The farmers' hands seem to be irrelevant and insignificant to our careers, to our future. In fact, they seem to have little to do with us. They may look grubby and inconsequential, but these are the hands that feed our nation.
And they need our hands right now.
Friends, let us be bothered that by June 5, if the congress doesn't pass the amended Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program with Extension and Reform (CARPER/ HB4077), the whole CARP may be totally scrapped. These are bills that protect the Philippine farmers' basic rights, such as fair distribution and acquisition of tilled lands.
Of course, this bill is having a lot of difficulties as its beneficiaries are a social minority, while the ones who are tasked to pass and approve it include authorities who are land and hacienda owners.
Please. Let us take some minutes to all pray for the passing of this amended bill, that the Congress will not use the excuse of 'lack of time', to forever dismiss this matter.
And our farmers are certainly going through a whole lot, like:
- Land debts
- poverty
- resettlement
- landgrabbing, transforming their fields into industrialized structures
- powerlessness
- muted freedom of speech
It's evident that their frustrations aren't stemming from natural causes alone or agricultural problems as if those weren't enough.
Farmers from other countries also are not exempt. . (Just a few weeks ago, some 1500 farmers from India committed mass suicide due to unpaid debts by crop failure).
What can I do?
Pray.
Pass. To create awareness, to battle indifference. If this can be read by people involved in government, civil, legislative, agrarian sectors, the better.
Blog. Sign Petitions. Compose. Bake. Call. Build. Paint. Put it in facebook, YM. Join initiatives. Learn more about it. Because WE CAN.
after all, these are our neighbors, our brothers who are slighted, oppressed, lightly esteemed and abused.