{"id":3673,"date":"2021-03-31T13:47:30","date_gmt":"2021-03-31T05:47:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/panap.net\/?p=3673"},"modified":"2021-03-31T13:47:30","modified_gmt":"2021-03-31T05:47:30","slug":"free-joseph-canlas-respect-filipino-farmers-right-to-fight-land-grabs","status":"publish","type":"panap_updates","link":"https:\/\/panap.net\/beta\/updates\/free-joseph-canlas-respect-filipino-farmers-right-to-fight-land-grabs\/","title":{"rendered":"Free Joseph Canlas, respect Filipino farmers&#8217; right to fight land grabs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>PENANG, Malaysia &#8211; We support the appeal of our partner <em>Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas<\/em> or Peasant Movement of the Philippines (KMP) for the immediate release of their detained vice chairperson Joseph Canlas.<\/p>\n<p>Canlas is a determined leader of the Filipino farmers&#8217; struggle against land grabbing. His arrest and detention by the Philippine police on March 30, based on what appear to be <a href=\"https:\/\/web.facebook.com\/kilusangmagbubukid\/photos\/a.145449808385\/10158438951788386\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">questionable grounds<\/a>, undermine not only his civil and political rights. It is also a blow to the assertion of the collective rights of Filipino farmers to land and resources.<\/p>\n<p>One of the major campaigns that Canlas has been leading is the campaign to stop the Balog-Balog Multipurpose Dam project of the Philippine government. Estimated to cost USD 327 million, the dam is being constructed by a joint venture involving the Chinese firm Guangxi Hydroelectric Construction Bureau Co. Ltd. The project is located in the province of Tarlac (almost 129 kilometres north of Manila).<\/p>\n<p>The case of Balog-Balog is one of the case studies that PANAP featured in our recently published book <a href=\"https:\/\/files.panap.net\/resources\/No-Land-No-Life-Land-Conflicts-and-Struggles-in-Asia.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>&#8220;No Land, No Life! Land Conflicts and Struggles in Asia&#8221;<\/em><\/a>. As a leader of the campaign against the dam, Canlas was among the key resource persons for the research done on the Balog-Balog case.<\/p>\n<p>Canlas is fighting for the more than 2,000 families of peasants and indigenous peoples from about 33 sitios (a territory within a village) feared to be displaced by the construction of the Balog-Balog dam. Thus, tens of thousands of rural people affected by Balog-Balog dam are also in a way attacked with his arrest and detention.<\/p>\n<p>We echo the call of many civil society groups worldwide and of various UN human rights bodies for a stop on the apparent political repression of activists in the Philippines, including leaders and members of cause-oriented peasant groups.<\/p>\n<p>Free Joseph Canlas and respect the Filipino farmers&#8217; legitimate right to oppose land and resource grabbing. ###<\/p>\n<p><strong>Reference:<\/strong>\u00a0Sarojeni Rengam, PANAP executive director,\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:nolandnolife@panap.net\">nolandnolife@panap.net<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PENANG, Malaysia &#8211; We support the appeal of our partner Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas or Peasant Movement of the Philippines (KMP) for the immediate release of their detained vice chairperson Joseph Canlas. Canlas is a determined leader of the Filipino farmers&#8217; struggle against land grabbing. His arrest and detention by the Philippine police on March&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3680,"template":"","update_categories":[107],"class_list":["post-3673","panap_updates","type-panap_updates","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","update_categories-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/panap.net\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/panap_updates\/3673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/panap.net\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/panap_updates"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/panap.net\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/panap_updates"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panap.net\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/panap.net\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/panap_updates\/3673\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panap.net\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/panap.net\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"update_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panap.net\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/update_categories?post=3673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}