The militant Philippine peasant movement declared October the month dedicated to the peasant cause in the country. The decision was triggered by the dictatorship of former President Ferdinand Marcos when in October 21, 1972 he promulgated Presidential Decree (PD) 27 decreeing the Emancipation of Rice and Corn Lands.

The militant peasant movement criticized the law as bogus as it favored the landed elites and foreign agricultural transnational corporations to the detriment of the vast Philippine peasantry. Succeeding administrations passed their versions of Agrarian Reform Law and its agrarian reform program purposely to be more effective but all the same the situation of the peasants remains the same and in fact worsened. Until now, they are still mired in poverty.

In the Cordillera, regional peasant month activities had been spearheaded by the Alyansa Dagiti Pesante Iti Taeng Kordilyera (Peasant Alliance in the Cordillera Homeland) or APIT-TAKO ever since its establishment in 2001. These are implemented in coordination with other sectors advocating the peasant cause. For the past four years, regional activities were held with the aim of consolidating the gains of the alliance and to further strengthen it.

For this year, the APIT-TAKO Regional Council decided to focus on holding activities in the provincial chapters, instead of having a region-wide activity. This is to allow them to consolidate their chapters and to focus on their particular issues.

In Kalinga, the Timpuyog Dagiti Mannalon ti Kalinga or TMK in partnership with other peoples’organizations successfully sponsored a provincial-wide mining conference at the St. Louis gymnasium in Bulanao, Tabuk in October 22, 2005. The conference carried the theme “Defend Kalinga Against Destructive Large Mining” and aimed to gather additional information on the activities of the mining companies and to feel the sentiments of the people and come up with unities on how to address the mining issue. The activity was attended by 250 participants, mostly peasant organizations from the municipalities of Tabuk, Balbalan, Pinukpuk, Pasil and Tinglayan in Kalinga and the municipality of Conner in Apayao. Individuals from the church, media, academe, legal profession, local government units, and students also attended the activity. The participants recounted their experiences during the operations of Batong-Buhay Mines from 1983 to 1984 when more than 20,000 hectares of rice fields in Kalinga, Cagayan and Isabela were destroyed and the major river systems that served as sources of irrigation were polluted. It also triggered animosities between and among tribes due to boundary conflicts and social problems. In their analysis of the issue, several similarities were pointed such as impacts to livelihood and strategies of mining companies but on the other hand, they are of the consensus that on-going threat is seen to be worst as bigger resources, population and sources of livelihood will be affected. For recommendations on what actions to be undertaken, workshops on different topics were conducted. In the plenary, the participants were united in their stand not to allow large mining companies in the province and to defend it. Another unity was to establish an organization which they named KALASAG (“shield” in the Ilocano dialect) or Kalinga Agkaykaysa A Salakniban Aglawlaw Ken Gameng will be put up to unify the broadest possible sector.

Another highlight of the conference was a march-rally around Bulanao to call the attention of the wider public regarding the mining threat and to gain further support. The march-rally was a breakthrough since this is the first time that this is conducted ever since the protest actions against Batong Buhay Mines in the early 1980s.

The year 2005 would be a memorable year for the peasants of Abra and the peasant movement in general. The Abra provincial chapter of APIT-TAKO was finally launched from October 22 to 23, 2005 at Bangued and was attended by more than 100 peasants representing their respective organizations from 9 municipalities. The launching-congress carried the theme “Gibusan ti Panaggundaway Kadagiti Pesante. Patalawen ni Gloria”. (End Peasant Exploitation, Out Gloria Macapagal Arroyo).

The participants discussed the national and regional peasant issues and the struggles of the peasants against exploitation by the ruling elites and their cohorts and the puppetry of the GMA regime pushing for imperialist globalization despite its negative impacts on the peasantry. The earlier discussions provided the framework for the workshop purposely to come-up with a unified Abra peasant situationer which was achieved. Furthermore, the directions and Constitution and By-Laws were ratified. The assembly adopted TUMAKDER or Tignayan Dagiti Umili Nga Mannalon ti Abra- Depensaran ti Rekursos Na as the official name of their peasant alliance. TUMAKDER in Ilocano literally means “to stand”.

Finally, the participants elected their officers who were subsequently inducted by Mr. Julian Gayumba, the incumbent APIT-TAKO Chairman and also posted a challenge to the new organization to strive hard to attain its objectives and to help strengthen the peasant movement not only in the Cordillera but also at the national and even international levels.

In Ifugao, the inclement weather did not deter the successful peasant forum jointly sponsored by the Ifugao Peasant Leaders’ Forum (IPLF), Save the Ifugao Rice Terraces Movement (SITMO), Ifugao Sustainable Agriculture Practioners and Advocates (ISAPA), and the Ifugao Resources and Development Center (IRDC) at Lagawe in October 28, 2005. The forum carried the theme “Carve Common Pathways. Uphold the Peasant Cause” and was attended by 50 peasants and advocates from the different municipalities. Resource persons were invited to discuss the issues and struggles of the peasants and the coping mechanisms they adopted to lessen the adverse impacts of these issues. Different issues confronted by the Ifugao peasants and recommendations were then tackled in the various workshop groups. Towards the end, the participants as a whole adopted some recommendations of the workshop groups, among such are: to continue conducting similar fora in the future since it provide a venue for education and articulating common issues; prevent the spread of genetically modified organisms and terminator technologies and to conduct series of information dissemination on the matter; and to defend indigenous seeds and technology against those who intends to utilized them for their self interests and to continue exchanging seeds.

On the other hand, APIT Montañosa decided to hold its congress on November 26, 2005 at Bauko, Mountain Province.

In all the above provincial activities, members of the Regional Council and Secretariat did their roles as resource persons on various topics such as situationers of the large mining industry and peasant situation updates and facilitated during the different workshops.

Besides the provincial chapter activities, selected activities were conducted in Baguio City to highlight significant dates within the month that are also related to the peasant issue.

October 16 is celebrated by the government as World Food Day. The event was actually initiated by the United Nations (UN) with the goal of eradicating hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition which the government and the UN failed miserably as the number of people worldwide experiencing hunger and poverty still remain high and in fact is becoming higher.

To APIT-TAKO and other militant peasant organizations, parallel activities were conducted on the same day which they however dubbed as World Foodless Day. On the part of APIT TAKO, it conducted information dissemination to emphasize the unavailability of food despite its abundance and the richness of the region and prevalence of malnutrition among the children.

In October 21 which is a peasant day and the peak of the peasant month, a peasant led march-rally was held in Baguio City and attended by 300 participants. A program was conducted where several speakers lambasted the GMA administration’s adherence to its anti-peasant policies and joined the growing clamor for her ouster. The activity is the contribution of the region to the nationally coordinated peasant protest action led by the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (Philippine Peasant Movement).

By and large, the commemoration of peasant month in the region is a success. Once again, the issues confronted by the Cordillera peasantry at the provincial and regional levels were articulated and projected to the wider populace. Unities were further firmed-up. But the struggle will continue until the peasant and other democratic sectors are freed from their oppressors.

LONG LIVE THE PEASANT STRUGGLE!

by Fernando Bagyan, Alliance of Peasants in the Cordillera (APIT TAKO)