Several sacks of fruits and vegetables donated to the victims of the Taal Volcano eruption came from poor and landless farmers who continue to assert their rights for land under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).
Danilo Ramos, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) national chairman said a relief operation organized by Sagip Kanayunan and Tulong Anakpawis networks compelled even poor farmers with no farm of their own to chip in.
“We poor farmers are familiar with the disaster faced by our fellow Filipinos near Taal as we suffer from rural poverty, and the increasingly erratic climate,” said Ramos.
The beneficiaries of the relief operations are evacuees from Lemery and Agoncillo towns who are now clustered in evacuation centers in Barangay 1 and Barangay Timbain in Calaca, Batangas.
The Taal eruption caused at least P3.06 billion worth of damage in agriculture. Most severely affected were coffee and fruit farms but it also damaged fisheries and livestock.
“In the long run, farmers and fisherfolk would need economic rehabilitation and assistance from the government to help them get back on their feet, and normalize their lives,” he said.
The agricultural products KMP brought were harvested from the bungkalan land cultivation farms collectively tilled by farmers from Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Bulacan (AMB) in San Jose del Monte and Samahang Magsasaka ng San Mateo (SAMA-SAMA) in Norzagaray.
AMB Leader Cecil Rapiz said the activity paved the way for farmers from Bulacan to express their support, and exchange views and stories of their struggle for a land of their own with those affected by the Taal Volcano eruption.
Members of SAMA-SAMA in Norzagaray, Bulacan, face themselves the constant threat of eviction from their farmlands as some 75.5 hectares of productive agricultural land in Norzagaray are being claimed by a real-estate company which plans to convert it into a private real estate and subdivision.
Ramos notes that the bungkalan or collective cultivation campaign has effectively galvanized farmers’ unity and conviction, while being a substantial source of livelihood, not just in Bulacan but in other provinces. Last October 2019, KMP also launched Bagsakan, a mobile pop-up market for the organic products of farmers launching collective land cultivation efforts.
The farmers were also with artists, cultural workers, students and land reform advocates from the Sama-samang Artista para sa Kilusang Agraryo, Sining na Naglilingkod sa Bayan, Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura, Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya, Anakpawis Party-list and the United Council of Churches in Philippines. The groups distributed 250 relief packs and hygiene kits, and farm tools and school supplies to the communities in Calaca, Batangas.