A rally will be staged today at the Fountain of Justice in Bacolod City to call for the scrapping of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform and Charter Change and to demand justice for the Mendiola massacre victims and the release of political prisoners by members of progressive and farmers groups.

The National Federation of Sugar Workers, Kilusang Magbubikid sa Pilipinas and PAMALAKAYA members in Negros Occidental will also hold a picket at the Department of Agrarian Reform Office in the morning.

KMP - Negros chairman Richard Sarrosa said Cha-cha is not a solution to the problems of the country. He said they also demand a stop to the extrajudicial killings of the farmer sectors which they believe are CARP-related.

Sarrosa said the government is using CARP to justify the release of the Ginintong Ani fund amounting to P728 million for the 2007 elections. He also said the violent assault on the Iloilo provincial capitol Wednesday displays the kind of government Arroyo has, a picture of Martial Law and the curtailment of freedom.

"We believe the Filipino people are now educated and that all candidates or politicians being endorsed by the administration will lose the support of the Filipino people in the election, he said."

KARAPATAN-Negros yesterday deplored the continuing killing of political activists, peasants, farm workers and labor organizers nationwide. A press release from the group said this unabated killings resulting from Arroyo's deliberate maneuver to stay in power and eliminating oppositions have currently taken the lives of more than 800 individuals.

It said the latest victim of the assault is Jose Maria Cui, 53, a professor of the University of Eastern Philippines in Catarman, Northern Samar, who was shot dead 4 p.m. yesterday before his students inside the university.

Cui was the chairperson of the Confederation for Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees in Northern Samar and former secretary general of Katungod, a human rights group, the release said.*CGS

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