Cordillera Rice Production Vanishing, Indigenous Farmers Bare

Cordillera used to be self-sufficient in rice and other economic necessities. Not anymore. Today, GMO, unfair trading, destructive mining operations and highway extortions are the bane of farmers in the Cordillera provinces of Benguet, Mt. Province, Ifugao, Abra, Kalinga and Apayao.

By Northern Dispatch (Nordis)
Posted by Bulatlat.com  

A landslide brings death and destruction in this mining village. 

Photo courtesy of Cordillera People's Alliance

BAGUIO CITY—“Mapukpukaw ti konsepto ti anos iti panagtalon; No mabalin ket dawaten dagiti traders ti produkto; nailumlom iti utang dagiti mannalon iti sistema ti pasupply.” (The concept of patience in rice production is vanishing; if possible, traders would like to take the produce for free; farmers are further plunged into indebtedness due to the supply system.)

Thus reported an indigenous peasant leader from Mountain Province during the Second Congress of the APIT TAKO, an alliance of peasants in the Cordillera Homeland at the Easter College here last Oct. 19-20. He went on to include worsening military atrocities and human rights violation in the province.

As the peasant protest month, October, drew to an end, peasants in the Cordillera found more reasons to continue protesting as the assembly revealed a grave situation for all poor sections of Philippine society, not only the struggling peasants. Bush’s visit and the collapse of the talks of the World Trade Organization in Cancun, Mexico offered no solace.

About 153 delegates shared their stories as farmers and indigenous peasants. A Philippine peasant situationer shared by Danilo “Ka Daning” Ramos, secretary-general of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, vividly showed the common woes of the peasants all over the country.

“Every peasant is affected by continuing worsening economic and political crises in the country,” Ka Daning declared.

Cordillera fields

True enough, peasants in Abra, Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga and Apayao share the same situation as the peasants in Mountain Province.

Cordillera peasants in the six provinces have experienced planting new high-yielding varieties (HYVs) of rice and corn, which could be harvested in months from planting but requires high agricultural input of commercial fertilizers and pesticides. These HYVs have displaced the traditional varieties of rice, corn and legumes.

“Mayat koma nu umuna a maimula ti bayag santo isaruno ti HYV, ngem ti maar-aramid, HYV aminen ti imulmula dagiti mannalon” (I wish that farmers would plant traditional varieties ahead of the HYV but what is happening now is that only HYV is being planted by farmers), the reports revealed. Aside from rice, corn and legumes, other crops including coffee have been displaced by other HYVs in the region.

“Sumaksaknap ti GMO,” (Genetically-modified organism seeds have proliferated) a reporter from Ifugao told the participants. He said that Monsanto and Pioneer, multinational companies in the agriculture-related industry, have established testing centers in Ifugao.

“Kumarkaro ti panaggundaway dagiti traders ta isuda’t mangdikdiktar ti presyo.”(Trader exploitation is worsening because they dictate prices), the reporter from Mountain Province confirmed.

Even woodcarvers in Ifugao suffer from the economic crisis. They are forced to trade outside Ifugao because there are highway extortionists in the province who rob woodcarvers of their money as they trade to trade their crafts.

Mining mourns

Mining has also deprived many Cordillera peasants of their sources of livelihood. In Benguet, particularly, two large mines are still competing with peasants in the use of the resource base.

Aside from the land and rivers which have been devastated by mining operations of Lepanto and Philex, water sources are ending up in private hands by mining corporations.

The gold heist in Mankayan has also affected the daily lives of its local residents. Military operations resulted in untended farms and tension among the people. Moreover, despite the contention made by Mankayan and Ilocos peasants on large-scale mining operations, the Victoria Gold Project was approved recently by authorities.

Cultural grief

Tourism is widely intruding into the culture of the Igorots. Preservation of traditions and beliefs is getting more complicated for the young ones who have yet to differentiate what is being put for the show and what is genuinely performed.

Values are fast eroding. In Abra, Benguet, and Ifugao, for example, the proliferation of videoke bars influenced young school children and youth to stop schooling and depart from their cultural values. This is blamed on their widespread access to decadent films that suggest crime and sexual harassment against women and girls.

Particularly in Ifugao, videoke bars are allegedly set up to engage young girls into flesh trade. In July this year, national dailies and local newspapers reported some 50 girls, aged 14 to 16, who offer sex for a meager sum of P30 or a few drinks in a bar. Nine of these girls were reported to have sexually-transmitted diseases.

Moreover, these videoke bars that promote prostitution also tear families apart. Some local governments do not see how local culture is bastardized by these establishments, often because they are blinded by the revenues generated from these establishments.

A peasant’s life in a song, in a struggle

The congress was summarized with a 12-stanza anthem, “Datayo a Pesante,” also a rundown of the Cordillera peasant’s life and struggles.

The peasants vowed to intensify their fight against the culprits that worsen their economic and cultural grievances, not only in the peasant protest month but for as long as they are plundered and bastardized. Lyn V. Ramos for NORDIS / Posted by Bulatlat.com

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