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Action Case Philippines - Struggle for agrarian reform
Parallel Report: The Right to Adequate Food in the Philippines
Philippines
UN Committee urges Philippine government to spend more on poverty reduction and social services
FIAN welcomes decision made by Philippines' Supreme Court allowing 200 farmers to settle on their rightful land
The right to food of 300 coconut farmers is threatened in San Francisco town, Quezon province, Philippines
The Philippines: Right to food of 300 coconut farmers is violated
In the Philippines many farmers do not have access to land and are working as tenants or share-croppers despite the existence of a public policy for land redistribution.
The 1988 Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) states that private agriculture holdings exceeding five hectares of land should be redistributed to landless farmers. Although share tenancy is contrary to public policy under the CARP, 300 coconut farmers on the 1,716-hectare Hacienda Matias on the Bondoc Peninsula are
employed as share-croppers. This obliges them to give up to 70 per cent of their harvest to the landowner, an exploitative arrangement resulting in the impoverishment of families and the violation of their right to food.
In 2004 the affected communities mobilized and petitioned the Philippine State for land redistribution. In response the Department of Agrarian Reform commenced the land redistribution program, issuing a Notice of Coverage to the landlord and undertaking an initial survey of the property. The landlord has since attempted to avoid the directive while employing individuals to harass and evict the peasants, causing serious injuries in one case. Criminal charges have been filed against several peasants, resulting in their imprisonment.
In 2004 FIAN Philippines launched community education programs on the right to food, which included the implementation of agrarian reform programs. Meanwhile it continually pressed the government at different levels to fulfill the right to food of the petitioners. These activities were complemented by the initiatives of local NGOs and letter campaigns launched by FIAN International. FIAN also addressed the case in a parallel report to the United Nations.
In March 2010, despite resistance from the landowners, nine evicted farmers were reinstated by the government after the Department of Agrarian Reform Adjudication Board judged their eviction illegal. The survey of Hacienda Matias was resumed. FIAN Philippines will monitor the case until the distribution process is finalized.
