A fact-finding mission led by various peasant groups and non-government organizations revealed that farmers in Nueva Ecija towns received substandard hybrid rice seeds under the government’s GMA Rice Program. Worse, the Department of Agriculture’s response to the problem was far from being satisfactory. BY RONALYN V. OLEA Bulatlat Unlike the traditional rice seeds, the SL-8H…
Tags: Filipino farmers
Farmers, Supporters Mark 22nd Anniversary of Mendiola Massacre
BY BULATLAT More than one thousand farmers and their supporters marked the 22nd anniversary of the Mendiola Massacre today. Twenty two years ago on January 22, 1987 at the historic Mendiola bridge, combined elements of the police and military opened fire at a rally of farmers demanding for genuine land reform. Thirteen farmers were killed…
Statement on CARP Extension
BY AXEL PINPIN Former Political Detainee Indang, Cavite DEMOCRATIC SPACE Posted by Bulatat I was released from prison almost in time for the expiration of the government’s Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) that paved a crossroad to the majority of farming sectors in the country. Anent the current raging discourse on Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill…
A Trip Well Worth the Effort for Ilocos Region Peasants
The Lakbayan gave us renewed strength to continue on fighting for our land in the knowledge that we are not alone in the struggle and in fact, one with the majority of the people,” said Zaldy Alfiler, a farmer from Ilocos and secretary general of Solidarity of Peasants Against Exploitation. BY ZOFIA LEAL Bulatlat Vol.…
Grains of Truth: Food Producers Suffer Hunger, Poverty
“Kawitang palakol” and “gawat” are terms that refer to times when food is scarce, usually the weeks before harvest season when the farmers have spent all their money on fertilizers and pesticides and harvest time is still far away. The considerable increases in the prices of farm inputs and terribly low price of palay ((unmilled…