Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA Pilipinas) is the national progressive center of unions, federations, associations and organizations of agricultural workers in the Philippines.
The Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) today called on all Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) officials who signed a resolution to import sugar without the approval of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. to resign from their posts as what Department of Agriculture (DA) Undersecretary Leocadio Sebastian just did.
According to UMA spokesperson John Milton “Butch” Lozande this is to ensure that they would not influence the ongoing investigation on the mess that they created and out of delicadeza.
Aside from Sebastian, the resolution was also signed by SRA Administrator Hermenegildo Serafica as vice chairman of the SRA board; Roland B. Beltran, the millers’ representative to the board; and Aurelio Gerardo J. Valderrama Jr., the planters’ representative.
At the same time, UMA is reiterating its earlier call to the President that Executive Secretary Victor Rodriguez who issued a “verbal” order to the DA to create an importation plan should also be investigated for the mess.
Other than that, it should dismantle the cartel in the sugar industry and punish government officials linked to it, especially those belonging to the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) and the Department of Agriculture (DA).
The President, who has not yet issued any statements on the high prices of sugar should also restrain middlemen in overpricing its price, and the government should also directly intervene in its pricing and marketing.
In the long run though, Ka Butch concluded that there should be a genuine agrarian reform to fully dismantle haciendas and distribute them freely to sugar field workers and poor farmers; stop land conversions to non-agricultural use; and provide all rounded support services and subsidies to the sugar industry and agriculture in general.
The Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) today dared President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to dismantle the cartel in the sugar industry and punish government officials linked to it, especially those belonging to the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) and the Department of Agriculture (DA).
This was in response to the President’s pronouncement that heads will roll in usurping his authority in ordering the importation of sugar.
UMA spokesperson John Milton “Butch” Lozande also dared the President to name members of the sugar cartel. Earlier before the President’s State of the Nation Address, his sister, Senator Imee Marcos publicly stated that increases in food prices are caused by importers, cartels, and syndicates.
Ka Butch added the President should also investigate the role played by Executive Secretary Victor Rodriguez who issued a “verbal” order to the DA to create an importation plan.
Mr. Lozande added that the SRA including its mother agency, the DA has a penchant for resorting to importation not only of sugar, but even of rice, galunggong, pork, vegetables, etc. Instead of looking for ways to achieve food self sufficiency.
SRA Administrator Hermenegildo Serafica has been consistent in insisting that local sugar production for this crop year was only a result of the damage wrought by Typhoon Odette last year.
This is different from planters associations which stated as early as November last year that the price of fertilizers more than doubled to as high as P3,200 per bag at a certain period from a low of P800 a bag then.
At least the new planters representative in the SRA, who also agreed to import sugar this year, Aurelio Gerardo Valderrama Jr., acknowledged the increase in production costs due to the increase of prices of fertilizer and petrol which are essential in sugar production.
With regards to the increase in the retail prices of sugar, Ka Butch is suggesting to the President restrain middlemen in overpricing its price, and for the government to intervene in its pricing and marketing.
In the long run though, Ka Butch concluded that there should be a genuine agrarian reform to fully dismantle haciendas and distribute them freely to sugar field workers and poor farmers; stop land conversions to non-agricultural use; and provide all rounded support services and subsidies to the sugar industry and agriculture in general.
Ganito inilarawan ng Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) ang ikaapat na cabinet meeting ng rehimeng Marcos na nakatuon diumano sa repormang agraryo. Ayon sa pederasyon, ang tweet ng Office of the President nitong Biyernes, Agosto 5, kung saan tinalakay daw ni Marcos, Jr. at ng gabinete ang maitutulong nito sa agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) ay pawang pagpapapogi lamang gaya ng hungkag nitong plataporma sa halalang 2022.
Pagtataka ni John Milton ‘Ka Butch’ Lozande, tagapagsalita ng UMA, kung seryoso si Marcos, Jr. na tumulong sa ARBs, bakit wala man lang itong anumang pahayag tungkol sa mga benepisaryo ng Tinang, Concepcion, Tarlac at sa sapin-saping kaso ng Tinang 83? Kalunos-lunos na nga ang kaniyang pananahimik bilang pangulo, ngunit higit na kalunos-lunos ang kaniyang kawalang-pakialam bilang kalihim ng Department of Agriculture (DA).
“Naganap ang panggigipit sa Malayang Kilusang Samahang Magsasaka sa Tinang (MAKISAMA-Tinang) at kanilang mga tagasuporta sa gitna ng transisyon o pagpapalit-kamay ng estado poder mula rehimeng Duterte patungong rehimeng Marcos. Brutalidad ng pulisya, korupsyon ng lokal na burukrata, at kawalang lupa ng uring magsasaka ang unang isyung sumalubong sa anak ng diktador,” salaysay ni Ka Butch. “Paano niya nagawang magkibit-balikat lang tungkol dito?”
Nang gawin ng Office of the President ang anunsyo nito sa Twitter tungkol sa pagdaos ng diskusyon tungkol sa agrarian reform, katatanggap lamang ng MAKISAMA-Tinang noong Miyerkoles, Agosto 3, sa panibagong katibayan na mali at iligal ang ginawang pandadahas ng pulis Concepcion sa mga miyembro’t tagasuporta ng organisasyon noong Hunyo 9.
Ang naturang katibayan ay desisyon ng Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Region 3 na ibasura ang petisyon ng pekeng kooperatiba ni Mayor Noel Villanueva na i-disqualify ang mga miyembro ng MAKISAMA-Tinang bilang ARBs. Kalakip din nito ang isang cease-and-desist order na nagpapatigil sa anumang land-use conversion na ginagawa ng kaanak ni Villanueva para gawing resort at residential area ang sakahang kinamkam. Mayo 30 pa pirmado ang desisyon.
“Unity ang pangako ni Marcos, Jr. nang tumakbo siya sa pagkapangulo, pero kitang-kita natin ang kawalang unity sa sariling administrasyon,” batikos ni Ka Butch. “Mismong meyor ng Concepcion ang kumasangkapan sa pulisya para bastusin ang desisyon ng DAR, at mismong kalihim ng DA—walang iba kundi si Marcos, Jr.—ay walang kaimik-imik sa asal ng meyor at kapulisan! Wag tayong magulat kung matuklasang nagkukuntsabahan na sina Marcos at Villanueva.”
Ang hamon ng UMA, gamitin ng pangulo ang kaniyang kapangyarihan para i-install ang ARBs ng Hacienda Tinang sa kanilang lupa, at panagutin si Mayor Villanueva, gayundin ang mga abusadong pulis Concepcion, para sa kanilang pang-aapi sa mga magsasaka. Diin ng pederasyon, walang saysay ang ipinangakong suporta sa ARBs kung hindi man lang mapuwestuha’t mabungkal ng mga benepisaryo ang sariling lupa.
Lalong walang saysay ang anumang diskusyon tungkol dito kung wala namang bagong batas para sa repormang agraryo. Expired na ang Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), at pumalpak lamang ito gaya ng Presidential Decree 27 (PD27) na siyang agrarian reform program ng diktaduryang Marcos. Diin ng UMA, oras nang pansinin ng gobyerno ang matagal nang panawagan ng sektor na isabatas ang tunay na repormang agraryo—ito ang babaklas sa monopolyo ng mga landlord at korporasyon sa lupa.
Today, Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) slammed the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) for pinning the blame for the country’s low sugar yield solely on the adverse effects of Typhoon Odette. According to the federation, this was a malicious stretch; the low sugar yield was also largely caused by the steep rise in fertilizer prices, which curbed the production of planters, especially small ones.
“Had the SRA acknowledged this problem early on, it would not have had to resort to sugar importation,” said John Milton ‘Ka Butch’ Lozande, spokesperson of UMA. “It seems Marcos bureaucrats, just like Duterte bureaucrats, are too lazy to find any solution to the growing inaccessibility of agricultural products other than importation. The skyrocketing costs of inputs already harm small planters, what more another flood of imports?”
Even the US government’s Global Agricultural Information Network stated this explicitly in its own April 18 forecast. In its Philippines Sugar Annual, “Post forecasts sugar production in Marketing Year (MY) 2023 to decline by 50,000 MT to 2 million MT, as high fertilizer prices lead to reduced yields. Production for MY 2022 is also lowered to reflect the damage to sugar farms in December 2021 by Typhoon Rai (local name Odette).”
PRICE CAPS, PRODUCTION SUBSIDIES
UMA urged the Philippine government to find alternatives to sugar importation that can help make sugar accessible to more local consumers and improve its domestic production. Putting a price cap on the retail price of sugar, inventorying traders and millers’ warehouses to determine the exact figures of buffer stocks, granting subsidies to small planters especially for fertilizers, and scrapping the US-imposed quota will make the Philippines less dependent on sugar importation.
As early as November 15 last year, the United Sugar Producers Federation (Unifed) had already called on the Department of Agriculture (DA) to subsidize the cost of fertilizers. The DA could have done so by immediately issuing a P1,000 voucher per bag of fertilizer, providing relief for sugar farmers who had been gravely affected by the continued rise in the cost of the commodity. But the demand, UMA observed, fell not on deaf ears, but—worse—on disinterested ears.
At the time, one bag of fertilizer used to cost P1,800 from the previous P800. But later on, this increased even more dramatically to P3,200. If, in Ka Butch’s words, one needed 18 sacks of fertilizer for every hectare of land planted to sugarcane, this meant one would also need to shell out P57,600 for fertilizer needed—almost four times the older total of P15,300 per hectare. And this amount was yet to consider the rising cost of petrol, which especially left small sugar planters in a lurch.
“The SRA’s endorsement to import 300,000 metric tons of sugar would bankrupt the remaining small planters and reduce them to sugar field workers, majority of whom are paid slave wages,” explained Ka Butch. “Clearly, these bureaucrats have no regard for the welfare of Filipino peasants, and are quick to condemn us to poverty and death if it means satisfying their fatal hunger for imports.”
END LAND CONVERSION, ADVANCE GENUINE LAND REFORM
The peasant leader added that the move to continue importing agricultural goods betrays the illegitimate Marcos regime’s disinterest in genuine agrarian reform and providing support to producers of agricultural goods. The provision of subsidies to small planters, which the government was yet to conduct, could work only if such planters were in control of the land they tilled; otherwise, only the same big landlords would benefit from such subsidies.
Putting an end to the conversion of agricultural land to other uses was also urgent. Faced with the flood of imports, landlords and corporations with big estates were prone to just convert farmlands into subdivisions, tourist spots, and special economic zones; or convert crops like sugarcane into more lucrative high-value crops like pineapple, Cavendish banana, and oil palm; rather than improving production.
For UMA, the pursuit of further importation served as a testament to Marcos, Jr.’s failure as Agricultural Secretary, having promised to lower the costs of fertilizers among other agricultural commodities, improve Philippine agriculture at large, and create conditions for self-reliance and self-sufficiency. Like his father did before him, Marcos, Jr. would only drive Filipino farmers to further debt and destitution.
“We were right to participate in the People’s SONA on Commonwealth Avenue today. Agricultural workers have little to expect from Marcos, Jr., and his words rang as hollow as his call for unity at Batasang Pambansa this afternoon. He needs to plant his feet on the ground.”
This was the reaction of John Milton ‘Ka Butch’ Lozande, chairperson of Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA, Federation of Agriculture Workers), to the State of the Nation Address (SONA) delivered by Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. today.
According to the peasant leader, while Marcos’ call to erase the debt of agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) and implement a one-year moratorium on amortization payments was welcome, these measures were hardly enough, and did nothing to reverse the damage already inflicted on farmers by sham land reform policies.
Moreover, Ka Butch bemoaned the lack of a concrete proposal for a new agrarian reform program. Both the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) and its extension CARPER had already expired, and it was high time for government to look into the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill (GARB) repeatedly filed by the Makabayan bloc in Congress.
“Genuine agrarian reform distributes land to the tillers for free, and supports the production of food staples with subsidies to food producers. Our farmers deserve so much more than mere loans and a year-long moratorium on amortization payments,” declared Ka Butch.
Too many ARBs had already lost their land to corporations in lopsided leaseback arrangements and other duplicitous agri-business venture agreements (AVAs) state bureaucrats themselves encouraged, brokered, and benefited from. Marcos, Jr.’s pronouncements would only maintain the status quo, not improve it.
UMA was also skeptical about his supposed goal of increasing domestic food production. The group questioned how government could do so without addressing the age-old problem of land monopoly. Food sovereignty would remain a fantasy if the hacienda and plantation systems continued to prosper through state-sanctioned landgrabs like AVAs.
The federation also slammed the president’s silence on land-use and crop conversion. Not only did the government keep allowing the re-classification of agricultural land to commercial use; it also encouraged the conversion of crops from everyday staples to high-value crops (HVCs), especially those for export.
Ka Butch also criticized Marcos, Jr.’s disinterest in raising wages and ending contractualization—problems felt deeply by agricultural workers. These were especially pervasive among sacadas and those at the mercy of the pakyawan system, especially in plantations. Regional minimum wage rates barely reached half the family living wage of P1,087—that is, if they were even implemented at all.
“Landlessness pushes peasants into low-wage work in plantations, often on their own land grabbed from them by corporations,” explained Ka Butch. “Without genuine agrarian reform, peasants will keep turning into landless agricultural workers; and without a national minimum wage, agricultural workers will remain mired in poverty.”
The federation warned that the president’s callousness was fanning the flames of crisis. Workers and peasants demanded a concrete roadmap that would alleviate their suffering, and his speech was only patronizing at best. Marcos, Jr. better watch his words and actions in the coming days if he did not want to suffer the same fate as his dictator father.
Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA, Federation of Agricultural Workers) celebrates with broad democratic forces the defeat of the Philippine National Police’s (PNP) unconstitutional ban on protests along Commonwealth Avenue on July 25, the day of the State of the Nation Address (SONA). The ban, overturned by the Quezon City local government, betrayed the Marcos regime’s disinterest in listening to the demands of the country’s basic sectors.
“For most of his life, Marcos, Jr. has lived in a bubble of impunity. Weaned on wealth stolen by himself and his family, he—unlike the people they’ve stolen from—has no idea what it’s like to live in poverty,” says UMA spokesperson John Milton ‘Ka Butch’ Lozande. “Through the police, he tried to keep protestors away on SONA day, so that he could stay, far from the real-life concerns of the poor. But like any bubble, his is all-too-fragile, and will burst when he least expects it.”
FREE LAND DISTRIBUTION, FOOD SOVEREIGNTY
For the peasantry, foremost of these concerns is landlessness. With its numerous loopholes and imposition of amortization fees, the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) continues to fail farmers even past its expiration date, just as the deposed dictator’s Presidential Decree 27 (PD27) did. Instead of serving the sector it was meant to benefit, CARP has given way to institutionalized forms of landgrabbing, leaving seven out of 10 peasants with little to no land of their own to till.
Among these forms of institutionalized landgrabbing is the agri-business venture agreement (AVA). Designed to disadvantage farmers, AVAs transfer control of land to corporations looking to expand their plantations. Currently, at least 1.2 million hectares of agricultural land are tied to such lopsided agreements, planted to high-value crops (HVCs) like pineapple, Cavendish banana, and oil palm instead of much needed food staples.
The Duterte regime aimed to facilitate the expansion of corporate plantations by 1.6 million hectares more, which would leave 20% of the country’s total agricultural lands in the clutches of agri-corporations. Not only does the growth of the plantation system maintain peasant landlessness; its consequent conversion of crops from food staples to HVCs, coupled with rampant land-use conversion, is a major contributor to the country’s ongoing food crisis.
According to the federation, Marcos’ professed concern about food security is all for show. Had the president been genuinely interested in the production of food staples, he would express interest in genuine agrarian reform rather than resuscitating the corpse of Masagana, his father’s failed agricultural project. Without control over the country’s agricultural land, farmers cannot secure the country’s food supply. More urgent than farm-to-market roads are actual farmlands in farmers’ hands.
BETTER WORK CONDITIONS, FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION
For agri-workers in particular, the problem of landlessness is compounded by low wages and the lack of job security. The lowest documented wage received by a sacada under the previous regime was P9 a day; and even if large landholders followed minimum wage standards, these would still be way lower than the family living wage of P1,087, and still lower than the P750 national minimum wage demanded by UMA alongside Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU).
Labor Sec. Bienvenido Laguesma’s rejection of the call for a national minimum wage reflects his principal’s cluelessness about the exploitation agri-workers put up with in haciendas and plantations, enduring the abuse of the quota and pakyawan systems. Malacañang’s silence on the pro-worker job security bill is also telling of the President’s indifference to the plight of contractual and seasonal workers.
Violations of the rights to association, assembly, and free speech—violations made routine by the Duterte regime—have increased since Marcos’ illegitimate takeover. The National Task Force to End the Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) continues to redtag labor unions and peasant associations in its bid to suppress any form of dissent that unmasks Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. for what he is: a callous, clueless fascist.
The basic masses, especially agricultural workers among the peasantry, have long earned the right to bring their grievances to Malacañang, especially during SONA, more so when it will be delivered by the deposed dictator’s son. The farmers and workers who create the country’s wealth will remain steadfast in holding Marcos, Jr. accountable for his and the rest of his family’s crimes and callousness.
“The whole country is on fire, and rather than put out the flames, Marcos concerns himself with historical distortion,” laments Lozande. “When he delivers his SONA, he should surround himself with the poor to whom he peddled his false promise of unity. Only by listening to workers and peasants will he understand why the people vomited their family out of the country once—and why we will vomit them again out of history, and for good.”
Pinabulaanan ng Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) ang panibago na namang gawa-gawang kaso ng Tarlac police laban sa Tinang 83. Nitong umaga, Hunyo 23, umabot sa pederasyon ang balitang inakusahan ng “child exploitation” at “human trafficking” ang siyam sa 83. Ayon sa balita, isinampa ng Women and Children’s Protection Desk ng Concepcion police ang hinaing sa tanggapan ng provincial prosecutor noon pang Hunyo 17.
Ang mga ito ay ikaanim at ikapitong kaso na ng ilan sa Tinang 83. Kinabukasan ng kanilang mass arrest noong Hunyo 9, nasakdal ang lahat ng detinado sa mga kasong malicious mischief at illegal assembly. Sa kanilang arraignment naman sa Capas municipal hall noong Hunyo 17, sinalubong sila ng subpoena para sa mga karagdagang kasong resistance and disobedience to authority, obstruction of justice, at usurpation of real rights in property.
“Ginagawang palengke ng mga pulis Concepcion ang mga korte. Kung makasampa ng kaso, parang nag-iisip lang ng uulamin at naglilista ng matipuhang sangkap. Kung saan matakam, iyon ang ihahain,” obserbasyon ni Antonio ‘Ka Tonying’ Flores, chairperson ng UMA. Dagdag pa niya, kabalintunaan na mismong mga tagapagpatupad ng batas ang nangunguna sa pagmamaniobra at pambabastos sa batas.
Saad ng UMA, walang batayan ang lahat ng kaso sa Tinang 83, ngunit rurok ng kaululan ang child exploitation at human trafficking. Tanging pakikiisa sa agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) ng Malayang Kilusang Samahan ng Magsasaka ng Tinang (MAKISAMA-Tinang) ang pakay ng mga dumayong tagasuporta, at malisyosong kathang-isip lamang ng pulisya ang akusasyong inalok ng trabaho sa sakahan ang mga dayong menor-de-edad.
Kalakhan ng mga dumalong tagasuporta ay mga artista, mula manunulat at dibuhista hanggang choreographer at aktres; ang iba naman ay mga kabataang peryodista, mananaliksik, at iba pa. Bilang mga bisita ng ARBs na kinikilala ng Department of Agrarian Reform, wala silang ikinilos na labag sa batas, at lalong walang nirekluta para magtrabaho sa sakahan gaya ng bintang na ikinasa ni Staff Sgt. Ma. Claire Mariano mula sa Women and Children’s Protection Desk ng Concepcion police.
“Private army ba ni Mayor-elect Noel Villanueva ang mga pulis Concepcion? Bakit mga lider at tagasuporta ng MAKISAMA-Tinang ang ginigipit nila imbis na si Mayor Villanueva? Hindi ba’t siya ang 27 taong nanlinlang at nagkait ng lupa sa daan-daang ARBs?” pagtataka ni Ka Tonying. “Siya ang nagpahamak sa mga anak ng ARBs na 27 taong hindi napakinabangan ang lupang inagaw sa kanila. Pulis ang nagpahamak sa kabataan ng Tinang 83 na-traumatize sa kanilang brutalidad.”
Kalunos-lunos din daw ang pagpiga ng Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) at National Task Force to End the Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) sa isyu. Tingin ng UMA, niredtag ng NTF-ELCAC ang Tinang 83 para takutin ang sinumang magsasakang maggiit ng kaniyang karapatan sa lupa, at kinasangkapan naman ng DILG ang redtag na ito para bigyang-katwiran ang panggigipit sa mga aktibistang magpoprotesta laban sa inagurasyon kay Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. sa Hunyo 30.
Kaugnay ito ng haka-haka ni DILG spokesperson Usec. Jonathan Malaya na nakikipagtagpo ang New People’s Army sa mga magsasaka ng Tinang para mag-organisa ng mga kilos-protesta sa naturang araw. Kabilang ito sa nag-udyok sa National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) na magdeploy ng mahigit 15,000 military at police personnel sa inagurasyon ng anak ng diktador. “Pinapatunayan nito na walang pagpapahalaga ang estado sa malalim na suliranin sa lupa ng uring magsasaka. Ang hinaing ng ARBs ng Tinang ay tungtungan lamang ng pulis at militar para lalong supilin ang karaniwang mamamayang bumabatikos sa abuso ng naghaharing uri,” pagwawakas ni Ka Tonying. “Wala pa sa Malacañang si Marcos, kinakasangkapan na niya ang kahirapan ng anakpawis para sa sariling ganansya. Paano pa pag pormal na nakaupo bilang pangulo?”
Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura decries yet another arrogant display of impunity by state security forces. In a June 6 letter addressed to the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), notorious redtagger and National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon has lumped UMA and other mass and people’s organizations together with underground revolutionary organizations in a list of alleged “communist terrorist groups.”
Esperon demanded that the NTC direct Internet service providers (ISPs) to block the official webpages of UMA, Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (PAMALAKAYA-Pilipinas), and Amihan National Federation of Peasant Women from public access. Also included in the list, among others, were alternative media outfits Bulatlat and Pinoy Weekly, as well as international leftist publications Monthly Review and Counter Punch.
“Since ramping up his fake war on drugs and counter-insurgency operations, President Duterte has already established de-facto martial law since 2017,” remarked UMA chairperson Antonio ‘Ka Tonying’ Flores. “Now, the outgoing commander-in-chief seems bent on ending his term by upgrading it to full-blown martial law, and handing on the baton of fascism to his successor, Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., son of the late dictator.”
UMA is a legitimate federation of agricultural workers registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Since 2005, it has upheld the freedom of association by defending every agricultural worker’s right to unionize. On top of living wages and humane work conditions, UMA also advances the struggle for genuine agrarian reform, identifying land monopoly as the systemic problem that makes peasants landless and forces them into abusive work relations.
Esperon’s latest attack on UMA’s freedom of expression is consistent with previous efforts to censor the federation on social media. For over a year now, links to articles on UMA’s webpage have been blocked on Facebook and Instagram, limiting the circulation of articles and statements that tackle the interests and demands of the sector it represents. Its posts on Facebook have also routinely been taken down without basis.
Ka Tonying underscores that redtagging erodes not only the freedom of expression, but also the freedom of association. In a complaint submitted to the International Labor Organization exactly one year ago, UMA emphasized the danger redtagging posed to agricultural workers’ organizations on the ground. The police and military would bust unions and associations in the countryside by linking its leaders and members to the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).
Even the Tinang 83—the leaders and supporters of MAKISAMA-Tinang illegally arrested last June 9—have been redtagged for their assertion of the right of agrarian reform beneficiaries to cultivate food crops on their land. The National Task Force to End the Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) has repeatedly linked UMA to the CPP in justifying its accusation that the chaos of June 9 was instigated by leftists instead of the police.
“By redtagging and suppressing our unions and associations, state security forces leave agricultural workers defenseless against the abuse of landlords and corporations,” Ka Tonying lamented. “We urge the NTC and the country’s various ISPs not to play along with Esperon and the NTF-ELCAC’s ploy to trample on our Constitutionally guaranteed rights. Now more than ever, unions play a vital role in keeping democracy alive in the Philippines.”
One week since the illegal arrest of 92 activists in Tinang, Concepcion, Tarlac, Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) continued to lament the trumped-up charges of malicious mischief and illegal assembly filed against the agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) of MAKISAMA-Tinang and their supporters.
Last Thursday, June 9, Malayang Kilusang Samahan ng Magsasaka ng Tinang (MAKISAMA-Tinang) launched a land cultivation activity on half a hectare of the 200 hectares awarded by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to 236 ARBs way back in 1995. They set out to plant vegetables—beginning with mongo or mung beans—to secure their food supply.
The 200 hectares bestowed on them by DAR through the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) had been planted to sugarcane, but the rewards of such a high-value crop (HVC) could be reaped no sooner than six months. Addressing their hunger was urgent, so the ARBs of MAKISAMA-Tinang decided to begin planting what they could eat as soon as possible.
Their pursuit of food, however, was met with state violence. The police attacked then rounded up a number of ARBs and scores of peasant advocates, many of them artists, journalists, and researchers, accusing them of destroying crops. 83 were detained at the Concepcion police station for four days, earning them the moniker “Tinang 83”—51 of whom spent their last night in overly cramped jail cells.
TERROR AND TORTURE
“29 male farmers and peasant advocates were crammed with over 30 other inmates in a prison cell that could humanely accommodate only 10. The same was done to 22 female farmers and peasant advocates with five others in an even smaller cell,” narrated Antonio ‘Ka Tonying’ Flores, chairperson of UMA. “This alone could pass for torture.”
Inmates were sleep-deprived for lack of space. When not supplied by donors, food and drink were paid for. COVID-19 was also a clear and present danger; one inmate in the male cell had been exhibiting symptoms. Two women vomited, one suffered a panic attack, and another one with rheumatic heart disease experienced chest pains police officers present could barely be bothered with.
And all these for asserting the right to produce food staples. Upon arrest, artist Angelo Suarez, a member of Sama-samang Artista para sa Kilusang Agraryo and a volunteer for UMA, was told by a police officer that they were being accosted for “being NPA” (New People’s Army). In a low-key interrogation with no legal counsel present for Suarez, Concepcion police chief Reynold Macabitas insinuated he was a ranking communist officer, and may have been to the mountains as a rebel.
“If the state considers the NPA as a terrorist organization, and that asserting the right to food makes one a member of the NPA—does this mean that the state now includes food production as a terrorist activity?” wondered Ka Tonying. “ARBs were there to address their own community’s hunger using land granted to them by DAR. Will the police consider DAR an accessory to terrorist activity as well?”
SOVEREIGNTY AND SOLIDARITY
Artist Donna Miranda, another member of SAKA and spokesperson for Farmers’ Center for Agroecology Services (FCAS), remarked that DAR should be defending MAKISAMA-Tinang’s assertion of their right to grow food on their land rather than pinning blame on ‘leftists’ as so-called ‘instigators’ of their land cultivation. According to Miranda, police intervention last Thursday was a violation of DAR’s joint Circular No. 5 with the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Department of National Defense (DND).
“Signed in 2002, the circular stipulated that the ‘DILG-PNP shall desist from intervening in any agrarian dispute without prior consent from the DAR Secretary, DARAB (Department of Agrarian Reform Adjudication Board), or any of its adjudicators.’ Yet DAR has refused to hold the police accountable for this violation,” she explained. “We hope DAR, like the arrested peasant advocates, will live up to its mandate of throwing its solidarity behind ARBs. We hope DAR, like MAKISAMA-Tinang, will hold accountable whoever pushed the police to intervene in an agrarian dispute and used them as his private army.”
FCAS argued that peasant control over food production was a crucial component of upholding the country’s food sovereignty, and that efforts to thwart it in favor of landgrabbers was a kind of treason. By barring DAR-recognized ARBs from exercising their control over land granted to them by the state to secure their own food security, the police and whoever was influencing them were, in effect, undermining the country’s food sovereignty.
“Everything the Tinang 83 has done is within legal bounds. The ARBs of MAKISAMA-Tinang invited peasant advocates as guests to support them in their land cultivation activity—and any Filipino who eats owes it to farmers to support them in their struggle to produce food,” concluded Flores. “All charges against the Tinang 83 should be dropped, and we urge DAR to intervene and uphold the right of MAKISAMA-Tinang’s ARBs to till the land they’ve been granted, enjoy the fruits of their struggle, and eat with dignity like any human being should.”
“Nagsanib na yata ang DA at DFA. Ang dating Department of Agriculture, tila Department of Foreign Agriculture na.”
Ito ang batikos ng Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) sa kompirmasyon ni Fermin Adriano, undersecretary ng Department of Agriculture (DA), na binabaan ni Pangulong Rodrigo Duterte sa pamamagitan ng executive order ang taripa sa pag-aangkat ng bigas mula India. Ang dating 50% taripa ay 35% na lamang ngayon.
Tugon ito diumano sa naulinigang plano ng Thailand at Vietnam na taasan ang presyo ng kanilang bigas at magtaguyod ng rice cartel. Ayon kay Adriano, kung mahirapan na ang Pilipinas mag-angkat ng makakain mula sa dalawang bansa, may alternatibong pagkukuhanan ng bigas sa India.
Ngunit sa pananaw ng UMA, hindi ba dapat tratuhin itong hudyat para palakasin ang lokal na produksyon ng palay imbis na lumipat lamang ng pag-aangkatan ng bigas? Ayon sa pederasyon, self-reliance o pansandig sa sariling kakayahan ang wastong tugon sa kawalan ng seguridad sa pagkain at hindi importasyon.
“Palibhasa, crop conversion at pagpapalawak ng corporate plantations ang inaatupag ng DA, hindi seguridad ng bansa sa pagkain,” banat ni Antonio ‘Ka Tonying’ Flores, chairperson ng UMA. “Gutom sa kita ng mga dayuhang korporasyon ang iniibsan ng rehimeng Duterte imbis na gutom sa pagkain ng sambayanan.”
Paliwanag ng UMA, 1.2 milyong ektarya ng lupaing agrikultural ang nakatali sa agri-business venture arrangements (AVAs). Ang AVA ay kasunduan ng korporasyon sa pesante, karaniwang agrarian reform beneficiary (ARB), kung saan ang kontrol sa lupa ay kinukuha ng una sa huli. Diktado ng korporasyon kung ano ang itatanim sa lupa ng ARB.
Nasa Mindanao ang karamihan sa 1.2m ektaryang ito, matatagpuan sa mga plantasyon ng mga dambuhalang korporasyon gaya ng Dole, Del Monte, at Sumifru. Nilayon ni Duterte na palawakin pa ang sistemang plantasyon nang 1.6m ektarya, at sa katuparan nito, tinatayang 20% o 1/5 ng lupang agrikultural ng bansa ang sasaklawin ng mga plantasyon.
Diin ni Flores, dahil kita ang mas mahalaga sa mga korporasyon kaysa staple foods para sa lokal na populasyon, high-value crops (HVCs) ang prayoridad nitong itanim sa mga plantasyon gaya ng pinya, Cavendish banana, oil palm, at tubo. Kaya naman ultimo bigas ay inaangkat na—dahil maski palayan ay napipilitang magbigay-daan sa HVCs.
Pahabol pa niya, hindi makakamit ng paparating na administrasyong Marcos ang pangako nitong P20 na kilo ng bigas kung walang pagsandig sa sariling kakayahang magprodyus ng pagkain ang bansa. Rurok ng kabalintunaan, kung hindi man ng kaululan, ang umasang bababa ang presyo ng pagkain gayong siyam sa kada 10 magsasaka ay walang sariling lupa.
“Dayuhang produkto, dayuhang korporasyon, dayuhang interes. Napakaklarong mga dayuhan ang pinaglilingkuran ng rehimeng Duterte at mga alipores nito sa DA,” pagwawakas ni Ka Tonying. “Hangga’t nananatili ang monopolyo sa lupa, mananatili ring pangarap ang self-reliance na hinahangad ng pesanteng Pilipino.”
UMA Pilipinas 