Statement of MAPASU:
We, lumad people residing in the communities of Brgy. Diatagon, Lianga, Surigao del Sur, through our organization MAPASU (Continuing Struggle for the Next Generation) STRONGLY OPPOSE THE IMPLEMENTATION OF COMMUNITY ORGANIZING FOR PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT (COPD) of the 29th IB, PA. Furthermore, WE STRONGLY CONDEMN THE VIOLATION OF THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLE committed by the AFP under the command of Lt. Col. Henry A. Robinson, Jr., Battalion Commander of the 29th IBPA.
The more than 50 elements of the 29th IBPA who arrived last October 23, 2011 and stayed in Han-ayan and KM16, caused great distress among residents. The soldiers stayed among residents and without asking permission set up camp near houses. Ms. Caroline Khoubesserian, representative of the International Committee on Red Cross (ICRC), witnessed the military presence in the communities and houses of civilians when she arrived last October 25, 2011. The ICRC representative criticized the military’s actions. ICRC representative Caroline Khoubesserian told the soldiers that they are violating the rules of war and the rights of residents. Despite this, the military continued to stay in the community and houses of residents.
A press conference was held on September 15, 2011 to present the results of FARDEC's National Fact Finding and Solidarity Mission (NFFSM).
A letter of appeal by Fr. Crispin Mostajo, CSsR (FARDEC Chairperson) and Ms. Estrella Catarata (FARDEC Executive Director)
This is just to update our partners of the sad situation of an impending eviction currently faced by our fellow farmers, the San Roque Farmers Association (SRFA) in Bonbon, Aloguinsan, Cebu.SRFA is composed of more than 86 farming households farming in 168 hectares of land tilled by their peasant parents since 1910's. To note, in the 70's farmers were given Certificate of Land Transfers as supposedly beneficiaries of the government's agrarian reform program PD 27 Operation Land Transfer. In the early 1990's, farmers were threatened with eviction by the ”claiming landowner" Gantuangco ordering them to stop harvesting their corn produce. Then in 1993, the farmers, fed up with the oppressive treatment of the Gantuangco's, decided to organize themselves to assert their right. They formed the SRFA and collectively succeeded in harvesting their produce and stayed on the lands they are farming until now.
Several appropriate technology projects made by SACLAT were displayed at the UP Bahay ng Alumni last July 5-6. It was part of the “Understanding and Addressing Climate Change: An exhibit of education and climate change responses of grassroots movements and communities”, spearheaded by AGHAM, PACC (Peoples Action on Climate Change) and Climate Asia Pacific. It was a simultaneous event with the International Festival of People’s Rights and Struggles (IFPRS).
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Green Futures Innovations, Inc. (GFII), a joint venture between Japan’s Corporation and JGC Corporation, together with the Philippine Bioethanol and Energy Investments Corporation and Taiwanese holding company GCO are planning to build a P6 billion bioethanol plant in San Mariano, Isabela which will be operational by March 2012.
According to GFII president Reynaldo P. Bantug, the plant will produce 54 million liters of bioethanol and generate 100,000 megawatt-hours of electricity annually.
However, the said bioethanol project will result in the displacement of farmers and IPs, based on the National Fact Finding Mission (NFFM) conducted by Danggayan Dagiti Mannalon ti Isabela (DAGAMI), Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) and the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP). The FFM was carried out in San Mariano, Isabela last February 22-23. An International Fact Finding Mission (IFFM) was later organized by the People’s Coalition on Food Sovereignty (PCFS), Ibon International, Asian Peasant Coalition (APC), KMP and DAGAMI last May 30 to June 3 to confirm the findings of the earlier mission and to bring the issue to the global arena.
Of the 6,000 hectares planned for the nursery site, 2,200 hectares were already used which resulted to one thousand families being displaced in 8 baranggays of San Mariano. A total of 11,000 hectares are intended for the bioethanol project. They plan on making it the country’s biggest producer of bioethanol.
Compelling arguments were raised against Golden Rice during a roundtable discussion on its implications. The RTD was held at Balay Kalinaw, UP Diliman last June 2 and was sponsored by members of RESIST (Resistance and Solidarity against Agrochem TNCs).
Golden Rice is a genetically-engineered rice variety which has the capability to produce beta-carotene, a source of vitamin A. It was developed by Dr. Ingo Potrykus of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and Dr. Peter Beyer from the University of Freiburg, Germany. Proponents of Golden Rice claim that it will solve the vitamin-A deficiency (VAD) prevalent among children in developing countries. VAD symptoms include poor growth, lowered resistance to infection, night blindness and rough, scaly skin.
Official Development Assistance(ODA) projects are meant to help. But according to the People’s Coalition on Food Sovereignty (PCFS), Asian Peasant Coalition (APC), and the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), ODA projects have exacerbated poverty, hunger and landlessness in the Philippines.
“ODAs continue to facilitate continuous landgrabbing of foreign corporations and big landlords,” said Wilfredo Marbella, KMP Deputy Secretary-General for Internal Affairs. Saudi Arabia has invested $300 million in order to obtain cash crops. Meanwhile, Hacienda Luisita Inc. has entered into negotiations with the Wahaha Group (China’s biggest manufacturing company of softdrinks) to export sugar. Marbella was one of the speakers at the National Consultation on Agrarian Reform and Food Sovereignty last March 25, 2011.
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The Philippine Network of Food Security Programmes is pleased to announce the addition of three new staff to its secretariat.
Jhana D. Tejome is PNFSP's new executive director. She has been with PNFSP since its birth in 2005. She started with PNFSP as the Program Coordinator of the Secretariat from September 2005 until June 2008. She was then the Regional Services Coordinator from July 2008 until September 2009. She then worked with PNFSP member TABI-Masbate from October 2009 until February 2010.
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