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Ka Daning Ramos hounded by surveillance, harassment—KMP

Veteran peasant leader Danilo Ramos and the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) that he leads is worried.

In a statement, the KMP revealed Ramos had been the subject of surveillance and harassment by men suspected to be government intelligence agents in at least two occasions this month.

Motorcyle-riding men had been asking for the whereabouts of Ramos and his residence in Malolos City, Bulacan on January 3 and 15, KMP reported.

“In one incident, one of the men reportedly asked bystanders: ‘Taga-saan ba si Danilo Ramos? Matagal na namin siyang hinahanap kasi terorista siya.’”  (Where does Danilo Ramos reside? We have long been looking for him because he is a terrorist.)

“This dangerous and brazen case of terror tagging poses a direct threat to the life of Ka Daning, his family, and other peasant leaders and members of the KMP and the progressive peasant movement,” the group said.

KMP and Tanggol Magsasaka (Defend Farmers) noted that the surveillance and harassment against Ramos have escalated since last year.

The last case of documented surveillance against the KMP chairperson happened in August 2023, the group added.

The victim and Tanggol Magsasaka immediately submitted reports to and held dialogues with the Commission on Human Rights on last year’s incident, KMP said.

Ramos was a survivor of the Mendiola Massacre of January 22, 1987 and went on to become a long-time KMP secretary general.

He succeeded Rafael Mariano as KMP chairperson when the latter briefly served as Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) secretary in 2016 to 2017.

KMP said despite non-stop harassment against Ramos, the farmer leader remains critical and outspoken on the policies and programs of the Department of Agriculture, DAR and Malacanang that affect farmers and fisherfolk.

The government meanwhile has weaponized laws against the agriculture sector , instead of heeding the plight of farmers and strengthening domestic agriculture, it added.

“We demand a stop to the harassment against Ka Daning (Ramos). We demand a stop to the attacks against farmers and the peasant masses who feed the nation,” KMP in its statement said.

“We call on all democracy-loving individuals and institutions, especially workers, human rights defenders, indigenous peoples’ rights advocates, Church people, environment defenders, and all sectors here and abroad to support Danilo “Ka Daning” Ramos and all farmers fighting against landlessness, injustice, and impunity in the Philippines,” the group concluded. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Farmers warn gov’t of possible rice price manipulation schemes

Farmers asked Congress to investigate looming rice price manipulation schemes by private traders, saying claims of P34 to P36 per kilo of palay are ridiculously high.

The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) said it is alarmed by a rice miller’s claims that palay is being bought from P34 to P36 in Bulacan that may soon push rice prices to P60 per kilo.  

Bulacan miller Tony Santos said that farm gate prices of palay have reached such levels, a claimed backed by Federation of Free Farmers general manager Raul Montemayor in a Philippine Star interview.

The KMP however said the figures are inflated.

“[I]t is hard to believe that P34 per kilo is the prevailing price of palay when based on KMP’s monitoring…the palay price in Malolos, Bulacan is at P20 per kilo, P21 to P22 per kilo in Isabela, P20 per kilo in Mindoro Occidental,” KMP chairperson Danilo Ramos said.

Ramos added that it is not yet harvest season and they wonder where the claims are based.

 “It is in the interest of consumers and the public to know if there is a syndicated price manipulation and speculation going on to justify the increase in retail prices of rice,” Ramos said.

KMP said that while it advocates for the buying of palay directly from rice farmers at just prices, it does not agree with millers’ claims that an increase in palay prices is the ultimate reason for high rice prices.

The group said an existing cartel within the domestic rice industry—dominated by importers, traders and millers as well as corrupt officials within the Department of Agriculture—are to blame.

Failed rice importation policy

KMP pointed to the Rice Liberalization Law (RA 11203) and the government’s importation and agricultural trade liberalization policies as the culprits behind increasing rice prices.

“The government’s rice liberalization law crippled the National Food Authority’s (NFA) rice buffer stocking mandate and allowed the private sector to take over the entire rice industry, thereby putting rice farmers and consumers at the mercy of the rice cartel,” Ramos said.

KMP reiterated that the Ferdinand Marcos Jr. government must do away with its importation policy especially with the very volatile rice supply and price situation after India’s export ban and strained rice supply in Asia due to the effects of El Nino.

The view is mirrored by Amihan National Federation of Peasant Women and rice watch group Bantay Bigas that also lambasted Marcos for insisting on rice importations as his last resort to the problem.

“Because the government relies on rice importation instead of letting the NFA increase its local procurement, stocks from local farmers have all been snapped up by the private traders,” Amihan secretary general and Bantay Bigay spokesperson Cathy Estavillo said.

Estavillo said rice importation is not the immediate solution. Rather, the government should look for the stocks hoarded by private traders. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Squash prices drop to P3/kilo; KMP urges gov’t assistance to farmers

Farm gate prices of squash have dropped to P3 a kilo in Cotabato ang General Santos cities and a peasants’ group have urged the government to buy them to help farmers.

The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) said tons of squash are being dumped or are being fed to farm animals because of extremely low buying prices.

“The cause of this problem is the lack of marketing and support by the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the government for farmers. It is only the private traders who are buying the farmers’ produce,” the KMP said in a statement Thursday, June 8.

The KMP said that if the DA can create the Kadiwa fuel subsidy program for onions, it can also subsidize the procurement of squash from the farmers.

The group added that local government units, the Department of Education and the DA may devise a squash feeding program in public schools.

The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Department of Trade and Industry may process squash into instant noodles, snacks and others, the KMP said.

Quoting a study by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute of the DOST, KMP said squash is rich with beta carotene and vitamins that are important to children’s nutrition.

“All Filipinos eat squash. There should be no oversupply if only the DA has a marketing assistance plan of our farmers,” KMP chairperson and rice and vegetable farmer Rafael Mariano said.

Mariano said the DA should not blame the farmers who planted squash but the exploitative traders.

“The farm gate price used to be P25 a kilo but it has since droped to P12 and now to P3. The farmers spend almost P50,000 per hectare for squash production per planting season,” Mariano explained. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Land Use Bill to worsen hunger, activists say

Activist groups are protesting a priority bill in Congress proposing a new national land use plan they say would further reduce agricultural lands and endanger food self sufficiency in the Philippines.

The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (KADAMAY), Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN), Kalikasan and other groups held a protest rally last Monday, May 22, ahead of the bill’s third and final reading at the House of Representatives.

KMP chairperson Danilo Ramos said that House Bill 8162, also called the National Land Use Bill, is part of the Marcos government’s pro-business and pro-foreign legislative measures.

“To quote primary sponsor Siargao Rep. Bingo Matugas: ‘This bill being passed into law will be a sure-fire game-changer in terms of foreign investment for the Philippines,’” Ramos said.

“So, again we ask Congress — for whose interest will the National Land Use Bill serve? Ang paggamit dapat ng mga kalupaan at natural resources ng bansa ay para sa mga Pilipino at tunay na pag-unlad ng bayan,” Ramos added.

KMP revealed that the bill aims to amend the classification of land used for food production from “agricultural” to “production development” that would include properties earmarked as industrial and tourism.

“Maaaring pahintulutan nito ang pagtatayo ng commercial establishments sa mga sakahan dahil pareho na itong saklaw ng lupang pamproduksyon. Sa kongkreto, nangangahulugan ito ng pagpapalayas sa mga magsasaka at pagwasak sa mga sakahan,” Ramos explained.

Activists protesting the National Land Use Bill at the House of Representatives. (Photo by Joseph Cuevas/Kodao)

KMP said that between 1990 and 2000, agricultural land has already decreased by a total of 94,000 hectares. Meanwhile, built-up areas such as urban, residential, commercial properties have undergone the fastest average annual expansion, increasing by over 37,000 hectares during the same period.

The group also cited Census of Agriculture and Fisheries data, revealing farm areas decreased by 2.67 million hectares from 1991 to 2012.

Ramos said the bill would result in smaller agricultural production, worsening hunger and further reliance on foreign investments if passed into law. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Who’s afraid of the Tinang farmers’ ‘bamboo monument’?

The agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) of Hacienda Tinang in Concepcion, Tarlac thought they could commemorate the first anniversary of the building of their bamboo hut with a simple and peaceful gathering. The farmers erected it last February 1, 2022 to mark their decision to cultivate a contested farmland they believe is rightfully theirs.

As the members of the Malayang Kilusang Samahan ng Magsasaka ng Tinang (MAKISAMA-Tinang) prepared to gather at their kubol (hut) last Wednesday, however, they were greeted with the news that military personnel put up checkpoints on the paths leading to their hut. “Soldiers in fatigues came and went on their motorcycles in front of our hut, while a police mobile drove by several times, even parking close to us at some point,” MAKISAMA-Tinang said.

The group added that the previous night, military elements called some of their members to a “gathering” to “offer aid.” They refused, fearing that once they succumb to the enticements, they would be forced to disaffiliate from their organization, inadvertently giving up on their claim to the land.

A bamboo monument to resistance

The hut was put up in 2022 as COVID-19 restrictions loosened and as MAKISAMA-Tinang prepared to launch their “bungkalan”, a type of protest action involving collective cultivation by farmers of a contested property to assert their right over it.

Built at the edge of a path leading to a 200-hectare sugarcane field called Hacienda Tinang in Concepcion town, the hut is the group’s meeting and gathering place, especially when they have organizational and cultivation activities.

It was in the hut that more than 100 agrarian reform beneficiaries, kin and supporters were violently arrested by the Philippine National Police (PNP) last June on orders of then Representative, now Concepcion town mayor Noel Villanueva.

MAKISAMA-Tinang’s hut being rebuilt after a strong typhoon destroyed it last September. (MAKISAMA-Tinang photo)

Nine-three of those arrested were detained under the scorching heat of the sun or crammed inside stifling hot jail cells at the Concepcion PNP station for several days, causing the hospitalization of some of those arrested. Through the effort of local and Metro Manila-based human rights lawyers and other supporters who raised bail funds, those arrested were temporarily released after four days.

Last September, a strong storm also completely demolished the hut, which was promptly rebuilt by the farmers. Less than a month later, the rebuilt hut was ransacked by unknown men in the dead of night. 

MAKISAMA-Tinang chairman Felino Cunanan, Jr. being arrested in June 2022. (MAKISAMA-Tinang photo)

Last November 6, MAKISAMA-Tinang members suffered their biggest blow of all. Their courageous chairperson, Felino Cunanan, Jr., died of abdominal aortic aneurysm after another threatening visit by the military the previous night.

All these threats and violations, despite the fact that the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) has repeatedly affirmed that Hacienda Tinang shall be distributed to legitimate 236 agrarian reform beneficiaries, including MAKISAMA-Tinang members.

Military preventing farmers’ installation

 “Almost three decades have passed since DAR ruled in favor of these farmers, yet instead of installing them on their land, the government has only militarized their community,” Unyon ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) spokesperson Milton John Lozande lamented.

“Soldiers have already put up unwarranted checkpoints around the ARBs’ land. In possible violation of International Humanitarian Law, state forces have been occupying civilian structures in the vicinity to terrorize them. Now they also have the gall to crash this simple celebration?” he continued,

Lozande’s group had been urging the DAR to expedite the farmers’ installation at Hacienda Tinang, despite ever-worsening harassments by the military and Mayor Noel Villanueva.

In the just concluded high-level International Labor Organization (ILO) visit to the Philippines, the mass arrest of the farmers had been included in the complaints submitted. The state assault on and vilification of MAKISAMA-Tinang, many of whose members were agricultural workers as well, constituted a violation of their internationally recognized freedom of association, UMA said

“The farmers of Tinang have suffered long enough. Decades of landlessness are a bad enough injury, and the Marcos regime dare add the insult of violating their right to organize?” Lozande asked.

MAKISAMA-Tinang members and their hut. (MAKISAMA-Tinang photo)

Despite the ongoing harassments, MAKISAMA-Tinang farmers said they are not giving up their fight and have added the militarization of their community as among those they resist against.

They may have failed again to peacefully gather at their hut last Wednesday because of the soldiers’ harassments, but their humble one-year old bamboo structure has once more proven its value as a symbol of their resistance against decades-old injustices. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Farmers tell Villar: ‘Be sincere and repeal rice tarrification law’

The country’s biggest peasants’ organization challenged Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food chairperson Senator Villar to act against her own rice tarrification law to prove sincerity in recent pro-farmers pronouncements.

Reacting to the senator’s directives at last Monday’s budget hearing to the Department of Agriculture to realign its 2023 proposed budget to help farmers produce high-quality seeds, the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) said Villar should instead take a look at her pet rice importation liberalization law.

“Senator Villar can rather show her sincerity by supporting demands to review and repeal RA (Republic Act) 11203 or the rice tariffication law,” KMP chairperson Danilo Ramos said in a statement Wednesday.  

In last Monday’s hearing, Villar castigated DA for its preference for imported hybrid rice seeds over inbred and organic rice seeds, spending P7.9 billion for hybrid seeds distributed to 1.7 million farmers while only spending P3.7 billion for inbred seeds.

Villar also directed the agency to support the use of compost and organic fertilizer over expensive chemical-based fertilizers.

Fertilizer prices increased by up to 22% since 2020, severely affecting rice production and farmers’ incomes, the KMP said.

‘Hypocritical’

The group said that along with the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s Masagana 99 program, the Villar-sponsored rice liberalization program have further made rice farmers’ lives difficult.

“These two programs, implemented more than 40 years apart, have destroyed the lives and livelihood of rice farmers, and further ruined the local rice industry,” the group added.

KMP said hybrid rice propagation was the central component of Martial Law-era Masagana 99 that heavily relied on expensive imported seeds and farm inputs, which left farmers in debt.

“Up to this day, the majority of Filipino rice farmers remain dependent on the practices set by the Green Revolution and Masagana 99,” Ramos said.

Ramos added that the rice liberalization law that Villar principally authored and enacted in 2019 led to heavy income losses for rice farmers amounting to P206 billion in the past three years.  

“The failure of RA 11203 is undisputed, the influx of imported rice caused massive bankruptcies among rice farmers, due to depressed farm gate prices,” Ramos said. 

Legislators should support the genuine protection and development of the domestic rice industry. Senator Villar will remain hypocritical if she continues to support rice liberalization while espousing to advance local seeds and fertilizer production, Ramos said.

The KMP also challenged Villar to sponsor the Senate version of House Bill 405 Rice Industry Development Act or the Food Self-Sufficiency Act of 2022.

KMP said that an estimated 96% of Filipinos are rice consumers while production involves around 3.8 million rice farmers who cultivate 4.7 million hectares. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Rights group condemns conviction of peasant organizer

By Joseph Cuevas

Political prisoners support group Kapatid condemned the conviction of a land rights advocate for rebellion.

Dionisio Almonte, long-time peasant organizer in Laguna, was sentenced to life imprisonment (10-17 years) by Branch 266 of the Taguig City Regional Trial Court (RTC) last September 16.

Kapatid spokesperson Fides Lim said, “The sentence amounts to cruel and unusual punishment for Almonte who has more than suffered enough because of a trumped-up case.”

Prior to his conviction by Judge Marivic C. Vitor, Lim said Almonte had already suffered eight years of imprisonment “for choosing to help the poorest yet most neglected class in society, the farmers.”

Arrested in January 2014 on murder and frustrated murder charges, Almonte is currently detained at the Metro Manila District Jail in Taguig.

A native of Laguna, Almonte is a member of PUMALAG (Peasant Alliance of Laguna) since the 1980s.

Almonte’s wife Gloria said their family was shocked and saddened about the conviction but hopes it will be overturned upon appeal.

Worsening health

Gloria added that Dioniso’s health condition has worsened while in detention, worsening his lumbar spondylosis (degeneration of disks of the vertebrae) diagnosed prior to his arrest.

He has since been diagnosed with diabetes and hypertension. In 2017, he also suffered tuberculosis and has undergone isolation in prison.

Palala nang palala ang kalusugan ng asawa ko mula nang makulong siya,” Gloria said.

Gloria added that Almonte’s name was among those submitted by Kapatid to the Supreme Court for humanitarian release from crowded prisons when the coronavirus pandemic started, but was ignored.

2 farmer organizers walk free

Meanwhile, two peasant organizers in Isabela province were acquitted last October 5 by Branch 24 of the Echague RTC on charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives.

Solomon John Escopete and Danilo Estores were arrested in Jones, Isabela in April 2019, during the campaign period of the 2019 midterm elections.

Judge Michelle Gumpal-Videz said the prosecutors’ “[E]fforts (in presenting the evidence) resulted in a mediocre case that is nothing but lamentable” in acquitting the farmers. #

Land rights champions face more charges from Tarlac prosecutors

Government prosecutors are not letting up on Hacienda Tinang farmers and their supporters, charging them with another criminal complaint in Tarlac City on Wednesday.

While appearing at a preliminary investigation for human trafficking charges connected with their violent dispersal and arrest by the Concepcion, Tarlac police last June 9, government prosecutors bared that nine of the defendants are also facing child exploitation charges.

“In today’s preliminary investigation in Tarlac, we received a copy of the records of the new trumped up charge of child exploitation against the artists, journalist and peasant rights advocates who were illegally arrested, along with the agrarian reform beneficiaries of Hacienda Tinang during the conduct of their peaceful ceremonial bungkalan of the land that rightfully belongs to them,” their lawyer Kathy Panguban said.

The latest complaint apparently stems from reports that several minors were present during the arrest and were among those hauled to the Concepcion municipal police station on the day of the incident.

The minors, reportedly children of the supporters present that day, were released to relatives and guardians within hours of the mass arrest.

Nine of the 83 were charged with the latest criminal complaint.

The new charge brings to seven the total number of complaints filed against them by the Tarlac Provincial Prosecutor’s Office, including alleged malicious mischief, illegal assembly, obstruction of justice, disobedience to authority, usurpation of real rights in property and human trafficking.

The Capas (Tarlac) Municipal Trial Court has already dismissed the malicious mischief and illegal assembly charges against all of the 83 farmers and supporters arrested and jailed for four days.

The Department of Agrarian Reform has also finally released its list of legitimate Hacienda Tinang land beneficiaries, including all members of the members of Malayang Kilusan ng Samahang Magsasaka ng Tinang (Makisama-Tinang) arrested on June 9.

“It pains to see how the justice system is being weaponized against what is right and just for the farmers who had long been deprived of the enjoyment of their property. Even those who support their legitimate calls are now being dragged to answer such fabricated criminal charges,” Panguban said.

Fiscal asked to inhibit

The Unyon ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) said in a separate statement that Wednesday’s preliminary investigation did not proceed pending the resolution of an earlier motion that the entire Tarlac Provincial Prosecutor’s Office inhibit itself from conducting the human trafficking compliant it filed against six of the defendants.

A similar motion was filed last July 8 by all of the 83 defendants pertaining to the conduct of the preliminary investigation into the charges of disobedience to authority, obstruction of justice, and usurpation of real rights in property.

The defendants also asked the courts for a transfer of venue of the investigations, expressing concern about the perceived influence Concepcion mayor Noel Villanueva over the proceedings.

Villanueva, then District Representative, was present during the arrest of the defendants and was recorded to have ordered the police to round up the farmers and their supporters who were having lunch at the time.

It was while waiting for the resolution of their motion to inhibit last Wednesday did Prosecutor Mila Mae Montefalco-Ikeshita bared the “never-before-seen official complaint” for the charge of child exploitation, UMA said in its statement.

The complaint had been filed by Concepcion police against nine peasant advocates, including the six facing accusations of human trafficking.

Five of those charged who agreed to be identified in this report are Donna Miranda, Angelo Suarez, Pia Montalban, Joyce Godoy, and Allan Bonifacio.

Farmers to file complaints themselves

UMA spokesperson John Milton Lozande that the string of charges against the farmers and their supporters is “plain and vulgar judicial harassment.”

“If anyone exploited any children in the case of the Tinang 83, it was the Concepcion police. It was they, after all, who violently accosted farmers and supporters in an illegal mass arrest in Tinang last June 9, stirring fear among minors present, then redtagged them to justify the round-up,” Lozande said.

Lozande also revealed that members of the Tinang 83 will themselves file administrative cases against the Concepcion police, particularly its officer-in-charge Lt. Col. Reynold Macabitas, at the Office of the Ombudsman in Quezon City on Monday, July 25.

Lozande’s group said their complaint will be the first in a series that the police may expect from them. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

150 farmer organizations announce support to Leni-Kiko

More than a hundred local farmer organizations and food advocate groups have endorsed the candidacy of Vice President Leni Robredo and Senator Francis Pangilinan for the presidency and vice presidency, respectively.

Ten days before the May 9 national and local elections, a total of 158 farmers’ organizations said they are supporting the main opposition tandem as they feel the “sincerity of their programs to uplift the lives of the Filipino poor, especially the plight of poor peasants.”

Among those that endorsed the Robredo-Pangilinan tandem are farmer’s rights advocacy groups Philippine Network of Food Security Programmes, Sibol ng Agham at Teknolohiya , Society of St.  Paul, Student Christian Movement-University of the Philippines in Los Banos, and Agroecology X.

“We can see their clear plan and platforms for boosting agricultural production in the country along with recognizing the important role of farmers in society,” part of their statement reads.

The organizations cited among their demands the advancement of genuine land reform, opposition to foreign domination in agriculture, uplifting the lives of farmers and the rural population, strengthening of the local agriculture, and upholding justice and peace and rights of farmers.

“We have seen various personalities and groups express support for various candidates. It is high time for small farmers’ voices to be heard,” Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) chairperson Danilo Ramos said in a press conference announcing their endorsement.

Officers of various farmers organizations announce support to Vice President Leni Robredo and Senator Francis Pangilinan in a press conference Friday, April 29. (KMP photo)

The signatories also cited the tandem’s “clean record and lack of any corruption issue” as among the reasons for their support. 

Cecil Rapiz of the Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Bulacan-San Jose del Monte expressed confidence in the tandem’s record on pursuing food self-sufficiency.

 “For us, deeds done are more important than any grandiose promise. We are witness to Leni-Kiko’s efforts at addressing rural poverty, especially Senator Kiko who has engaged with us farmers groups, election time or not,”  Rapiz.

The organizations also acknowledged the tandem’s stance on human rights.

“We thank Vice President Leni Robredo for standing against extrajudicial killings. We remember how she joined us in demanding justice for the Bloody Sunday Massacre victims where fellow farmers and activists were killed by state forces,” Jerry Luna of Katipunan ng mga Lehitimong Magsasaka at Mamamayan sa Lupang Ramos (KASAMA-LR) from Cavite said.

Lucia Capaducio of the Paghugpong sang mga Mangunguma sa Panay kag Guimaras for her part said Robredo and Pangilinan’s platform is “pro-poor.”

“There is no ‘Solid North’ – the rural population suffered tremendously both under the Marcos and Duterte regimes and we are vehemently against their return to power,” Cagayan Valley peasant leader Renato Gameng said.

 KMP’s Ramos said they are more organizations to join their declaration of support to Robredo and Pangilinan. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Farmers demand food production aid under 2022 nat’l budget

Hit hard by government’s greater dependence on food importation during the coronavirus pandemic, farmers have demanded P15,000 production subsidy in next year’s national budget.

Reacting to Department of Agriculture (DA) statements at its ongoing budget deliberations at the House of Representatives, the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) also said it opposes secretary William Dar’s admission there will be no cash aid for farmers under their Php91 billion 2022 budget proposal.

Gutom po ang mga Pilipino lalo na ngayong pandemya. Kailangan palakasin ang lokal na produksyon ng pagkain. Paano magagawa ito kung walang ayuda sa mga magsasaka at hindi nagagamit ng tama ang pondo sa agrikultura ayon sa pangangailan ng mga magbubukid? KMP chairperson Danilo Ramos in a statement said. 

(There are more hungry Filipinos during this pandemic. Local food production must be strengthened. How can this be achieved without cash aid to farmers and funds are not used properly to benefit farmers?)

Ramos said that they support a higher budget for DA, their group is not keen on the department’s fiscal directions as well as greater emphasis on import liberalization and private and foreign investments on agriculture.

Ramos said such policies have only primarily benefited local and foreign business interests and have further marginalized poor farmers.

“The perfect storm in agriculture is not only due to the african swine flu (ASF), climatic events, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Decades of neo-liberal policies have only worsened the state of agriculture and Filipino farmers,” Ramos said.  

The KMP revealed that DA’s “Matibay na Seguridad sa Pagkain, Maunlad at Masaganang Buhay ng mga Magsasaka at Mangingisda” program is in fact decreasing the budget for corn production, organic agriculture as well as the production of high-value crops.

“The P207M o 1.33% increase in the National Rice Program budget is also very meager to support rice production,” it added.

KMP said DA’s market and business-driven and profit-oriented programs remains its focus while failing to address the slump in pork production due to the ASF.

“The DA is already discussing technology and modernization under Digital Agriculture 4.0, while the dominant domestic farming perennially relies on carabao and manual plow. There is a significant disconnect between DA’s policies and the realities of poor Filipino farmers,” Ramos revealed.

The KMP said Dar must realize the actual condition of farmers and get out of his “alternate reality.” # (Raymund B. Villanueva)