Mainly for the purpose of sharing the
most amazing thoughts of one of the persons I hold dearly in my heart, I am
putting up a corner for this blog, showcasing the works of my beloved mentor,
Fr Niall O’Brien. I am still trying to gather the materials he had written
before for the local paper and it is still a long way to go. One by one, I will
be sharing it here so that you my beloved readers will be able to get to know
the him who has greatly inspired me.
Shades
of Marcos
With
Niall O’ Brien
Some years ago the Secretary – elect
for agrarian reform came to Bacolod. We
gathered at Nena de Leon’s Bacolod
Pavillion to hear her. She gave a riveting speech on land reform and the rights
of the peasants. At some stage of the proceedings, Violeta Lopez – Gonzaga
raised her hand and asked about the sequestered land –lands which were
considered to have been gained due to undue influence with the corrupt regime
of President Marcos. As we understood, the sequestered lands were to be on the
top of the list for distribution to the peasants who had tilled it. “But this
is not taking place,” said Violeta to the Secretary –elect. The secretary asked
for some proof. So that moment, up from the back of the hall, came to troop of
women. They were so thin they could have walked out of Shindler’s list. Their
clothes were obviously second-hand and you could see where the thread had lost
its color from being washed so often. These
were their best clothes. The faces of the women were emaciated. Violeta
explained that these people were the qualified beneficiaries of the sequestered
lands but that as of yet nothing had happened. The Secretary – elect rose up
and shot out in quick fire a load of questions and instructions to her staff.
Results of her inquiries were to be on her desk by Monday. This case was not to
be touched by any civil court. She would deal with it personally. I was deeply
moved by her efficiency and her convincing air. She never did deal with it. I
am not too sure that we can blame her. After all a Secretary depends on the
honesty of the DAR representative in the area. No? He has great power and if he would save his
soul he needs to remain independent of interested parties. That is why I am
curious that he proposes to sign the Memorandum of Agreement creating a
‘Provincial Council’ which will effectively take away his powers and hand them
over to a committee which is weighted in favor of one of the parties in this
dispute. The peasants need a strong Dar not one that is compromised.
I don’t know how many cases I have
known where peasants have been issued Certificates of Land Ownership CLOAs –
and by one ruse or another these peasants have never taken the land which the
sovereign state of the Philippines by its power of eminent domain has ceded to
them. The whole point of the land reform law know as CARL is to bring about an
end to killings and revolution and general war which has been going on for
thirty years. The land question is at the heart of the agrarian unrest here in
Negros. In fact where I was in the mountains the hard fighting began when the
ranch owners called in the military to help them. Have we gone back to square
one?
I am in complete sympathy with those
who say that the owners should be given fair and just compensation and that
they should be paid in an acceptable form and that peasants must not take the
law into their own hands. And who can deny that there are some crafty lawyers
out there who know how to manipulate tenants so that they themselves can take
over land. But one of the simple problems has been that during the Marcos years
some land owners undervalued their land in their tax returns so as to pay lower
taxes. This valuation submitted by them at that time now stands and means that
they get a lower price for their land. Naturally they are not happy.
It is not difficult for an educated
woman with access to lawyers and plenty of time on her hands to prevent
unschooled peasants whose children are frequently sick and in need of medicines
from taking over the land even though they have received the CLOA which in fact
is equivalent to a land title. Naturally these peasants in their immediate need
will accept even small sums of money to pay for the hospitalization of a sick
child. What amazes me is that the Provincial council set up to ‘solve’ the
agrarian problems proposes to support the right of the qualified beneficiaries
to security of tenure and this is what stunned me “the right TO WAIVE THEIR
RIGHT TO OWN THE LAND THEY TILL.” You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to
know that NO LAND REFORM PROGRAM WILL WORK IF THE PEASANTS CAN SELL THEIR
RIGHTS IMMEDIATELY BACK TO THE ORIGINAL LAND OWNER. The needs of that sick
child come first in their mind.
A couple of weeks ago, I heard a woman
tell the story of peasants moving on to her land; they are coming there to live
and set up their houses illegally. There are already too many people on the
land and she had to draw a line somewhere – albeit reluctantly. As she spoke
she feel into Bisaya and tears flowed down her face as she said simply, “But
where will the poor people go?” I was deeply moved because in her mind’s eye it
was clear that she could see beyond the legalities and could envision the
plight of these wretched people. Alas, would that the would-be members of this
Provincial Council could see beyond their rights and see the worn, leather
faces of the workers and their little children and forget about using the
military and open their hearts to them. Strange that we can weep watching the
Fiddler on The Roof but we cannot see the sadness right beside us.
When members of the NPA read this, if
they read anything these days, they will laugh. Some of them believe that this
is opium and that only the gun really works. And when I do manage to talk to
them they cite chapter and verse where CARL has not been implemented. Though I
cannot deny that, I do not agree with their modus operandi and I hope that the
governor and his extraordinary unbalanced council do not merit the remark once
made by Tallyrand about the French kings: “They remembered everything but they
learned nothing.”
Schumacher in his book, Small is
Beautiful, calculates how many years a peasant must work so that you and I can
be educated. He must feed himself and have a surplus so that I can eat without
working while I am studying. Believe it or not it takes something like 50
peasant-years of work to give a college education to you or me. Do I now use
that education to liberate him or do I use it to keep him down where he is?
After all each of us should thank God
that we don’t have cancer and we should use what little time is left to us to
change the face of Negros and not just reinforce the old system. How many years
have you and I left to live? How will we use those years? To lift the burden from
the peasants so that that Lord will be with us now and at the hour of our
death.
P.S. Do you remember the Marcos style?
When he talked of “rationalizing the sugar and coconut industry” he really
meant taking them over. What amazes me
about this Provincial Council is that it brings me back to those Marcos days
when so many councils were set up to help the Sugar Workers –where is
Batterbonia and his Bureau of Labour Now? – but which at their root had the
opposite purpose. Someday in a more prosperous age, when our people no longer
need to emigrate and leave their husbands and children behind, someone will
write the history of Negros. And this Provincial Council will be mentioned and
analyzed and shown up for what it is. I will be gone and you will be gone but
the truth will be there for all to see.
There are honorable and good men on
this proposed council, I know them personally, and I pray that like Nicodemus
they may see the Light.
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