Are there occupations of vacant land occurring as well as land redistribution through the Department of Agrarian Reform?

Yes. There are many sugar lords who are very much resistant to agrarian reform, who are using goons, private guards and even the military against those identified by the Department of Agrarian Reform as legitimate claimants for land. There are many sugar lords who refuse to give over the land. In this situation, there is often a forcible entry and the physical taking over of the land. There are many cases of this in Negros, but the sugar workers and farmers don't do such a thing unless they have been officially identified as beneficiaries of land reform by the government. Does the BMP organise other sectors of workers as well as sugar workers? The BMP, as well as being a major partner in the FFHC, is also organising transport workers and service workers such as those working in hotels and large corporations, but the main base of the BMP in Negros is the sugar workers. The BMP is now the biggest trade union centre in Negros. On October 13, there was a regional stop work and protest ...  more