Bu-lat-lat (boo-lat-lat) verb: to search, probe, investigate, inquire; to unearth facts Volume 3, Number 16 May 25 - 31, 2003 Quezon City, Philippines |
Negros
Sacadas Brace for Tiempo Muerto; Most
poor families in Negros have been living under the centuries-old semi-feudal
system of sugar production which allows land monopoly to the island’s ruling
oligarchy and the further depreciation in the income levels of many Negrenses.
It is this social inequity that continues to make life miserable to the
island’s majority population and make Negros fertile for armed rebellion. By
Karl G. Ombion and
Edgar Cadagat
BACOLOD
CITY – Throughout the Philippines, June will be observed as the month for
school opening and to the starry-eyed, as the month of fair tale weddings. But
not in Negros. To thousands of workers and farm toilers there’s nothing to
observe on a blissful note when one faces the daily scourge of hunger and
poverty. A
recent survey by economists from the National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW)
revealed the growing social divide in Negros. A typical sugar worker’s income
can afford him – and his family of five – only P2.50 (U.S.$0.05) for good
faily. Contrast this to many of the island province’s wealthy families’
P12,000 daily food income. To
Negros sugar workers and other wretched of the earth, the third quarter of each
year, particularly the months of August and September, is called “tiempo
muerto” (dead season). This is the period when the island’s poor don’t
have practically any means of livelihood as most haciendas or huge sugar
plantations remain idle and there are not enough alternative jobs to turn to. Leaders
of NFSW told Bulatlat.com that for these months, sacadas (seasonal
workers) and other toilers will leave their farm fields and conduct sustained
mass struggles to bring their plight to the public, gain their support and voice
their collective demands for a better life. Gullermo
Barreta, Jr., chair of the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU – May First Movement) in
Negros to which NFSW’s thousands of members are affiliated, said last week his
group and allied organizations will spearhead a long campaign, dubbed
“Tigkiwiri Campaign.” June
kick-off The
Tigkiwiri (or “pain” in the Ilonggo language) campaign will begin in June,
Barreta said, and
will be joined by tens of thousands of NFSW workers and farmers in Negros
Oriental and Negros Occidental. Sugar
workers will carry out protest actions to demand jobs during the “tiempo
muerto.” They will also demand the distribution of farmlots, the granting
of mandated and lawful benefits from landowners, medical services, the repair of
houses and any benefit they are entitled to, the KMU leader said. Mass
actions will also include education and advocacy drives, dialogues with
landowners, government executives and heads of agencies and NGOs where they will
seek social and welfare benefits such as free medicine, clothing and food
assistance. Most poor families in Negros have been living under the centuries-old semi-feudal system of sugar production which allows land monopoly to the island’s ruling oligarchy and the further depreciation in the income levels of many Negrenses. It is this social inequity that continues to make life miserable to the island’s majority population and make Negros fertile for armed rebellion. Bulatlat.com We want to know what you think of this article.
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