by Chaela Loren & Zachary Cristobal
Central Luzon has been recognized as the "Rice Granary of the Philippines" as a result of the large rice harvest that the region has contributed to the country's overall supply.
However, its rice harvest has been greatly reduced compared to the previous decades. This is way far compared from 1933 to 1937, when 20% of the country’s harvest came from the province of Nueva Ecija alone.
For a farmer to continue harvesting, one will shoulder the burden of high production costs, which keep increasing up to this day.
To reduce production costs, farmers are forced to skip certain farming processes, such as reducing the amount of fertilizers applied. This will also reduce yield and will further lessen their income.
However, it is not only the excessive price increase of inputs that is behind the extreme suffering of the Filipino farmers.
From Paombong, Bulacan, 65-year-old Gregorio de Jesus used to farm rice in his town until 1997. He and his fellow farmers rented more than two hectares of farmland.
He said that they stopped farming because there was no longer fresh water flowing through the land, except for the salt that comes from the nearby seas which affected their livelihood.
“Nang magawa ang [ilog ng] Hangga [Paombong, Bulacan], nagpatawag sila ng pulong sa mga magsasaka at sa mga may katungkulan sa mga samahan ng magsasaka kung ano raw ang magiging epekto 'pag nagawa ang ilog ng Hangga. Sinabi namin at ng mga may katungkulan ay hindi na kami mag-aani,” de Jesus said.
“Wala kaming patubig, sa ilog lang kami kumukuha ng tubig tabang. Bago nagawa ang ilog ng Hangga, ang tubig alat ay matagal dumating sa amin kaya kami nakakakuha ng [tubig] tabang.”
De Jesus added that when they used to farm in Paombong, since they only rented, they had to pay the landlord cavans of rice which would be deducted from their harvest, while at the same time suffering from high production costs.
"Huli naming ani taong 1997, ngayon hindi na kami nag-aani. Pero noong umaani, ang upa namin doon [sa panginoong maylupa] ay walong kaban, habang labinlima naman sa kabilang lupa."
For a long time, a large part of a farmer’s harvest is immediately converted as tax or land rent by the landlord. Because the government's Land Reform failed, most farmers are still tied to their landlord.
During harvest season, it is the merchants who designate price for the rice, not the farmer. Usually, because there is a debt to be paid, the farmer is obliged to sell his rice even at a lower amount.
There were also loan programs for farmers, but for someone like Mang Gregorio, it did nothing good.
Mang Gregorio de Jesus said that as farmers, they did all they could to revive the dying livelihood. However, even though they were already crying for help that time, no subsidy was given, but seeds to plant again without considering the need for a better irrigation system.
Due to the lack of irrigation that is essential for the rice crops to survive, and the agriculture that remains to be backward, the livelihood of the farmers in Paombong, Bulacan gradually died during the Ramos’ regime.
Like many farmers in the country, Mang Gregorio was forced to work in a factory in Marilao, Bulacan. From being a farmer who has to face many obstacles just for meager harvest, to being a worker who is exploited for their cheap labor.
“No’ng hindi na kami nag-aani, napasok ako ng ITM Marilao [textile factory, located in SM Marilao in the present] bilang manggagawa.”
Mang Gregorio didn't last long as a factory worker either, so he then started selling in the market before transitioning as a tricycle driver.
FARMERS BURROWED IN EXTREME POVERTY IN CENTRAL LUZON
Every administration recognizes the value of land reform as a key program to address peasant development.
During the regime of then Ferdinand Marcos Sr., a Presidential Decree (PD) 27 was declared that will supposedly free the farmers from slavery to their landlords and will be given the right to the cultivated land, allowing to become owner-cultivators, giving them 3 hectares of land if land are irrigated, and 5 hectares of land if non-irrigated.
President Marcos Sr. implemented (PD) 315 directing all financing institutions to accept certificates of land transfer as collateral.
In Cory Aquino's regime, the "centerpiece program" of her administration was implemented–- the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), which later on became CARPER during PNoy’s time. She implemented the Agrarian Reform Council which served as a concrete market for the produce of tenants. It introduced agencies to extend credit assistance (creation of Landbank) and provided support services such as infrastructure facilities and conducting training programs (expanded market access for farmers through the Agrarian Reform Council.)
The enactment of (EO) 228 allegedly declared full ownership to tenants by issuing an emancipation patent.
However, many peasants opposed these land reforms by the government as it has further reduced the quality of production in the fields, in fact, they never owned the land promised to them.
Just this June 9, the police arrested 83 farmers and agrarian advocates in Tarlac while they were conducting bungkalan or collective farming.
Under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), the farmers of Hacienda Tinang in Concepcion, Tarlac are entitled to 200 hectares of land but 27 years later it has still not been distributed to them even though they are legitimate Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARBs).
Instead, the Tinang 83 as they are known, were violently and illegally arrested as videos shown, and were deprived of due process.
In Sibul, San Miguel Bulacan, the heir of Luis Villafuerte arrested and evicted more than 100 farmers from the land they have been cultivating for a long time which is covered by CARP.
In Porac, Pampanga, about 350 tenants were forcibly evicted from the farm land when Ayala Lands seized more than 700 hectares of land to set aside for the establishment of a large industrial, commercial, and residential area.
In Bataan, farmers are being evicted from hundreds of hectares of farmland in different towns to expand the scope of the Freeport Area of Bataan, which will open foreign businesses.
RICE TARIFFICATION LAW, PRESIDENTIAL DECREE 27, THE COMPREHENSIVE AGRARIAN REFORM PROGRAM, AND ITS AMENDED VERSION CARPER
The Duterte regime passed the Rice Tariffication Law which eased the country's rice import trade in 2019. According to the law, the revenue from the tax on rice imported into the country will go to the financing of local rice production.
This policy aims to protect the Philippines’ food security, but it has caused damage to the peasant sector directly as the country relied on rice imports.
In 2017, the country’s self-sufficient ratio was at 93% which means that the agricultural sector has the capacity to feed its people. However, Duterte declared that the country could no longer rely on its own harvest, so rice importation was further implemented.
The Rice Tariffication Law would also remove the National Food Authority (NFA) as the primary guarantor of stable rice prices and rice sold to consumers, and under this law, NFA will only be a buffer stock maintainer for emergencies.
The laws and policies of the government directly serve only for the profit of the foreign businesses — while burdening farmers.
Central Luzon became the starting point for land reforms during the time of Ferdinand Marcos under Presidential Decree No. 27, a law that was supposed to 'free the peasants from slavery to the land'.
However, it would take 15 years before the land became theirs, until its beneficiaries would later lose their right to farmland due to the widespread cancellation of their Certificates of Land Transfer and Emancipation Patents by the Department of Agriculture (DAR), to be taken away from them by the landlords.
According to government data, under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program from 1972 to the time of the Aquino regime, 461,078 hectares of land were allegedly distributed to farmers in the region. This measure, if true, is only 25% of the total agricultural land in Central Luzon, however, the truth is that a wide range of farmers do not have their own land, and they are being evicted from it instead.
Along with all this is the worsening political and economic crisis in the Philippines. The inflation rate in the country is at a historic high of 8%, which is why all commodity prices are increasing. A recession is also expected in the coming new year.
In the current state of the country, the peasant sector is always on the verge of suffering.
For the likes of Mang Gregorio de Jesus who used to be a farmer in Paombong, Bulacan and is now a tricycle driver, there are certainly a large number of farmers who have been forced to take other jobs to survive given the current material conditions.
Then, a question arises. How come the ones who create the food are also the same people who have none on their table?
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