Landlessness is Death to the Farmers by: JPIC Gollective

Alongside crisis is the continued struggle of the poor farmers for genuine agrarian reform. Faced with feudal bondage and poverty, land grabbing has been a normative scheme of the landlords and a legal tool to amass land and wealth. But for the already victims like poor peasants, the wealth and richness of the grabbers spells death to them.

In Montalban Rizal, Mang Gadioso Cuyag is about to lose 2.3 hectares of land planted with root crops and fruit-bearing trees. Mang Gadioso started cultivating the parcel of land in 2007 after Mayor Peng Carpo awarded him with a Certificate of Land Ownership Award (CLOA). But he will lose the property and livelihood, along with 200 other farmers due to technical deficiency. According to Rubilyn Sarmiento, a member of the local farmers group PANAWAGAN-POP Association, before the 2007 elections, hundreds of farmers were awarded by Mayor Peng Carpo with CLOA. It turned out that the distribution of CLOA was only meant to win votes in favor of Carpo. Months after Carpo was elected, the farmers started to receive notice of eviction.

Worried by the threat of demolition, PANAWAGAN-POP ASSOCIATION had sought the help of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (Peasant Movement in the Philippines). When they reported their case to the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), the farmers were shocked when they were told them that the CLOAs were technically deficient because there was no signature of Mayor Carpo. When confronted, Mayor Carpo merely told the farmers to blame the Department of Agrarian Reform) instead.

The case of these farmers in Montalban, represent the stories and struggles of farmers all over the country. In an interview by Gentle Breeze, Daning Ramos of KMP blamed the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) of the government for the massive confiscation of land and cancellation of the CLOAs.

“Even if farmers have CLOA and Emancipation Patent (EP), the land can be confiscated if the farmers have unsettled debts with the Development Bank of the Philippines ( A state- owned bank that manages the payment scheme of farmers who want to own a land. They pay at 6 percent interest per year for 30 years),” Ka Daning pointed out.

In Bukidnon, a province in Mindanao , Southern part of the Philippine archipelago, 800 farmers were evicted even if they carried CLOAs and EPs. In Hacienda Looc in Nasugbu, province of Batangas ( Southern Luzon province ), 3,000 farmers are being threatened with eviction. In Hacienda Sta. Isabela in Isabela ( Northern Luzon province ), at least 5,000 families almost lost the land if not for their unity to defend their rights.

The plight of farmers proved that the CARP did not truly uplift the poor. It is in this light that the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill (GARB) must be pushed in Congress to ensure free distribution of land.

While many of our farmers remain landless, at least 1.5 million hectares of lands are to be planted with sorghum and hybrid rice under the RP-China agreement. Under this agreement, many farmers are threatened to lose their farm lands. According to KMP, the vast tract of lands will cover Cagayan, Isabela, Pangasinan, Nueva Ecija and Tarlac. It is deplorable that the government is selling out our land to foreign powers while our farmers remain poor and landless.

Land is is life for the farmers... The prophet Amos once said “Cultivate the land, so that life may flow in the countryside.” Land is the root of the conflict between big landowners and the poor farmers. In their quest for justice, many farmers have shed blood as they fought for their rights. Based on the data of the human rights group KARAPATAN, of the 888 victims of extra-judicial killings under the Arroyo watch, 54% were farmers, fisher folks, agriculture workers and indigenous people. Also, of the 185 victims of enforced disappearances, half of it came from the peasant sector.

The poor are crying out: Land to the tillers! Implement genuine agrarian reform! Stop the killings of peasants who feed the nation!

Let us join the farmers in their cry for land and justice. Let us do our part to bring their issues to the attention of the JPIC international and human rights watchdog groups worldwide that can help generate pressure to stop these gross violations of farmers’ rights.