Farmers led today’s massive protest against worsening corruption, repression, and neglect of the agricultural sector by the Ferdinand Marcos Jr. government.
The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) led the march from Liwasang Bonifacio to Mendiola, also participated in by the Kilusang Bayan Kontra Kurakot, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, youth, Indigenous Peoples and other sectors.
KMP said that despite promises, no genuine agrarian reform has taken place under Marcos Jr., and that landlessness, rural poverty, and hunger continue to plague millions of farmers across the country.
Today’s protest was timed for the 53rd anniversary of Presidential Decree 27 by Ferdinand Marcos Sr., one of the government’s first land reform laws.
As the late dictator’s land reform failed, KMP said the Marcos Jr. government prioritizes corruption through pork-laden budgets over the needs of the rural poor.
“Habang naghihirap ang mga magsasaka dahil sa kawalan at pang-aagaw ng lupa, binabaha tayo ng korapsyon sa ilalim ng rehimeng Marcos Jr.,” said Danilo Ramos, KMP Chairperson.
“Pera ng bayan ang nilulustay sa mga pekeng flood-control projects at bilyon-bilyong ‘unprogrammed funds’ na ginagawang pork barrel ng Pangulo. Sa halip na tunay na reporma sa lupa, pagnanakaw at pandarambong ang ginagawa ng gobyerno,” Ramos added.
Corruption victimizes agriculture
KMP cited reports that over P807 billion in unprogrammed funds were approved in 2023, and nearly P214 billion of these went to almost 4,000 infrastructure projects, including flood-control programs now under Senate investigation for alleged anomalies.
Since 2022, more than P545 billion has been allocated to nearly 10,000 flood-control projects, many of which remain incomplete or non-existent.
In the proposed 2026 budget, around P696 billion in presidential and congressional pork barrel funds are embedded in the budget.
This includes P243 billion in un-programmed appropriations that have previously financed ghost and overpriced projects, and P10.9 billion in Confidential and Intelligence Funds, P4.5 billion of which goes directly to the Office of the President.
KMP also condemned the P8 billion allocation for the government’s counter-insurgency agency, the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict the group said is used for surveillance and harassment of farming communities.
Back on November 30
Ramos stressed that the Marcos Jr. administration’s corruption and neglect mirror that of the previous Duterte regime.
“Marcos-Duterte, walang ipinag-iba. Parehong korap, pahirap, at pasista. Dapat wakasan na ang kanilang pamumunong pahirap sa mga Pilipino. Sobra na, tama na, wakasan at baguhin na ang bulok na sistemang ito,” he said.
KMP Secretary-General Ronnie Manalo added that rural communities remain the most affected by misallocated government spending.
“Sa halip na pondohan ang irigasyon, binhi, at makinarya, bilyon-bilyon ang nilalagay sa mga ghost projects at farm-to-pocket roads na hindi nakatutulong sa mga magsasaka. Isa ang korapsyon sa mga dahilan kung bakit nananatiling atrasado ang agrikultura at baon sa utang ang mga magsasaka,” Manalo said.
The group said Tuesday’s protest symbolizes the deluge of public outrage against corruption, citing floods plague rice lands, as well as misrule that impoverishes rural Filipinos.
“Ito ay baha ng pagkilos at paniningil,” Ramos said. “Hindi kami titigil hangga’t walang napapanagot na mga kurakot at magnanakaw.”
The protest was the culminating activity of the farmers’ camp in Quezon City that started last week. Farmers from Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon and Southern Tagalog participated.
October is Peasant Month.
In Mendiola, the protesters dramatized their condemnation of the Marcos government by destroying an effigy they dubbed Dagang MandaramBongBong: Hari ng BurukRATa Kapitalismo.
The grotesque, life-size effigy depicts Marcos Jr. as a bloated sewage rat caught in a massive rat trap.
KMP announced that the “Baha sa Liwasang Bonifacio to Mendiola” action is part of a series of nationwide mobilizations leading up to a bigger protest on November 30, coinciding with Bonifacio Day.
“Sa Nobyembre 30, magbabalik kami sa lansangan nang mas malakas – hudyat ng panawagang wakasan na pamumunong Marcos at Duterte na walang ginawa kundi ang pahirapan at nakawan ang taumbayan,” Ramos said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
