CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Major farmers’ groups in Pres. Aquino’s region released yesterday their “state of Central Luzon” report which they summed up as “landlessness, poverty and hunger.”
They purposely timed their statement with the President’s State-of-the-Nation (SONA) at the Batasang Pambansa.
“Central Luzon has worsened under three years of Aquino governance,” said the Alyansa ng mga Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luson (AMGL), Anakpawis-Gitnang Luson (Anakpawis-GL) and Alyansa ng Manggagawang Bukid sa Asyenda Luisita (Ambala) in a joint statement.
They cited data showing that arising from land use conversions (LUCS), Central Luzon’s rice lands’ “aggregate shrinkage from 2010 to 2012 is at 6,120 hectares, with Tarlac province losing the biggest at 10,169 hectares.”
They warned that “LUC threatens the region’s rice production that would definitely affect Metro Manila.”
The statement said the President’s “programs and policies have not uplifted the socio-economic well-being of farmers in the region.”
“Aquino failed to address landlessness, which is the fundamental problem of farmers. By keeping poor farmers landless, they are shackled in deep poverty and hunger,” they said.
The farmers from the three groups will hold today a protest rally in Plaza Miranda in Angeles City to demand for “fundamental reforms” for farmers.
Their statement said the Aquino administration’s Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with reforms or CARPer has kept farmers landless, while those who have already been awarded lands are being displaced.
“In Hacienda Luisita, farm workers who are cultivating lands since 2005 are now threatened to be displaced as Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) pushes through its lottery method of allocating lands,” they noted.
In Aurora province, farmers are being dislocated in areas covered by Republic Act 10083 or Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport Act in Casiguran town, while in many towns of Nueva Ecija, the DAR has been cancelling certificates of land ownership award (CLOA), certificates of land transfer (CLT) and emancipation patents (EP) apparently to allow former landowners to get back their lands.
“Farmers in many provinces in the region who are cultivating lands for decades are yet to be beneficiaries of CARP such as the case of Tarlac City farmers at the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx) and Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEx) interchange,” the groups said.
“In Bayambang, Pangasinan, farmers tilling lands formerly covered by Camp Gregg military reservation are threatened of losing their lands to the Cojuangco-controlled Central Azucarera de Tarlac Realty Corp. (CAT Realty),” the farmers’ groups said.
They also reported that “Aeta and other farmers in former military reservations such as in Clark in Pampanga and Crow Valley Tarlac are also being displaced as the Bases Conversion Development Administration (BCDA) has been annulling land rights of legitimate farmer-beneficiaries since early 1990’s.”
They said that in “Hacienda Dolores in Porac, Pampanga where farmers whose ancestors tilled about 2,000-hectare lands since the American colonial period are being displaced while emancipation patents held by farmers of more than 200 hectares in Magalang town are being harassed and their lands being claimed by one person.”
The groups also said that “the present rice crisis is aggravated by government programs, such as the massive LUC’s.”
They also hit the government’s program to introduce hybrid and genetically-modified organisms (GMO) varieties to counter the effect of rice lands shrinkage.
“Without genuine land reform, farmers are always under the control of big landlords and traders who control farmgate and retail prices, supply and food distribution. Thus, we face recurring crisis in the rice industry,” said AMGL Chair Joseph Canlas.
He also said that the President’s Public-Private Partnership (PPP) program and the Central Luzon Regional Development Plan (CLRDP) have adversely affected Central Luzon farmers.
“Aquino is planning to privatize land and sell them to big foreign and local businesses. He has initiated this by continuing the Metro Luzon Urban Beltway (MLUB) project, designed by the previous Arroyo government,” Canlas said.
He said one such project under MLUB is that SCTEx-TPLEx interchange in Tarlac City which, he claimed, has triggered ”massive land grabbing and speculation.”
“TPLEx is also converting productive agricultural lands in many towns of Pangasinan, while CLEx is now displacing farmers in La Paz town in Tarlac, Zaragosa and Aliaga towns in Nueva Ecija. The NLEx East would also displace farmers in Bulacan and Nueva Ecija towns,” Canlas said.
“This network of superhighway is constructed not for the benefit of the people, but for foreign business, and poor farmers are doomed to be displaced from their lands,” Canlas said.
He said “we can expect Aquino to further open up the region to exploitation such as in the destructive mining in Zambales and corporate plantations.”
”We should note that Aquino is a staunch promoter of mining in the country,” he added.
Canlas noted that” mining in Zambales has already destroyed mountain areas, affecting the safety and health of poor farmers in the lowland.”
“Mining operations in Sta. Cruz town has also reduced crop yield due to pollution,” he also said.
“Aquino pretends to oppose Chinese incursion in Panatag shoal, but protects their mining operations,” Canlas said.
Canlas cited the Chinese Wei Wei Group’s US$100-million nickel processing plant in Masinloc town and Jiangxi Rare Earth and Rare Metals Tungsten Group Co. Ltd’s US$150-million nickel exploration and cobalt processing project in Botolan, both in Zambales.
A Filipino mining company Nihao Mineral Resources, which is a partner of Jiangxi is also operating in Zambales, he added.
