I prayed for strength.

While watching The Correspondents on ABS-CBN last week, I prayed to God to give strength to the 50 farmers marching on foot from their hometown of Sumilao, Bukidnon, in Mindanao to Malacañang Palace in Manila. Yes, they are literally going the distance.

According to an e-mail sent by Pakisama, a national confederation of farmers' associations in the Philippines, the march is to "reignite awareness on the situation of agrarian reform in the country and create a groundswell of support for the acceleration of distribution of lands under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program [CARP]."

Why all this hoopla for these 50 farmers? Let's go back in history. Ten years ago, a number of lumad-the term used for the indigenous peoples of South Mindanao-farmers staged a 28-day hunger strike at the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) office to pressure the government to redistribute 144 hectares of their ancestral land covered by the government's agrarian-reform program.

To appease the farmers, then-President Fidel Ramos declared that 100 hectares will be given to the lumad farmers while the remaining 44 hectares will be given to the landowner. A few years later, the Supreme Court overturned the conversion to grant the landowner, the Norberto Quisumbing Sr. Management and Development Corp., rightful ownership, thus rendering President Ramos' declaration as null and void. This was in 1999.

The Norberto Quisumbing Sr. Management and Development Corp. then sold the land to San Miguel Food Corp. However, during the companies' tenure of ownership for almost 10 years, the 144 hectares was left idle. It wasn't until recently that the Danding Cojuangco-owned company set up a piggery farm-and then the news reached them that the lumad farmers want to claim the land back.

Then, I prayed for God's forgiveness.

While watching The Correspondents, I prayed for God to forgive the DAR since years after the Supreme Court order, according to The Correspondents report, the Quisumbings had failed to initiate any development work on the land. (Under the law, an agricultural-land conversion plan that has not been implemented within five years after approval may be subjected again to the agrarian-reform program.) Furthermore, San Miguel Food Corp. violated the conditions of the conversion order by changing its use to a hog farm. According to the report, both actions were made in violation of DAR Administrative Orders 1 and 2, Series of 1990, and other pertinent laws on conversion. I prayed for both companies' forgiveness.

The lumad farmers filed a petition for the cancellation of the conversion order before the Office of the DAR Secretary. That was in 2002 and, since then, nothing has been done.

I prayed for enlightenment.

By the third segment of The Correspondents, I prayed for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to be enlightened with regard to the situation. I heard that she crossed paths with the marching farmers but just ignored them. I hope GMA will be enlightened to give back the 100 hectares of this ancestral land to these 50 farmers who are trying to make a decent living.

I also prayed that the other viewers of The Correspondents, along with the readers of this column, become enlightened and support the lumad farmers. These farmers are just a small percentage of the many farmers who have become victims of the sad state of agrarian reform in our country. 

By the time the show's end credits rolled, I prayed that justice be finally given to the Sumilao farmers....

For donations-and I swear I am going to donate here-interested people may deposit their donations to Pakisama's bank account: Pambansang Kilusan ng mga Samahang Magsasaka (Pakisama), savings account number 0280-14200-0, Equitable PCI Bank, Katipunan Branch. Please e-mail the details of your donation (amount, time and date of deposit, etc.) to sumilaomarch@gmail.com or pakisama_pilipinas@yahoo.com to find out if your donation has been received. The Pakisama office is located at Room 207, Partnership Center, 59 Salavador Street, Loyola Heights, Quezon City.