The Asian Peasant Coalition (APC) warmly greets the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) or Peasant Movement of the Philippines)on its 25th Anniversary of Continuous Struggle for Land, Justice and Freedom. KMP’s rich experience in advancing peasant rights to land serves as an inspiration to peasants all-over Asia.
Asian countries have learned from KMP that the struggle for Land is uncompromisable and should be upheld with great determination and perseverance. Filipino peasants have been deceived by numerous sham land reform programs, but KMP and its local chapters have took hold of the fundamental principles of the peasant movement, that a landlord-dominated state would never implement Genuine Land Reform. Thus, unless lands are concretely freely distributed, the struggle should never weaken
KMP showed the lesson of having a united, genuine and strong peasant movement. The experience in Hacienda Luisita in Central Luzon, Hacienda Looc in Southern Tagalog, Central Mindanao University (CMU) in Mindanao and other areas of the country have proven that peasant rights could only be defended by the active participation and political consciousness of the peasants. Peasants on the said areas could have been long displaced if they did not fight back against the efforts of landlords, landgrabbers, foreign investors and the state’s fascist forces.