An illustrated essay on the some of the highlights of the Oct. 21 peasant rally.
Farmers in the city | The October 21 protest
Tags: Filipino peasants
Peasants all over the country march for land, rights, social justice
By MARYA SALAMAT
After decades of what they described as “agrarian reform programs designed to fail,” Filipino peasants continue to suffer from landlessness and worsening poverty.
Sidebar: Lakbayan in Northern Mindanao Region a success – peasants’ groups
Rough Sailing Expected for Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill
When the sessions of Congress resume on January 19, the progressive party list bloc in the House of Representatives would push anew for House Bill 3059 or the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill (GARB). Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano said they expect to encounter rough sailing when they push for the bill, but they are not afraid to lose. Mariano believes that the ensuing debate on the bill could put the long-standing demand of the peasantry for a genuine and thoroughgoing land reform program in the national agenda.
Amorsolo’s “Fruit Harvesting” and the Life of the People
Have our peasants shown the same delightful faces during harvests since the war years ended? Is the same reason to celebrate a bountiful harvest still found in their hearts? BY LORIE ANN A. CASCARO CULTURE Davao Today Posted by Bulatlat Davao City—Ten years after a fieldtrip during my kindergarten years, I visited Davao Museum again…
Still Fighting for the Land They Till
They came from different places. One farmers’ group tries to eke out a living farming the land they have been tilling in Bukidnon in Mindanao, and the other farmers’ group is in Nueva Ecija in Central Luzon. They may be miles apart, but their stories are the same.
Abducted Peasant Leaders Detail Torture by Police
When Axel Pinpin and the rest of the “Tagaytay 5” were under tactical interrogation two years ago, they were being asked about Renato Alvarez, chairman of Kamagsasaka-Ka to which two of them belong. Three days after the release of the “Tagaytay 5”, Alvarez along with seven peasant organizers and the driver of the van they…
Real Crises
There is real danger that rice will soon become a very scarce commodity beginning with the market stalls but eventually, from the dining table of tens of millions of poor Filipinos. This is not to say that this staple food has not become scarce before and is even now beyond the reach of a scandalously…
Small Farmers Unlikely to Benefit from ‘Agri Export Boost’ under JPEPA
The Department of Agriculture (DA) is trying to gain public support for the ratification of the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) by flaunting that the free-trade pact will secure some US$353 million (P15.6 billion) worth of existing agricultural and fishery exports to Japan. But the benefits, if indeed there will be any, will be cornered…