The Filipino Peasants' Struggle for Genuine Agrarian Reform

THE FILIPINO PEASANTS’ STRUGGLE FOR GENUINE AGRARIAN REFORM
Submitted by KMP during the “International Conference on Peasant Rights” organized by Indonesian Peasant Union and La Via Campesina from June 21-24, 2008 in Jakarta, Indonesia

Land to the tiller!
After two lengthy decades of implementing a bogus land reform program in the Philippines from former President Corazon Aquino to the current regime of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, this call still echoes in every corner of the countryside – and now more than ever, the Filipino farmers’ voices resound as we demand to end the deception.

The rice crisis that the Philippines is now experiencing is a clear manifestation of the extreme bankruptcy of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) for twenty years coupled with the utmost anti-peasant and anti-people policies of the Macapagal-Arroyo regime. Landlessness have intensified, still, seven out of ten farmers do not own the land they till. Massive land conversions alongside cancellation of Emancipation Patents (EPs), Certificate of Land Ownership Award (CLOAs), and Certificate of Land Transfers (CLTs) attack the farmers, leaving hundreds of thousands of CARP beneficiaries landless again after being deceived.

DAR has placed 1,302,375 hectares of prime agricultural lands in Southern Tagalog for land use conversion which led to the massive land reform reversals with the cancellation of land titles all over the region. Around 173,000 hectares of prime agricultural lands in the region have been already converted for commercial purposes; leaving tens of thousands of supposed to be CARP beneficiaries landless.

In 1993, KMP and the Sentro Para sa Tunay na Repormang Agraryo (Sentra) held a preliminary assessment of CARP from 1988 to 1993, and one of the striking results of program was revealed--- a total of 10,958 certificate of land transfers (CLTs), 9,133 EPs and 2,303 CLOAs were cancelled by DAR covering 32, 041 hectares of prime agricultural lands affecting over 22,000 CARP beneficiaries.

The groups said while farmlands belonging to farmers are perpetually targeted for landgrabbing and conversion under CARP, lands leased to foreign corporations like Dole and Del Monte Philippines remained untouched. It said foreign corporations managed to keep 220,000 hectares of agricultural lands because these lands were devoted to production of export crops

From 6 million hectares, rice lands have decreased to 4 million, clearly signaling the severe crisis in rice production. Furthermore, support services from the government are nowhere to be found because agricultural funds have been going to the pockets of corrupt government officials.

Table 1: Partial list of Haciendas in the country (size in hectares), KMP 2005
Hacienda / Land Lord Hectares Place
Danding Cojuangco Jr.; 30,000; Negros, Isabela, Cagayan, Davao del Sur, Cotabato, Palawan

Hacienda San Antonio and Hacienda Sta. Isabel (Danding Cojuangco Jr., Faustino Dy, Juan Ponce Enrile); 13,085; Ilagan, Isabela

Nestle Farms 10,000 (as of now) 160,000 is their target Isabela, Cagayan, Compostela Valley, Agusan Sur

Floreindo Family (TADECO); 11,048 (including Davao Penal Colony); Davao del Norte

Almagro Family; 10,000; Dalaguete, Cebu

Dimaporo Family; 10,000; Lanao

Hacienda de Santos; 9,700; Nueva Ecija

Hacienda Banilad and Hacienda Palico (Roxas Family); 8,500; Batangas

Canlubang Sugar Estate (Yulo Family); 7,100; Laguna

Luisa vda de Tinio; 7,000; Nueva Ecija

Hacienda Luisita (Cojuangco Family); 6,000; Tarlac

Escudero Family; 4,000; Southern Tagalog

Andres Guanzon; 2,945; Pampanga

Reyes Family; 2,257; Southern Tagalog

Sanggalang Family; 1,600; Southern Tagalog

Uy Family; 1,500; Southern Tagalog

Palmares and Co. Inc.; 1,027; Iloilo

As the government, big landlords and comprador take away millions of hectares of land, they also take away millions of farmers’ lives violating peasants’ right to land and livelihoods. Millions of farmers were homeless and hungry as eviction cases further escalate. Situation of farm workers’ in several sugarcane and fruit plantations on the other hand, remain at its exploitative condition, workers toil for several hours for a meager amount which cannot even feed their families. In addition to all these, several forms of usury and low product price continue to burden the already miserable condition of the peasantry. See Table 1, partial list of haciendas/landlords identified.

Human rights violation
Because the Macapagal-Arroyo government is in every way a fascist regime, the peasants suffer the most of its inhumane attacks. Instead of hearing the just and legitimate plea of landless and impoverished farmers; unending harassments, abductions and terrible killings are what the regime answers. From 2001 to June 2008, Karapatan (a human rights watchdog) recorded 908 victims of extrajudicial killings – almost 60% belong to the ranks of the peasant who valiantly fought for their right to land and social justice. Further, KMP have lost 106 of its peasant leaders who were steadfast in the struggle, even until their death. Celso Pojas, spokesperson of KMP Southern Mindanao Region (KMP-SMR), is the latest victim who was killed in May 15, 2008.

To date, Nilo Arado (Secretary General of Federation of Iloilo Farmers Association and member of KMP National Council) as well as Jonas Burgos (staff of Alliance of Farmers in Bulacan) were still missing. Nilo Arado and Jonas Burgos were abducted by the military in April 12 and April 28, 2007 respectively. From 2001 to 2007 alone, 127 KMP leaders and members were victims of enforced disappearance and there seems to be no sign of respite from its systematic occurrence.

On January 28 this year, Randal Echanis, KMP Deputy Secretary General for External Affairs, was arrested in Negros Occidental while attending a consultation with sugar farmers in regarding the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill (GARB) or House Bill 3059 principally authored by the late Anakpawis party list Rep. Crispin Beltran and the forthcoming 2nd National Rural Congress spearheaded by the influential Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) slated next month. He was charged of fabricated cases orchestrated by the National Security Council (NSC) headed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, which include Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzalez and Department of Justice (DoJ) secretary Raul Gonzalez.

Military documents revealed that involuntary or enforced disappearance, together with political killings and other forms of attacks against political activists, are part of the Oplan Bantay Laya I and II (OBL or Operation Freedom Watch) implemented by the Arryo regime in 2001 and 2002. It aims to defeat the Communist Party of the Philippines and other revolutionary movements in the Philippines and targets not only armed rebel groups but also targets members of the legitimate peoples’ organizations.

Militant Victory
Despite all exploitation and struggles, Filipino farmers emerge victorious through collective and militant action. Local farmers’ organization, affiliated with KMP, in different regions have proven the strength of their unity – agricultural workers in Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac are now cultivating 1,600 hectares of land outside CARP as the fruit of their arduous fight against the stock distribution option. Now, the blood of the martyrs of Hacienda Luisita massacre which have been watered in the Cojuangco-owned land are now slowly gaining justice.

Farmers in Bukidnon, Mindanao also have their share of a militant success story – after years of struggling to own the 400 hectares of land which they have been tilling in the grounds of Central Mindanao University (CMU), they have asserted their right to land even if the Supreme Court in 1992 decided in favor of the CMU on the grounds that educational institution is exempted from CARP. Farmers are practicing sustainable agriculture with more than 300 TRVs in their community seed bank

In San Mariano town in Isabela province, loan interest rates reached up to 40% per cropping. The farmer-trader negotiations in 2001, led by Alliance of Farmers in Cagayan or CAGIMUNGAN succeeded in lowering the interest rate to 13%. An estimated 100,000 peasant families in the region are benefiting from the struggle.

Unwavering struggle for genuine land reform
With the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas at the forefront of the fight for genuine agrarian reform, farmers vow to intensify the struggle even more.

As the CARP ends this year, landlords, bureaucrat and monopoly capitalists race against time to extend the comprehensively flawed land reform program for their self interests. With this, KMP is even more impelled to militantly and resolutely strengthen our ranks to onward the struggle for genuine land reform.

Last November 13, 2007, we, together with the broad number of rural people (fisherfolks, peasant women, agricultural workers) and progressive party list representatives from Anakpawis (Toiling Masses), Bayan Muna (Nation First) and Gabriela Womens’ Party have filed House Bill 3059 or the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill (GARB). GARB carries the fundamental demand of the farmers of land distribution at no cost, principally founded on the dimensions of social justice. GARB is the true solution to the age-old problem of landlessness and feudal exploitation in the country, GARB is the true solution to the exacerbating food crisis which brings further suffering to the hungry and impoverished Filipinos, GARB is the only key to real economic development through national industrialization.

We have actively campaigned for the passage of GARB in all the peasant campaigns – even before the rice crisis issue has blown, we have stressed the urgent need for genuine agrarian reform to ensure the country’s food security and food self-sufficiency.

Last January of this year, farmers marched all the way from Southern Tagalog and Central Luzon regions to demand the junking of CARP and the passage of GARB as we remembered the martyrs of Mendiola Massacre who were killed 21 years ago for the same demand to own the land they till.

It was the near the end of March when the Department of Agriculture (DA) admitted that we are experiencing rice crisis because of the sudden “increase in rice prices” – but we did not believe these lies. We know that the crisis was a result of the government’s neglect for the agricultural sector in favor for the conditions under trade liberalization, in favor for the big landlords and compradors who have been protecting the interests of this anti-people and morally bankrupt regime. On the day of International Rice Research Institute’s (IRRI) anniversary (April 4), GMA delivered a Food Summit to once again deceive the public in making them believe that her government is making sound measures to ensure food security. KMP led peasants from Bulacan and Rizal together with other militant sectors, went to the streets to call on the DA, National Food Authority and Department of Agrarian Reform to dismantle the rice cartel, bring down the price of rice, junk WTO and implement genuine agrarian reform to end the worsening rice crisis. We then proceeded to the House of Representatives to call on the landlord-dominated congress to pass GARB as the primary solution to the crisis.

Come this month of June, the 20th year of CARP’s futile implementation, pro-CARP and pseudo farmers’ groups backed by the government have been itching to extend the program “with reforms”. But KMP have outrightly shown its militant force against the bogus land reform program when it staged its “Farmers March for Land and Social Justice” – a six-day march of farmers from Southern Tagalog, Bicol Region, and Central Luzon to demand the junking of the 20-year old CARP and the passage of the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill (GARB)” started on June 5. After reaching the streets leading to Mendiola on June 10, KMP led 3,500 farmers, fisherfolks, farmworkers, indigenous people as well as urban poor groups and other progressive organizations filled the gates of the House of Representatives as it was railroading the deliberations for the CARP extension. CARP extension was not approved – and House Resolution Number 21 was passed by the legislators to make December 2008 the expiry date of the program instead of June 10, 2008.

Aside from the big protest in Manila last June 10, farmers from KMP chapters in from Southern Tagalog, Central Luzon, Ilocos, Cordillera, Cagayan Valley, Bicol, Panay and Negros Islands, Cebu, Bohol and in many parts of Mindanao also staged anti-CARP and pro-GARB protests.

Farmers who joined the marched have returned to their provinces and their farmlands which they cannot call theirs. Rice prices continue to soar. The number of EPs, CLTs and CLOAs continue to increase. The number of hungry and displaced farmers continues to increase – and thus, the number of farmers fighting to end all of these increase all the more, to give justice to the increasing number of peasants and peasant leaders who died for their cause. The increasing number of peasants fighting for genuine land reform will continue its fight as the number of peasants who militantly struggle for victory increases.

KMP calls for an immediate implementation of genuine and thoroughgoing agrarian reform program; to stop eviction of farmers; to stop land grabbing. Genuine agrarian reform will break-up land monopoly by a few and solve the fundamental problem of landlessness of millions of peasants and agricultural workers, it will rectify historical social injustice long suffered by landless peasants.

Moreover, the struggle of the peasants for genuine agrarian reform should be strongly related to the struggle for genuine freedom and democracy. It is necessary and important for peasants to actively participate in the vibrant, expanding and surging struggle in the countryside and the mass movements in the cities as well as relate it to the struggles of world against imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism. These are the only solutions to the problem of the peasantry worldwide.

We call on the peasants worldwide for more success in carrying out basic democratic reforms in order to stop oppression and exploitation, especially feudalism, caste-ism, women's oppression and ethnic discrimination. The peasantry must surge forward to benefit from genuine land reform and be empowered to defend and advance their economic and social gains. Further, the alliance of the working class and the peasantry need to strengthen as the foundation of a broader alliance to unite and mobilize the people of the world.

Assert our Right to Land and Livelihood!
Struggle for Genuine Agrarian Reform and Peoples’ Food Sovereignty!
Resist WTO and Imperialist Globalization!
Long live International Solidarity!
The People United, Will Never Be Defeated!