Farmers: distribute the Arroyo lands!!!

Farm workers from the three haciendas owned by the Arroyo family in Negros Occidental slipped past presidential guards and staged a lightning rally in front of Malacañang Tuesday morning, GMA's Flash Report said.

Some 20 farmers who participated in the lighting rally near the New Executive Building took off their shirts to protest the government's failure to uphold their land rights.

The protesters said President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo herself failed to fulfill her promise seven years ago of distributing her family's haciendas to farmer-beneficiaries of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

"Lupa ng Arroyo ipamahagi (Distribute the Arroyo lands)," they chanted.

The protesters were hauled to a passenger jeepney and brought to a police precinct for investigation. - Amita Legaspi, GMANews.TV