Rural women march for land, justice
Farmers are hungry because there’s no compensation when they’re hit by calamities.
MANILA — Landlessness and loss of livelihood are what many rural women face as billions of pesos are wasted on corruption and spent on government projects that do not respond to the people’s needs.
On Oct. 15, in time for the International Day of Rural Women, peasant women and rural workers from different provinces marched to the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in Quezon City to denounce the Marcos Jr. administration’s neglect of their condition.
Led by the progressive women’s group Amihan National Federation of Peasant Women, the protesters came from Laguna, Bulacan, Tarlac, Rizal, and Cavite. They denounced “ghost” flood-control projects, overpriced farm-to-market roads, and the influx of imported rice that decreased local palay prices.
They also condemned the government’s use of unprogrammed funds and presidential pork barrel, saying that billions of pesos that should have gone to rural support have instead fueled corruption while farmers remain uncompensated for losses due to climate disasters.
Losing land, livelihood
Across provinces, farmers shared a common struggle for land conversion and land grabbing.
In Bulacan, vast rice lands were converted to make way for the New Manila International Airport in Bulakan town and the North–South Commuter Railway, projects that displaced hundreds of farming families in Malolos, Guiguinto, and Calumpit.
In Tarlac, farmers in Hacienda Luisita continue to fight land reclamation and reclassification schemes decades after the supposed land distribution under agrarian reform.
In Laguna, agricultural zones in Calamba and Cabuyao were converted to industrial parks and commercial estates despite being prime rice lands.
Meanwhile, in Rizal and Cavite, fisherfolk and farmers still face displacement due to the Manila Bay Reclamation Projects, which affected coastal communities in Bacoor, Noveleta, and Taytay.
“Whether on land or at sea, we hope they support us,” Gina Mandiya, a fisherfolk leader from Navotas under the fisherfolk group, Pamalakaya, told Bulatlat in an interview. She said that even fishing grounds are being taken away from them. “They took away our livelihood and gave nothing in return. We’re forced to fish far away, in parts of Cavite and Bulacan, because the shellfish farms that we built and used to be our source of income were demolished.”
Fatima de Luna, also from Pamalakaya, said their shellfish farms were destroyed without consultation or compensation to make way for a 650-hectare reclamation project. “We came here to fight for our right to livelihood. Stop the reclamation and hold those involved accountable.”
From the sugarcane fields of Negros, Jenny Bantillo of the National Federation of Sugar Workers said that sugarcane workers, many of whom are women, are underpaid through the pakyaw (piece-rate) system—receiving only P2,872 ($50.50) per hectare, divided among 10 workers, even when the field size exceeds what they are paid for. “One sugarcane field measures 1.46 hectares, but we are only paid for one hectare, not the entire 1.46. They cut down the land area we’re supposed to be paid for.”
Feeding the nation, living in hunger
Mimi Doringo of the urban poor group Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay) said that the situation reflects the larger neglect of the rural poor. “Farmers are hungry because there’s no compensation when they’re hit by calamities,” she said. “They are thirsty for justice because, despite feeding the nation, they remain poor and oppressed.”
She criticized the DA for failing to lower rice prices or provide sufficient support to small producers. “Can they even plant rice themselves?” she asked during the rally. “The people who build this country are the ones left hungry.”
In addition to calls for fair prices and support for farmers, rally participants pointed to the government’s P20 ($0.35) per kilo rice program as an example of mixed signals from policy. Under this initiative, the DA sells high-quality rice at P20 per kilogram through Kadiwa centers, targeted especially to indigents, senior citizens, solo parents, and persons with disabilities. The program is capped to 30 kilos per month per beneficiary.
Protesters, however, noted that while the P20 rice program might appear as relief for consumers, it fails to address the deeper causes of hunger in the countryside. They stressed that farmers continue to suffer from low farmgate prices, high production costs, and the lack of stable, state-backed markets to sell their harvests. They said that temporary subsidies or discount schemes cannot replace the need for long-term structural reforms that would ensure farmers are protected and fairly compensated for their labor.
Rice Liberalization Law
Julie Darasin, 67, of women’s group Gabriela, stood in solidarity with the farmers, calling for the junking of the Rice Liberalization Law. She said that the law, which allows unlimited rice importation, has worsened the situation of local farmers whose palay is bought cheaply while imported rice floods the market.
“It’s the farmers who toil, plant, sow, and cultivate the land, yet their palay is bought at such a very low price. The rice we grow is more flavorful and healthier, but because of importation, farmers sell their palay for very low prices while consumers pay high prices for imported rice,” she told Bulatlat.
Darasin also questioned the government’s promise of P20 ($0.35) per kilo of rice, saying that even in Kadiwa stores, access is limited and quantities are restricted. “It’s limited, even the purchase is restricted. You can’t buy a whole sack or a larger amount. They should sell it for everyone and everywhere, not just through Kadiwa stores, where you still have to look for one and spend money on transportation just to get there.”
The protest ended with the groups’ call for genuine land reform, the scrapping of the Rice Liberalization Law, and justice for rural women who remain landless in a country that depends on their labor to eat. Some of the organizations also began setting up a camp outside the DAR, marking the start of their weeklong peasant protest leading to October 21, the anniversary of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s Presidential Decree 27. (AMU, DAA)
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