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CEGP hosts forum on food security and peasant oppression amid pandemic

By Michael Quilala | November 19, 2021

As part of the celebration of Peasants’ Month, the College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP) hosted a virtual forum entitled “Land to the Tiller: The Impacts of COVID-19 Pandemic on Agricultural Production and Food Sovereignty in the Philippine Peasantry,” via Zoom on October 30, 2021.

The event was commenced by host, Berlineth Nymia, followed by the opening remarks of the CEGP campaign head, Melanie Joy Feranil.

In her opening remarks, Feranil expressed that peasantry is the backbone of the economy and plays an essential role in people’s lives since it thrives on doing hard work each day to ensure that people have something to eat.

“In the current situation, the long-standing demands for genuine land reform and higher wages have been falling on deaf ears in favor of landlords and ruling elites. The intensifying all-out war of Duterte and his rabid murderers — AFP, PNP, and NTF-ELCAC — against the administration’s local dissenters, persists, instead of addressing the worsening food crisis and implementing genuine agrarian reform,” Feranil said.

Mao Hermitanio, the Deputy Secretary-General of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), joined the discussion by addressing the hunger situation of peasants even before the pandemic started. Peasants experience hunger about three times higher — an irony, as peasants are known as food security front liners or full food producers for the people.

Peasant situation amid the pandemic

“Pagdating ng pandemic 2020, ano ang nangyari? Lockdowns, militaristang lockdowns. Walang mass testing, walang ayuda. Ang ginawa lang ay pag-haharang, at lalo pa sa mga kanayunan na tinatawag nating pagga-garrison sa mga bukid, [at] sa mga barrio,” Hermitanio said.

The disruption of agricultural production was the first effect of the pandemic that peasants experienced due to lockdowns and checkpoints, making it difficult for them to sell their products, such as vegetables and other crops, outside of their respective barrios.

Limited to no aid was given to the peasants, according to the KMP survey on the early days of lockdown, when peasants received only three kilos of rice, two cans of sardines, and two packs of noodles. This led to a movement calling for financial aid worth 10,000PHP and a production subsidy of 15,000PHP.

Meanwhile, financial aid was provided to 900,000 peasants, according to the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) — equating to only 1 out of 10 peasants registered under the Registry System of Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA). The majority of the peasants are yet to be registered; hence many of them could not receive any aid.

Compromised Food Security

As the Philippines becomes import-dependent and export-oriented, importations are about 24.5% of the food production (i.e., garlic, onions, and carrots). 55% of commercial seed varieties used by peasants come from agri-corporations from the US and Europe, while 82% of the fertilizers are outsourced from the ASEAN countries, Australia, China, and Japan. Farm machinery is imported as well from Japan, Italy, and the US.

In addition, 68% of peasant labor is done manually, 22% with a machine, and 9% with animal labor (i.e., carabaos). 10 million hectares of land are relying on rainfall, while water irrigations are limited to only about 2 million hectares. This explains the ineffectiveness of local food production.

According to Hermitanio, PHP165 billion was lost in profit ever since the implementation of the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL), a law that peasants describe as “nail in the coffin” in the domestic rice industry. RTL did not achieve its goal of lowering the price of rice in light of the 20% rice imports into the country, causing the downward trend in the price of unmilled local rice.

“Hindi ibig sabihin na porket meron tayong kinakain ay food security na ‘yun. Kumbaga sabihin na dapat [may kakayanan] ‘yung kakayanan din ang bansa at mga magbubukid na mag-produce ng pagkain sa sariling pang-konsumo ng mamamayan,” Hermitanio clarified.

Land reform, landlords, and the ruling elites

Seven to nine out of 10 peasants do not have their land to cultivate crops. Large cronies of the hacienderos, such as Ramon Ang, the Cojuangco and Villar families, Dennis Uy, and Sara Duterte, continue to benefit from Duterte’s protection of the oligarchs.

Peasants have yet to claim justice over true land reforms since the establishment of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), while 56.3% of agricultural land is still not covered. Under this program, 2 out of 10 peasants are only beneficiaries, while 9 out of 10 cannot afford or pay the land amortization in the total amount.

Meanwhile, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) insisted that the Certificates of Land Ownership Awards (CLOA) have been issued to the peasants, adding that the land reform in the Philippines has ‘ended.’

A CLOA certifies that an agrarian reform beneficiary owns a land, but in reality, peasants do not get to keep their land despite having CLOA, and they have to keep paying all their lifetime. Moreover, failure to pay the total amount may lead to forfeiture.

Killing and red-tagging peasants under political circumstances

Peasant activists have been risking their lives to serve as the voice of the unheard. Ever since President Rodrigo Duterte took the presidency, 342 peasants have been killed, together with 25 massacres under the current administration. Notable are the Fort Magsaysay and Bloody Day massacres and the killing of Randy Echanis, the former chairperson of KMP and Anakpawis.

Until now, such political violence is ongoing. The National Task Force to End Local Communist Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) has been red-tagging activists as alleged members of the New People’s Army (NPA) or Kilusang Bayan in rural barrios to make them surrender by force.

Vilification and illegal arrests are also prevalent. For instance, Joseph Canlas, an activist for the peasants of Central Luzon, was illegally arrested after bombs and guns were planted in his office. He was put on hospital arrest as soon as he contracted COVID-19 before succumbing to complications.

Unity of students and the peasants

According to Hermitanio, the student journalists and the peasants’ unitedness plays an essential role in solidarity and integration, brought by their struggles, which are expressed through articles for the masses. In light of the media landscape, alternative media paves a way to be the voice for the truth, the reality, and the struggles of the peasants to the public, as journalists and the peasants join hands amidst the state oppression.

In Kabataan Partylist (KPL) Rep. Sarah Elago’s speech, she expressed her gratitude and discussed that the youth’s voice is needed in progressing their advocacy. She ensured that conflicts surrounding land, rights, and justice are not only heard but resolved in unity.

“May laban tayo para ipagtanggol ang ating karapatan na lumaban sa abuso, karapatan na lumaban sa pang-aapi at pagsasamantala. May laban tayo para sa mas magandang bukas para sa ating bayan,” said Elago.

“Hindi po natin ito makakamit kung mananatili [ang] napakatinding exploitation, abuses sa hanay ng mga magsasaka at ng mga manggagawa sa ating lipunan.” Elago stressed as she concluded her speech.

The forum was attended by Rep. Sarah Elago of Kabataan Partylist, some student commentators — Izel Fernandez from Ang Pahayagang Plaridel, and Maricho Tagailo from PUP The Catalyst, and different campus journalists across the Philippines.