Petition Asking For Support For The Sumilao Farmers

Dear Friends,

We are concerned students supporting the 60-day walk of the 50 farmers from Sumilao, Bukidnon to Manila, as a show of protest to the government who has been ignoring their rights for the longest time. The Sumilao Farmers (Higaonons) have not been able to regain their long lost ancestral land. They have been robbed by unscrupulous landlords that transformed their ancestral land into cattle ranches, pineapple plantations and now, piggery farms. These are the very same lands where the Higaonon tribe performed their sacred rituals and prayer offerings. The Sumilao Farmers are hoping that after this walk, the government will hear their pleas and eventually grant them the land which they used to own and till, and to get the CARL (Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law) completed especially in the area of land distribution in the next seven years.

The farmers have decided to march from Sumilao to Manila from October 9, 2007, also in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of their 1997 hunger strike. They will walk on foot until they reach Manila on December 10, 2007, in time for the Human Rights Day. This is the only way that the farmers will be able to voice out and demand their rights to the Department of Agrarian Reform and the Office of the President.

We, Filipinos, have started globally in showing solidarity with the Burmese protesters and the petitioners last month. We have also supported the online petition against the racially-discriminatory remark on Filipinos made in an episode of Desperate Housewives. But what has been done locally? Join us now in helping the Sumilao farmers gain support for acceleration of land distribution under agrarian reform.

We hope that you can help us raise at least 1 million signatures by forwarding this petition to everyone who cares.

Thank you very much!