News Release
January 21, 2008
References: Rafael “Ka Paeng” Mariano, chairman, KMP and president ANAKPAWIS party list
Ka Orly Marcellana, secretary general, KASAMA-TK
 
Militant farmers picket DOJ for demonizing rallies! Insist Mendiola rally tomorrow is for genuine agrarian reform and justice
 
            The militant Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) and its Southern Tagalog chapter the Katipunan ng mga Samahang Magbubukid ng Timog Katagalugan (KASAMA-TK) held a picket protest in front of the Department of Justice (DOJ) to assail Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez in demonizing rallies and for the unresolved extra-judicial killings.
            According to Rafael “Ka Paeng” Mariano, chairman of KMP and concurrent president of ANAKPAWIS party list, “farmers from all over Luzon are coming here to Manila to highlight their support for the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill (GARB) or House Bill (HB) 3059 and to call for justice for our slain comrades. Our question to Sec. Gonzalez is has there been any destabilizer who would campaign for a just bill and even inform city and municipal halls that there will be a rally?”
            “Malacanang through Sec. Gonzalez is muddling the issue we are emphasizing and that is land to the tiller and a just resolution to extra-judicial killings. Aside from the Mendiola and Luisita massacres hundreds of peasants have been killed like Ka Eddie Gumanoy, former chairman of KASAMA-TK and Ka Eden Marcellana,” said Mariano.
            Meanwhile Ka Orly Marcellana, secretary general of KASAMA-TK and the widower of Eden said, “We are the ones who are aggrieved because many of our comrades and loved ones have been killed and the so-called Justice Secretary even has the temerity to call us destabilizers. He is the one destabilizing the country to justify a more draconian rule. He is indeed adding insult to injury on our plight; nonetheless we will not be cowed,”
            After the DOJ the militant peasants will also go to the Department of National Defense (DND), the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) and the National Housing Authority (NHA) to still demand justice and land. There will also be a solidarity night in front of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) as the farmers from Central Luzon, Cagayan Valley , Ilocos, and Cordillera arrive. # # #