Comelec can’t rein in NTF-ELCAC
Three weeks before the May 12, mid-term elections, the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) is ramping up its campaign against progressive partylists and the Makabayan Coalition senatorial slate and mocking the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to enforce its prohibition of red-tagging, which the Supreme Court (SC) ruled as illegal and a threat to the lives of Filipinos.
What land distribution?
The harsh reality is that land “promised” to farmers under CARP is being steadily converted into industrial estates and commercial zones to benefit the same oligarchs who have long controlled the country’s land and wealth, KMP explained.
Give farmers a fair shake
The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) has been working hand-in-glove with big landlords in frustrating the decades-old demand of Batangas farmers to break up several sugar haciendas under the Roxases, with the DAR making an about face about the awards to landless peasants and giving the landlords the best land, with half of the least arable sections divided among the CARP beneficiaries.
Tomato farmers lose millions
In what has become a devastating boom-and-bust cycle for food producers, it is now tomato farmers who are being bankrupted as the farmgate prices of the fruit have hit rock-bottom at the range of P3 and P5 per kilo, certainly below production cost, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) chairman and Makabayan senatorial candidate Danilo Ramos disclosed on Feb. 28, 2025.
Farmer leader Daning Ramos announces Senate candidacy
“I accept the challenge and task of Makabayan to push forward farmers and the people’s interests in the Senate. On the strength of my experiences as a farmer and my social understanding, I will further advocate for genuine land reform, rural development, as well as genuine growth of my fellow poor within and outside the country,”Ramos said in his acceptance speech.
Farmers ask gov’t to bare El Niño action plan to address irrigation water shortage
“We want to know NIA’s concrete plans on how to help farmers cope with El Niño and how to ensure the availability of rice and food crops despite extreme weather events,” the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas said.
Squash prices drop to P3/kilo; KMP urges gov’t assistance to farmers
“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.
Farmers back salt industry development bill, ask similar support for other rural industries
“As an archipelagic country with a long stretch of shoreline, it is ironic that we are a net importer of salt, with 90% of our salt consumption imported from Australia, China, New Zealand, and Thailand,” the KMP said.
Land Use Bill to worsen hunger, activists say
KMP’s Danilo Ramos said the bill would result in smaller agricultural production, worsening hunger and further reliance on foreign investments if passed into law.
Farmers protest sugar mill closure, abrupt loss of livelihood
“Sugar farm workers who cut and load sugarcane from the fields to the milling facilities have been jobless since December. The RHI Agri-Business Development Corporation (RADC) also entered into crop loan and contract growing agreements with various sugar planters who are not yet paid due to the mill closure,” Lozande said.