The call continues to resonate as before. No matter how the order as trying to forget or treating as any other political promise, the call for genuine agrarian reform and rural development remains the serious desire for landless peasantfolks that still at the mercy of landlords and compradores alike. The latter's "Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program", like its predecessor and successor laws, has failed to succeed its goal for distributing land, what more of using it as a ruse to turn what is supposed for the landless into a "chance" to convert agricultural land into "agro-commercial", or even "industrial".
That until today continues under the Duterte administration. That contrary to what the regime has taken pride of supporting the peasants and promising them with land, its allies, mainly compradores and landlords, uses state forces in its dirty war against the peasantfolks- of occupying their communities, hamletting, intimidation, and harassment. More than 500 farmers have been killed during his nearly five-year rule. It is unsurprising, that the incident at Mendiola, as well as Hacienda Luisita, Kidapawan, Negros, and others brought by the order against the folk, should be recognised as an example of indisputable truth of class relationships that's antagonistic. There is nothing more foolish and reactionary than what was brought by the order and those who speak of "reforming", when in fact having the fear that the peasantfolks themselves will take arms forces these privileged orderists to make a "compromise" with the angry folks while sharpening its knives to stab their backs. It is not surprising that the "compromise" such as a faux-agrarian reform program isn't a reform at all, let alone an impression that the order is "concerned" about the majority. "A victory for farmers and democracy" as one right-wing legislator say, when in fact this consolidates the semifeudal-semicolonial order.
But will these peasantfolks yield? No! Given the centuries-old repression, disenfranchisement, deceit, will these peasantfolks who struggle for land and justice accept their whims? As far as a concerned knows that they had enough of the promises as they sought the fear and death brought by the order and its attack dogs. They had also enough of the blame games, the red taggings, the malice also brought by the same order who claimed that the agrarian reform of theirs as a "victory for farmers and democracy".
Regardless of attempts to refute by neoliberals and orderists alike, promoting genuine agrarian reform and rural development will always be the call of the peasantfolks. It is a centuries-old struggle that through various forms of action and resistance they strongly cling to their lands amidst attempts to seize by landlords and large conglomerates who want to take over the land they have cultivated and enriched. And to think that various agrarian reform laws have ended in failure, then that "victory for farmers and democracy" is nothing but bullshit, a mockery of those whose colleagues killed by that centuries-old order who takes pride in that "agrarian reform" of theirs.