
Call of the Laity
Oscar V. Cruz
an anti-gambling tsar by ad-
vocacy, Archbishop Cruz again
writes with the precision of a
watchmaker and a logical clar-
ity that only a good canon law-
yer could do. Expectedly, this
book proceeds from the per-
spective of a canon law. But
then the opening questions
are fleshed out with simplicity
Arise and Walk
Henry Bocala
competition for the official logo
of the 10th World Youth Day
held in Manila in 1995. Before
becoming a priest he was an
artist, a freelance writer and an
aide to a Senator in the Philip-
pine Congress. The book is
subtitled: “How does your
Christian faith fit in a confused
world?” The Philippine Con-
gress is not necessarily a di-
Philippine 2030 Journey to Nationhood
Jesus P. Estanislao
if you may. The author exhorts
ordinary citizens to take upon
themselves the initiative of
building up their country with-
out having to wait for disdained
politicians. The author quips:
“We have long waited for Presi-
dents and other elected offi-
cials to solve all our problems
and deliver genuine develop-
ment. The wait would be over if
ordinary citizens would roll up
The Day Shall Dawn
Nil Guillemette
Guillemette has very scanty
quotes from the scriptures in
this volume—to give way, or
so it seems, to spiritual writ-
ers whom he cites extensively
before every tale. When one
reads the story, however, one
notices that the biblical values
are embedded in every
thought and character like a
B O O K
REVIEWS
that a lay person will find it easy
to understand. “Hopefully, this
would be enough for such a
short book which is not in-
tended for experts and aca-
demic professors but prima-
rily for the ordinary members
of the laity written by an ordi-
nary member of the clergy,”
forewords the author.
minutive of a confused world.
But it is interesting to surmise
that the author may have actu-
ally posed the question from
experience. At his intro, the au-
thor says that “the book re-
sponds to the need for doc-
trine and spiritual formation,
now more urgent than ever in
the midst of a world drifting
away from God.”
their sleeves and work together
with others. Instead of asking,
what can the President do for
our sector and community,
many more should be asking:
what can we do for our coun-
try?” Read this book and see
the road map made by “ordi-
nary citizens who did not have
to wait for any official authoriza-
tion to chart a course towards
genuine progress.”
brush stroke of a master in a
priceless work of art. Cer-
tainly, those who have read
Guillemette’s previous books
will have to crave for more
without necessarily admitting
that reading his stories is
habit forming—or should one
rather say, spirituality build-
ing?
Volume 41 • Number 6 29
ENTERTAINMENT

CATHOLIC INITIATIVE
FOR ENLIGHTENED
MOVIE APPRECIATION
Title: MR. BEAN’S HOLIDAY
Running Time: 90 min.
Cast: Rowan Atkinson, Max Baldry, Emma de Caunes,
William Dafoe
Director: Steve Bendelack Cinematography: Baz Irvine
Producers: Peter Bennette- Distributor: Universal
Jones, Tim Bevan, Eric Pictures
Fellner Location: London, Cannes
Screenwriters: Aimon France
McBurney, Hanish Technical Assessment:
McColl 
Music: Howard Doodall Moral Assessment: zzz
Editor: Tony Cranstoun CINEMA Rating: For viewers
Genre: Comedy/Adventure of all ages

M r. Bean (Rowan Atkinson) attends

a church raffle and is elated when
he wins a trip to Cannes, in the south of
Bean is in a foreign country yet his
vocabulary is mostly limited to three
foreign words (two in French and one
vicariously the ambiance.
Though Mr. Bean’s Holiday may
strain the patience of some viewers due
France. Together with the main prize, in Spanish) so he has to rely on his to a sense of repetition, it can be a
he is given a video camera to record his mimetic skills. The film is low in dia- movie the whole family can enjoy. Mr.
experiences. So engrossed is he in logue and thin in plot but it has high- Bean’s jokes are clean and innocuous.
taking shots that he is blithely unaware lighted some comic set-pieces which One can enjoy the hilarious situations
of the inconvenience he causes others. include Mr. Bean consuming a platter and gags without being assaulted with
In the course of his journey, he has of unappealing seafood and perform- vulgarity or toilet humor, unlike most
many hilarious misadventures. But ing with aplomb an operatic aria and a comedies shown on screen these days
some land him in serious trouble as repertoire of eclectic dance styles in a which capitalize on sick, gross humor
when he misses trains, loses his money market square. The film also projects and vulgar dirty language. Children
and travel documents and unwittingly some beautiful scenery from the world especially love Mr. Bean and even with
separates a famous Russian movie di- famous beach resort of Cannes. More- adults, the film does not leave a bad
rector from his son Stefan (Max Baldry). over, movie buffs may satisfy their taste in the mouth. Though there is not
Usually able to extricate himself from a curiosity regarding the much touted much substance in the movie, its light
tight fix in his funny inmitable way, he international movie festival periodi- entertainment may be adequate to make
sets about to reunite father and son, cally held here and perhaps experience one forget problems for a day.
though he does not have a clear idea
how to do it. The pair conveniently
meets an aspiring actress Sabine (Emma
de Caunes) on her way to Caunes to
attend a movie premier. Sabine with her
brand new car solves their transporta-
tion problem. But the three brace for
possible trouble when Stefan’s father
announces on TV that his son has been
kidnapped.
After honing his comic skills at
Oxford, Rowan Atkinson has found in
Mr. Bean the perfect role for the expres-
sion of his talent. So successfully fused
is the actor with the fictional character
that the viewer can think of both as
one. In the first full length feature of
Mr. Bean in 1997, the viewer loved his
distinctive trademarks: the inarticulate
gurgling, the rubbery comic body move-
ments and the equally mobile funny
facial expressions. Though some view-
ers may not be very appreciative of this
predominantly slapstick comedy in Mr.
ANSWER TO THE LAST ISSUE: LET NOTHING DISTURB THEE; LET NOTHING DISMAY THEE; ALL
Bean’s Holiday, the second full feature THINGS PASS; GOD NEVER CHANGES. PATIENCE ATTAINS ALL THAT IT STRIVES FOR. HE
of this character, these same antics can WHO HAS GOD FINDS HE LACKS NOTHING: GOD ALONE SUFFICES. -- ST. TERESA OF AVILA
still generate some good laughs. Mr.

30 IMPACT • June 2007


CHINA
Vessel of 5,000 Rare Convent Robbed, Occu- Country ’s Whaling Asian Markets Push Il-
Animals Found Float- pied
ing off the Coast of
The convent of
China Chaldean Sisters of the Sa-
Endangered, hunted,
smuggled and now aban-
doned, 5,000 of the world’s
rarest animals have been
found drifting in a deserted
ship near the coast of China.
Most of the animals were
found alive on the wooden
vessel that had lost engine
power off Qingzhou Island
in the southern province of
Guangdong. According to
conservation groups, the
haul was discovered on one
of the world’s most lucra-
tive and destructive smug-
gling routes: from the threat-
ened jungles of Southeast
Asia to the restaurant tables
of southern China.
ISRAEL
Gov’t Outlaws Animal
Testing for Cosmetic
Products
Animal shelters across
Israel prepared to take in
new tenants, after the
Knesset, Israel’s legisla-
ture, approved a law out-
lawing all animal testing for
cosmetic and cleaning
products. The law would
free the 2,000-3,000 ani-
mals that are currently used
to test the products. “This
is an important law that
reflects how our society is
changing its regard for
animal rights,” said MK
Gideon Sa’ar (Likud), who
proposed the law. He added
that the law still provides
for animal testing for me-
dicinal products and the
health industry.
IRAQ
Loses Support from legal Ivory
Fisheries Companies
cred Heart in the largely
Christian Dora quarter of
Baghdad, where an anti-
Christian campaign of per-
secution continues, was
robbed and occupied by
suspected terrorists, re-
ported Asianews. The
source said alleged mem-
bers of the Shiite militants
broke into the convent
while the nuns occupying
the Angel Raphael convent
were away. Upon the sis-
ters’ return they found
everything had been stolen
and the convent taken over
for military operations.
NEPAL
Bad News for Nepal
Monkeys
A team of experts from
Nepal Bio-Medical Re-
search Center (NBMRC),
Lalitpur have started a sci-
entific research on rhesus
monkeys by capturing them
from around Bhutandevi,
Hetauda. Dr Rupak Khadka,
a member of the research
team, said the collected
monkeys would be used for
research of vaccines against
dreadful diseases like HIV/
AIDS, TB and Malaria. De-
partment of National Parks
and Wildlife Conservation
(DNPWC) is paid Rs 25,000
for each monkey captured
and used for the research,
he said. The center has al-
ready taken permission for
collection of a total of 300
healthy rhesus monkeys
from Hetauda and other
parts of the country.
JAPAN
The international wild-
life trade-monitoring net-
The fourth largest fish-
eries company here,
Kyokuyo, has pledged to
stop its sale of whale meat
in Japan. Its decision fol-
lows a campaign led by
various international envi-
ronment organizations. In
April, the coalition of en-
vironmental and animal
welfare groups called on
American company True
World Foods, which
partnered with Kyokuyo to
distribute sushi in the
United States, to persuade
Kyokuyo to stop selling
whale products. Kyokuyo
said it has ceased produc-
tion of whale products and
is in the process of selling
off its remaining stock-
pile. Without companies
like Kyokuyo, Japan’s
whaling industry will fall
flat.
INDIA
4,000 Christians
Nabbed during Protest
Around 4,000 dem-
onstrators were arrested
during a massive protest
rally outside the Parliament
in New Delhi to condemn
rising violent attacks
against Christians. Pro-
testers urged the Indian
government to deliver ap-
propriate actions as they
call for protection of hu-
man dignity and constitu-
tional rights for the Chris-
tian community and other
minorities. Arrested dem-
onstrators were released
shortly afterwards.
Volume 41 • Number 6
N E W S
BRIEFS
PHILIPPINES
work Traffic reported il-
legal ivory is expanding
and even reaching the
Philippines. The syndi-
cates gather ivory in Af-
rica for export to East
Asian countries. The big-
gest market is China,
though there is also sig-
nificant trade to other
countries like Thailand.
Traffic said there are 92
illegal ivory seizures per
month, and the number of
large hauls has doubled in
a decade.
SRI LANKA
Groups Warn Vs. “Di-
sastrous” Civil War Ef-
fect on Children
It is an undisputed
fact that during times of
conflict children bears the
maximum brunt of it being
the most vulnerable sec-
tion of the society. The
over two decades civil war
in Sri Lanka is having a
“disastrous” effect on
children, warned various
local and global humani-
tarian organizations, in-
cluding the UNICEF. Be-
cause of the long term
conflict, the groups, la-
mented many children are
living in fear and insecu-
rity, deprived of school,
play and contact with other
children, and suffer from
psychological and social
trauma. The groups also
cried foul over trafficking
of minors and recruitment
of child soldiers.
31