ASIA/PHILIPPINES - The Church to the President: "It is time to approve land reform"

Manila (Agenzia Fides) – To approve the Agrarian Reform is an urgent need for the country. With this awareness Caritas Philippines has launched a new appeal to President Benigno Aquino inviting him to "keep the promise made by his mother, President Corazon Aquino, to do justice to farmers".
In a note sent to Fides, the Archbishop of Caceres, His Exc. Mgr. Rolando Tirona, director of Caritas, said that "the distribution of agricultural land to landless peasants is a constitutional mandate of the government that has the duty to comply with".
The Archbishop, together with other Bishops, religious and NGO leaders have signed a letter to the President, asking to approve two bills that outline the reform. "The Church cannot remain silent on hearing the cries of poor peasants", reads the letter.
Caritas Philippines denounces the injustices suffered by a million farmers who are still landless, who for thirty years await the approval of the "Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program - Carp". "We appeal to the sense of justice and compassion of the President and Congress".
The Philippine Church has been asking for a more equitable distribution of land to the various Presidents for years, land which is concentrated in the hands of an elite of landowners. The reforms of 1988 and 1998, strongly opposed by large landowners, were not sufficient. After extensive social mobilization, a first result was the extension of the Carp in 2009, but the redistribution of land moves at a slow place. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 09/04/2015)