Anti-insurgency War and Plunder
Hinder Rural Progress – Tagaytay 5
The government-backed
anti-insurgency war and the plunder of public funds have worsened poverty
and terror among rural folk, said the “Tagaytay 5”, a group of five
detained peasant advocates.
BY DENNIS ESPADA
Bulatlat
Peasant advocates
collectively known as "Tagaytay 5" detained in Camp Vicente Lim,
Calamba, Laguna.
PHOTO BY ILANG-ILANG QUIJANO |
The government-backed anti-insurgency war
and the plunder of public funds have worsened poverty and terror among
rural folk.
This was stated by five detained peasant
advocates collectively known as the “Tagaytay 5” during a hearing by the
Senate Committee on Food and Agriculture held on Aug. 23 at Camp Vicente
Lim in Canlubang, Laguna, as part of the inquiry on the controversial
P728-million ($14.16 million based on an exchange rate of $1:P51.38)
fertilizer fund “scam” allegedly machinated by former Agriculture
Undersecretary Jocelyn “Joc-joc” Bolante.
|
Suffering more than a hundred days in
captivity, the Tagaytay 5 – Riel Custodio, Michael Masayes, Axel Alejandro
Pinpin, Aristedes Sarmiento and Enrico Ybañez – are facing charges of
rebellion.
Wearing orange-colored shirts imprinted
with a text that read “Free All Political Prisoners,” the five met with
Senators Ma. Consuelo “Jamby” Madrigal and Ramon Magsaysay Jr.,who chairs
the committee. The five political detainees personally requested the
senators to “intervene meaningfully” on their behalf and that of their
families, and cause their “release in cognizance to the custody to the
proper Senate office.”
Three of the accused are agriculturists
and organizers of farmers’ associations in Cavite working for agrarian
reform programs. They testified that during the election campaign in 2004,
some local politicians promised to give farmers hundreds of bags of
fertilizers coming from the Department of Agriculture (DA) and Malacañang.
But not a single bag ever came, they said.
Projects held-up
Farm gate prices of coffee and mill gate
prices of sugar, they said, significantly dropped due to the adverse
effects of the government’s allegiance to the World Trade Organization (WTO),
which slashed tariffs and allowed huge importation of cheap products. This
resulted to farmers’ loss of income.
A can of dried green coffee costs P80 to
P100 ($1.55-$1.94 at an exchange rate of $1=P51.38) compared to P250 to
P300 ($4.86-$5.83) in 1995. Meanwhile, sugar used to sell at P1,200
($23.35) per 50-kilogram bag; now it cost P560 ($10.90) in crop year
2003-2004.
The Kalipunan ng mga Magbubukid sa Kabite
(Kamagsasaka-Ka or Farmers’ Federation in Cavite), Samahang Magbubukid ng
Batangas (Sambat or Peasant Association in Batangas) and a sugar workers’
federation started an advocacy campaign urging policymakers to pull out of
the WTO, develop a domestic demand for homegrown coffee and sugar, and
enter into fair trade agreements with niche markets abroad. The campaign
was launched in cooperation with the Diocese of Imus, Cavite State
University (CvSU) agriculture experts and some legislators.
“We were able to take off in crop year
2004-2005 with our locally grown coffee and muscovado sugar being shipped
to Canada and some local markets,” the Tagaytay 5 said in a statement. “We
bought coffee and muscovado with significant mark-ups for the
farmer-producers, way above the ‘normal’ market price. Our farmers were
satisfied with the ‘new fair trade’, and so with our newfound markets. And
so we thought we were on our way into developing a niche market with
guaranteed prices for our farmers.”
On April 28, however, elements of the
Philippine National Police (PNP) and Navy intelligence abducted the five
in Sungay village, Tagaytay City. Their captors claimed that they were New
People’s Army (NPA) rebels plotting to foment “destabilization” on Labor
Day.
“What made our abduction, seven-day
isolation and continued illegal detention extra-painful is the fact that
the project funds allotted for a new shipment of coffee and muscovado
sugar, and new livelihood projects such as swine and cattle-raising were
stolen by our heavily armed abductors.”
Equal protection
The Tagaytay 5 called upon the government
to uphold the “principle of equal protection of law” regarding their case.
They complained that they are continuously being locked-up all day in a
five by six meter detention cell without windows, and are being deprived
of sunshine as well as outdoor exercise.
They also recalled that last July, despite
appeals on humanitarian grounds, both the PNP and the court rejected the
request of Ybañez for a pass to visit his wife who was hospitalized for
leukemia. His wife later died without seeing him.
Madrigal said she was bothered and shocked
with what she described as “ill treatment” of the Tagaytay 5. “As accused
persons, the ‘Tagaytay 5’ are presumed innocent until they are proven
guilty.” Bulatlat
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