2,000 taking part in start of pilgrimage vs hunger

DAVAO CITY - Close to 2,000 people are expected to join the start of the 40-day pilgrimage against hunger this morning at the Sandawa Park here.

The pilgrimage, dubbed the "Great Jubilee Pilgrimage Against Hunger," will be led by 12 representatives of landless farmers, displaced lumads (uplanders), urban poor, abused workers and women.

The journey will pass through several towns and cities in Mindanao, the Visayas and Luzon before it ends up at the EDSA Shrine in Mandaluyong City on June 9, the day before the 12th anniversary of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law.

The pilgrims will make stops in certain diocesan centers and schools, and will also stage brief protest rallies in front of local offices of the Departments of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform.

According to its organizers, the pilgrimage is aimed at calling the attention of the administration of President Estrada to give justice to the poorest sectors and thus, sow the "seeds of peace."

The pilgrimage, which will also be participated in by at least 28 non-government organizations, seeks to highlight problems in the implementation of the agrarian reform program, which the Estrada administration declared as the cornerstone of its pro-poor programs and policies.

"The government should just be sincere in implementing its pro-poor policies if it wants to prove that it has the interest of the poorest of the poor at heart," said one of the organizers.