Lucena City, Quezon—With my NGO group, I embarked on a journey to a very remote village curiously called “White Cliff,” in the town of San Narciso in Eastern Quezon. The trip coincided with former Quezon Rep. Oscar “Ka Oca” Santos’ wish to revisit this farming community whose case against land-grabbing efforts of some influential families he helped win more than three decades ago. No amount of pain in their backs have dissuaded Ka Oca and his wife, Manang Violy, from pursuing the former’s ardent wish of seeing what has become of White Cliff nearly 35 years after. Past their 80s, the Santos couple still had to go through a one-hour grueling ride in what seemed like a motocross of tricycles along the furious slopes of the Bondoc Peninsula region. Needless to say, White Cliff is among the poorest of the many communities still languishing in poverty today. The lack of support services and a decent transport facility due to the absence of farm-to-market roads precludes its dwellers from fully utilizing the potential of an otherwise productive land.
This is a big public issue, I think. The sight of the village is a glaring picture of the high level of social inequality that is prevailing deep beneath our social structures requiring no less than an overhaul of our political and economic institutions. The situation requires that government address the roots of the problems by sincerely implementing its Agrarian Reform program. The Bondoc Peninsula area in Quezon Province is the den of a few landlords and hacenderos who manage to generate political power from the economic clout that comes with having vast tracks of land. This is side by side with the high concentration of national poverty incidence in Eastern Quezon which is also indicated by the huge number of Conditional Cash Transfer beneficiaries in the region. In the municipalities of Mulanay, San Narciso, San Francisco, Buenavista and San Andres, the bigger landholdings are only in the possession of Reyes, Uy and Matias families. It comes as no surprise therefore to learn that these families also occupy the seats of power as local warlords. This problem is compounded by insurgency which continues to fuel hatred among discontented local folks. Government agencies that are mandated to speed up land distribution process are thrust into a deep institutional paralysis that more often looked like a conspiracy between moneyed landlords and mindless government officials who mask what they do with bureaucratic procedures and suffocating processes. In the House, House Bill No. 1726, which essentially removes coconut plantations from the priority list of lands to be distributed, in a basically agricultural society consisting of more than 28,000 coconut-producing barrios, is currently under deliberation. Then comes the recent Supreme Court decision clearing business tycoon Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco of the liabilities he incurred from the huge sums of coco levy funds he had borrowed to buy his shares with San Miguel Corp. All these point to a seemingly syndicated scheme that continues to render justice elusive to helpless farmers. Here we come face to face with the inconvenient truth about the politics of underdevelopment in our country.
Contrary to the popular slogan, “Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap,” concrete programs have to be articulated toward elevating the quality of life of the poor. Beyond the discourse about issues of corruption during Gloria Arroyo’s term, this administration should willingly carry out the intent of the CARP law, even to the extent of giving up its stakes in the Hacienda Luisita dispute. In the last analysis, this is what will define President Aquino’s presidency.
Barangay Cambuga, in the town of Mulanay, is an altogether different story. Organized and well-coordinated, this farming community is unified by a common struggle against tons of cases lodged against them by landowners. With the assistance of a non-government organization, they accessed some funds from government programs to develop a farming system aimed precisely at increasing productivity. This allowed them to put up a nursery for various types of timber like mahogany and narra. They also planted fruit-bearing trees like rambutan, lanzones, dalanghita, to name just a few. By this time, it is estimated that the community has grown over 80,000 trees in the span of less than a decade. Cambuga’s is a story of relative success after a seemingly endless struggle for land reform. It is also a story of ceaseless efforts to redistribute power, opportunities and assets. All these, however, need to be complemented by effective states. Any effort to solve problems associated with this will only become pure lip service unless rights and dignity are enshrined since these are crucial parts of development and well-being.
Beyond Gloria, this administration should assume a significant role in the development of Filipino farmers, involving a crucial shift from treating them as “beneficiaries” to seeing them as active agents and cemented by a collective exercise of power through organization, solidarity and joint action. Beyond Gloria, this administration should play a core function in providing essential services, maintaining the rule of law, and stabilizing the economy. Beyond Gloria, this administration should carry out effective strategies aimed at generating growth where it benefits poor people most, provide infrastructure and build technological capabilities. This is the only basis for transforming poverty to power.
Joseph Jadway “JJ” D. Marasigan is a human resource consultant for a US-based staffing agency and president of the Quezon Association for Rural Development and Democratization Services Inc. (QUARDDS Inc.).