Negros Sacadas Brace for Tiempo Muerto; 
Will Launch ‘Tigkiwiri Campaign’

Most poor families in Negros have been living under the centuries-old semi-feudal system of sugar production which allows land monopoly to the island’s ruling oligarchy and the further depreciation in the income levels of many Negrenses. It is this social inequity that continues to make life miserable to the island’s majority population and make Negros fertile for armed rebellion.

By Karl G. Ombion and Edgar Cadagat
Bulatlat.com / Cobra-Ans  

BACOLOD CITY – Throughout the Philippines, June will be observed as the month for school opening and to the starry-eyed, as the month of fair tale weddings.

But not in Negros. To thousands of workers and farm toilers there’s nothing to observe on a blissful note when one faces the daily scourge of hunger and poverty.

A recent survey by economists from the National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW) revealed the growing social divide in Negros. A typical sugar worker’s income can afford him – and his family of five – only P2.50 (U.S.$0.05) for good faily. Contrast this to many of the island province’s wealthy families’ P12,000 daily food income.

To Negros sugar workers and other wretched of the earth, the third quarter of each year, particularly the months of August and September, is called “tiempo muerto” (dead season). This is the period when the island’s poor don’t have practically any means of livelihood as most haciendas or huge sugar plantations remain idle and there are not enough alternative jobs to turn to.

Leaders of NFSW told Bulatlat.com that for these months, sacadas (seasonal workers) and other toilers will leave their farm fields and conduct sustained mass struggles to bring their plight to the public, gain their support and voice their collective demands for a better life.

Gullermo Barreta, Jr., chair of the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU – May First Movement) in Negros to which NFSW’s thousands of members are affiliated, said last week his group and allied organizations will spearhead a long campaign, dubbed “Tigkiwiri Campaign.”

June kick-off

The Tigkiwiri (or “pain” in the Ilonggo language) campaign will begin in June, Barreta said,  and will be joined by tens of thousands of NFSW workers and farmers in Negros Oriental and Negros Occidental.

Sugar workers will carry out protest actions to demand jobs during the “tiempo muerto.” They will also demand the distribution of farmlots, the granting of mandated and lawful benefits from landowners, medical services, the repair of houses and any benefit they are entitled to, the KMU leader said.

Mass actions will also include education and advocacy drives, dialogues with landowners, government executives and heads of agencies and NGOs where they will seek social and welfare benefits such as free medicine, clothing and food assistance.

Most poor families in Negros have been living under the centuries-old semi-feudal system of sugar production which allows land monopoly to the island’s ruling oligarchy and the further depreciation in the income levels of many Negrenses. It is this social inequity that continues to make life miserable to the island’s majority population and make Negros fertile for armed rebellion. Bulatlat.com

Back to top

We want to know what you think of this article.