UNORKA demands for the recall of a number of anti-reform decisions taken by the DAR in banana plantations and land use conversions as well as laments the generally slow pace of CARP implementation; calls for an independent investigation for possible multimillion-peso corruption within the DAR in the course of its decisions in these cases; and calls for the ouster of DAR Undersecretary for Operations Conrado Navarro, Assistant Secretary for – Legal Penaflor, and Undersecretary for Policy – Poblete. Because of "command responsibility", it may be prudent for Secretary Horacio Morales Jr. to resign as well. DENR Secretary Cerilles must also resign and be investigated for possible corruption. While UNORKA also calls for President Estrada to resign because of his series of anti-agrarian reform interventions or inactions, UNORKA also condemns the hypocrisy of the landed elite-dominated camp of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo since most of the pro-Gloria elite personalities are known to be anti-agrarian reform, such as Cory Aquino. Finally UNORKA reiterates its call addressed to peasants and the State to carry out a deep social reform agenda.
There are numerous bad decisions carried out by the DAR, DENR in recent months that may jeopardize the strategic agenda of agrarian reform. Some of these cases are the following:
In this case, DAR has covered only 485 hectares, while exempting the rest, an action not totally unfamiliar in other cases elsewhere. Of the beneficiaries, more or less 320 agrarian reform beneficiaries were formed under pro-management cooperative, while 193 beneficiaries were organized by an NGO. In choosing beneficiaries, the DAR excluded close to 100 farmworkers who worked in the plantation from 10-20 years, while it included farmworkers (and many management/supervisory level employees) who were employed less than one year before the notice of CARP coverage. In addition, the DAR decision, prepared by ASEC Penaflor and signed by USEC Navarro, requires the 193 beneficiaries to become members of the yellow cooperative before they can become beneficiaries. Moreover, the 193 farmworker-beneficiaries were retrenched from work since middle of last year and while they are beneficiaries, they will not be re-hired by Floirendo who will have a lifetime control of the awarded land through leaseback. The Navarro order also puts a caveat that should the CARP law be amended in the future, the awarded lands can be reverted back to the Floirendos.
The DAR's decisions in beneficiary selection and actual CARP coverage cannot be separated from the scheme of Floirendo (endorsed by Navarro and Penaflor) to automatically put the awarded land into a lifetime leaseback arrangement. The DAR-endorsed (draft) Memorandum of Agreement on Leaseback has the following features: (1) 60 years leaseback; (2) P6,000 lease rental per hectare per year; (3) no guaranteed employment for farmworker-beneficiaries. 60 years is a lifetime; beneficiaries will die without becoming real owners of the land. P6,000 lease rental/hectare/year is very low compared to the prevailing land rental market rate in Davao banana farms which is already at P35,000/hectare/year. Of the P6,000 lease rental, annual farmworker amortization for the cost of the land (P92,000/hectare), will be automatically deducted; meaning, P6,000 less P3,000 = P3,000 actual lease rent that a beneficiary can receive annually (average of 1 hectare/beneficiary). Of the P3,000, the beneficiary is the one to shoulder the real estate tax annually. Without guaranteed employment to all, and a "guaranteed non-employment" to the 193 farmworker-beneficiaries, how can the beneficiaries survive with just more than P2,000 income per year? How can one call this arrangement "agrarian reform"? It is widely believed that with such deep anti-reform terms in the Navarro order, a multimillion-peso corruption may not be far-fetched.
The same terms of arrangement is been endorsed by the DAR in the 1,024-hectare banana plantation (Sto. Tomas, Davao del Norte) owned by Marsman whose president is former DA secretary Roberto Sebastian. In another case, the DAR endorsed another lopsided leaseback contract in pineapple plantation = the case of 9,000-hectare Dolefil Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Coop Inc (DARBCI), for another 25 years at very low lease rental per year (P7,500/hectare/year).
Third, the Davao Penal Colony (DAPECOL, owned by the Floirendos)-Department of Justice (DOJ) lease arrangement that began during the Marcos dictatorship has been highly irregular and been reported to be a corrupt-ridden transaction. The government is in the losing side by receiving a meager P1,000/hectare/year lease rental when the prevailing land rental market in banana plantations is already somewhere between P30,000 and P40,000/hectare/year. DAPECOL is 5,200 hectare-banana plantation. Teofisto Guingona, during his term as DOJ Secretary, has been rumored to be implicated in the multimillion corruption in the penal colony. Fourth, one USEC position in the DAR has been automatically allotted by Erap to any appointed person by ex-Cavite governor Juanito Remulla. The first USEC was ex-Cavite Vice Governor Danilo Lara who died about a year ago. He was substituted by USEC Poblete, former Mayor of Kawit. This Cavite circle are known land use conversionists. Morales seems to be unable to stop Erap on the latter's anti-reform tendencies.
While the call for independent investigations is directly addressed to the State, UNORKA calls for a joint media-citizens investigative initiative on a number of controversial cases and issues.
While many peasants continue to maintain hopes that Horacio Morales Jr remains pro-peasant and pro-poor, it is impossible for him to escape culpability based on the principle of "command responsibility". Morales should have prevented such anti-reform decisions and should have been able to push his top officials to speed up CARP implementation. Hence, it may be prudent for him to step down as well. Meanwhile, it is to the interest of agrarian reform that DAR USEC Navarro and DAR ASEC Penaflor, as well as DENR Secretary Cerilles be ousted from office now.
While we lament the generally slow pace of agrarian reform implementation and some anti-reform decisions with strategic negative impact on agrarian reform under the Estrada administration and thus calls for Erap to step down, we want to expose and strongly condemn the hypocrisy of the pro-Gloria camp. Many of the elite personalities surrounding Gloria have been among the most ardent enemies of agrarian reform. A few examples are: Corazon-Cojuangco Aquino who, together with her family, manipulated the CARP law and instituted a lopsided terms of Stock Distribution Option in the 6,400-hectare sugarcane estate. Poor farmworkers in Luisita are even poorer now than before. In addition, the Cojuangco-Aquino clan continues to have their lands running to several thousand hectares of land in Tarlac untouched by CARP. These thousands of hectares of lands are in the names of Demetria Cojuangco (mother of Cory), Antonio Cojuangco (father of Cory), and Pedro and Jose Cojuangco (brothers of Cory). Franklin Drilon who, as DOJ Secretary during the Aquino administration, penned the infamous DOJ Opinion #44 that has since served as the legal basis for massive land use conversions by landed elites and real estate developers to evade land reform. Heherson Alvarez, who was DAR Secretary under the Aquino administration, continues to have his close to 100-hectare riceland in Santiago, Isabela untouched by agrarian reform. He also has 78-hectare farm in San Jose Del Monte which he is converting into a golf course. Alvarez is reported to be eyeing the DAR Secretaryship should Erap be impeached and Gloria took power. Most banana elites have already "jumped ship" and now support Gloria. Among them are Antonio Floirendo Sr., Roberto Sebastian, Paul Dominguez and the Ayalas. They are now bragging that they were able to secure a commitment from Gloria that the latter will eventually exempt all banana plantations from CARP coverage should she takes the presidency. The Palayan City-based Fajardos, cousins of Gloria, have been responsible for blocking the coverage of thousands of hectares of prime agricultural lands in Palayan. Teofisto Guingona is reported to own various farmlands in Mindanao that remain untouched by CARP, while it is widely believed that it is highly probable that he knows the multimillion corruption in relation to lopsided DAPECOL-DOJ lease contract. Manny Villar will always be remembered by thousands of peasants as the No.1 land use conversion expert in the country through his various real estate companies and violently harassed peasants. The family of Gloria's husband, Mike Arroyo, remains in control of thousands of hectares of sugarcane haciendas in Negros where CARP has not carried out.
Above all, no matter how much positive accomplishments CARP has been able to deliver in the past, present and future, these can be easily reversed and lead to nothing because of the profound negative impact of the agricultural trade liberalization who's principal architect is Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Some hard data are important. Because of Gloria's maneuver to deliver the ill-prepared Philippine agriculture to global trade interests, the Philippines has been transformed from a net agricultural exporting country to a net agricultural importing country, from a net food exporting country to a net food importing country, since 1995, mainly because of trade liberalization. Concretely, according to Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in 1995-1998, the country imported agricultural products worth $10.5 Billion, while it exported agricultural products worth $7.1 Billion, or a trade deficit of $3.4 Billion. Meanwhile, in 1995-1998, the Philippines imported food items worth $8.2 Billion, while it exported food items worth $6.0 Billion, or a trade deficit of $2.2 Billion. This is the first time ever in the history of the country to have deficits in agricultural and food trade. Such impact that is the exact opposite of what was promised under a globalized economy happens only in the Philippines in the context of southeast Asian countries where positive growth in agricultural trade was registered. Gloria is principally accountable for this predicament in Philippine agriculture.
Therefore, poor peasants warn that the agrarian and agricultural conditions may even be worse under a Gloria administration. We thus advance a call addressed to the people that a deep social reform agenda be developed that should go beyond the current elite-driven Erap/Gloria divide. We call upon poor peasants to launch widespread pro-reform initiatives such as land occupations of big estates in order to press for genuine reforms.
If our demands are not met, we will escalate our collective actions in the near future. We will regularly update the public about other cases of anti-reform decisions by the government in other farmlands.
UNORKA was founded on 10 June 2000 by various local autonomous peasants and farmworkers organizations that have long been struggling for agrarian reform, and which are engaged in pushing for CARP implementation in close to 200,000 hectares of land nationwide.
UNORKA
Pambansang Ugnayan ng mga Lokal na Nagsasariling
Organisasyon ng mga Mamamayan sa Kanayunan
[National Coordination of Local Autonomous Rural People's Organizations]
PO-NGO Compound
262 15th Avenue, Cubao, Quezon City
Telefax 438 9762