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Cordillera peasants want WTO, Arroyo junked

BAGUIO CITY (Oct. 21) — Over 300 peasant farmers together with supporters from peoples organizations in the region held a marched-rally that ended with a short program here on October 21 calling for the ouster of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The said activity is part of the nationally coordinated protest action led by the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) in commemoration of peasant month this October.

Fernando Mangili of APIT TAKO (Alliance of Peasants in the Cordillera Hometown) said that Cordillera farmers suffered from GMA’s liberal agricultural policies. He also criticized GMA’s adherence to the impositions of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Mangili said the government practically removed agricultural subsidy and opened up the country’s market to global competition. He reiterated that it is impossible for local produce to compete with imported rice, fruits, vegetables and other imports given the country’s backward agricultural industry.

He further said that the influx of imported rice, corn and vegetables worsen the already impoverished state of local farmers.

Data from the Department of Agriculture (DA) showed that Cordillera farmers were able to harvest 355, 775,000 kilograms of palay in 2004, which is equivalent to 108% sufficiency rate.

However, National Food Authority data showed that the region was alloted over 300,000 sacks of imported rice in the same year.

According to APIT TAKO, at 65% milling recovery rate the total harvest of palay of Cordillera farmers would be equivalent to 4,625,075 sacks of rice, enough to feed the region’s 1.6 million population.

Mangili also said that aside from problems brought about by the WTO, Cordillera farmers are losing their lands to foreign corporate mining.

According to Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) records 67% of the region’s 1.8 million hectares is covered with mining applications. MGB-DENR already approved 15 applications covering 13,765.8 hectares.

“These are the reasons why GMA must be removed from her post, her projects and policies do not serve the interest of the people but adheres to foreign profit-making corporations,” Mangili said in Ilokano.

According to Beverly Longid of the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CHRA), farmers also suffer from GMA’s counter insurgency measures. She said that the deployment of thousands of soldiers to the countryside is part of the present administration’s way to silence the growing dissent of citizens affected by destructive development projects like corporate mining.

Earlier, Nordis reported about a 13-day battle between government troopers and the New Peoples Army (NPA) along the tri-boundaries of Abra, Mountain Province and Ilocos Sur, where soldiers bombed rice fields and pasture lands. The said battle disrupted the economic activities of farmers in the said area.

“But the intensifying militarization did not dampen the spirit of Cordilleran peasants. Instead it strengthened their resolve to fight for their rights and safeguard their land and resources,” Longid said in Ilokano. # Kim Quitasol for NORDIS

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