This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 35, October 9-15, 2005
Luisita Workers Reap Gains
from 'Bungkalan'
By Abner Bolos TARLAC CITY - Aside from
the decision of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to revoke the stock
distribution option, farm workers of Hacienda Luisita in this city (about 120
kms north of Manila) have one other thing to be cheer about: They are slowly
reaping the benefits of cultivating idle land in the plantation. © 2005 Bulatlat
■
Alipato Publications Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.
Last
June, the unions in Hacienda Luisita declared they will encourage and undertake
systematic cultivation of portions of idle land in the plantation to produce
food crops and stave-off hunger during the rainy season. The “bungkalan”
(cultivation) immediately became a big hit among hacienda workers’ families,
enabling them to buy food and simple household needs.
Bulatlat
Virgilio Pascua, 45, a farm worker and union member, started clearing a small
plot near his home in Barangay (village) Mapalacsiao when the rainy season
started last May. Although he owns P15,000 worth of stock shares in Hacienda
Luisita Inc. (HLI) there is no way for him to convert his shares to cash and his
family had suffered much because of the prolonged labor dispute.
Last week of September, he harvested some 25 cavans of rice worth more than
P12,000 from a 1/2 hectare plot he was able to make productive. A low yield by
current farm standards, but for a worker who has been out of work since the
strike began 11 months ago, the harvest is a welcome respite.
Since July, Pascua has also been earning some P500 a week from his harvest of
eggplants, string beans and ampalaya (bitter gourd) and other vegetables, aside
from the rice harvest. He is among scores of striking workers who dared till a
part of the 6,000-hectare sugar plantation owned by the family of former
president Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino.
"Working the land is much better than being paid very low wages," Pascua said in
an interview. "Even before the strike, we were getting only P9.50 every week. I
hope we can till the land permanently."
Pascua's union, the 5,000-strong United Luisita Workers' Union, the plantation
workers' union, along with the Central Azucarera De Tarlac Labor Union (CATLU),
700-strong sugar mill workers' union, struck Nov. 6 last year in protest over
the termination of 326 ULWU officers and members and to push their demands for
higher wager and benefits.
"Bungkalan"
Last June, the unions declared that they will encourage and undertake systematic
cultivation of portions of idle land in the plantation to produce food crops and
stave-off hunger during the rainy season.
Soon "bungkalan" - a Filipino word meaning cultivation - became a big hit among
hacienda families. Small rice and vegetable plots have proliferated in the 10
barangays comprising the hacienda. So far, more than 200 hectares have been made
productive by both the plantation and sugar mill workers.
In Barangay Asturias, 21 farmers cultivated an average of 1/4 to 1/2 hectare
each, the typical size of individual farms in the hacienda. The harvests have
enabled the workers to buy food and simple household needs. For some, tilling
the land even helped in sending their children to school.
Part of the harvests is sent to the picket line to augment the food supply and
as a contribution to their struggle. After all, those engaged in cultivation
regularly visit and help man the picket, according to Pascua.
The workers feel some kind of liberation in clearing the land, planting the
crops they want and enjoying the harvests. In the past, sugar cane is the sole
crop planted in the hacienda and the people are not allowed to cultivate even
the unused portions of the land.
"We used to wait for meagre wages, but now we can enjoy the full fruit of our
labor. We feel freer now and confident that we really can make our lives
better," said Maximo Sebastian, 56, an ULWU member who along with is brother
tilled a one-hectare plot in Asturias.
The unions however, are careful to note that they are not yet claiming actual
ownership of the land.
"Our effort to make the land productive is an off-shoot of the strike," ULWU
president Rene Galand said. "We are not saying that we are taking possession or
claiming ownership of the land. We just cannot allow our members and their
families to go hungry while the land lies idle."
Part of the struggle
"Bungkalan is also part of our struggle," Galang explained. "We want
to prove, even just for now, that for the workers to use the land for their own
benefit is better than stock certificates or wages from the Cojuangco family."
Union leaders say there are two forms of "bungkalan" practiced in the hacienda:
individual cultivation and "collective farming." While both are encouraged, the
unions hope collective farming will be the more common practice.
Galang said collective farming will produce better results in terms of higher
crop yield and strengthening the organization and collective spirit of our
members.
Lito Bais, 41, leader of 76 workers in a collective farm in Barangay Asturias
said tilling the land will show the Cojuangco family that the workers are
serious in their struggle for land and may compel the clan to negotiate with
them to resolve the strike.
He said their experience in collective and individual cultivation has left them
many lessons. It took only two days for about 40 people to clear and prepare a
1/2 hectare piece of land for planting. Conversely, those who cleared and
planted individually took as long as one month to clear a plot of the same size,
according to Bais.
There is also a middle ground between individual and collective farming: these
are two or three families who jointly till and manage adjacent plots. Farm
chores such as weeding, applying fertilizers or pesticides or simply warding off
animals and insects are scheduled among family members. This way, not all are
tied-up in the farm and can attend to other matters.
Most of those who joined the "bungkalan" used only their bare hands
and the crudest of farm implements--hoes, shovels, pick axes, rakes and the
like, since no mechanized equipment are available.
The workers complain in jest about their lack of skills and the shortage of farm
tools. "Napudpod na ang aming mga gamit bago kami nakapag-ani. Sa una, halos
kinakamay namin ang lupa dahil marami ang hindi pa marunong maghanda ng lupa
para sa gulay at palay" (Our tools were already worn-out before we were able
to harvest. At first some of us even used our bare hands because we did not know
yet how to prepare the land for rice and vegetable crops), one worker said.
For SDO revocation
Too, the workers say their experience with "bungkalan" is one solid argument for
the complete revocation of the stock distribution option in the Hacienda.
"The difficulties we faced because of the strike and the way we were able to
survive because we cultivated even a small portion of the hacienda land is one
more solid proof that the SDO must be completely revoked and that land
distribution be implemented," Galang explained.
"Our experience with individual and collective farming is also strong argument
that farm workers have a better chance of improving their lives than through the
stock shares that were forced on us," Galang added.
Hacienda management have argued that parcelling out the land to thousands of
farm workers will jeopardize the viability of the land as a sugar plantation.
For the long term, and should land distribution take place in the hacienda,
collective farming through cooperatives is seen as a more feasible type of land
use in the post-SDO hacienda, according to union leaders. Bulatlat