Urban poor group welcomes Sen Pangilinan's call to revitalize agri sector

PRESS RELEASE l 05 NOV 2011
KALIPUNAN NG DAMAYANG MAHIHIRAP
Reference: Gloria Arellano, Kadamay national secretary-general (09213927457)

MANILA, Philippines--Sen. Pangilinan's call to provide our peasants and fisherfolks with more jobs will not only sheild the Philippines from the recession that is threatening the global economy, according to urban poor group Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay). "It will also answer the long-standing squatters problem and poverty in the urban centers," said Bea Arellano, Kadamay national secretary-general.

Arellano stressed out that the lack of land for the farmers to till and that of sources of livelihood opportunities in the agriculture and fisheries sectors is the main driver of urban migration. "Unless this is resolved, millions of farmers will migrate to the cities contributing to the ever increasing urban population. Poverty in both the rural and the urban will continue to inflict the current and future generations," she said.

More than the global crisis
Pangilinan cited a report released by the International Labor Organization (ILO) which predicts that recession and massive job loss will sweep across the globe and spark social unrest. He added that creating jobs in the agriculture and fisheries sector could “help turn our economy around and save us from the massive effects of a global recession.”

But according to Kadamay, the fear for the global crisis to inflict its horror to our nation should not be the sole basis of developing sources of employment in the countryside.

"Our peasants and fisher folks have long been suffering from a feudal system existing in the countryside, ruled by big landlords whose families have dominated the local politics. Many of our farmers have lived in constant crisis from their birth until their death. It is the reason why many of them, particularly the younger generation, have ventured the cities to seek for a greener pasture," the urban poor leader explained.

Pangilinan said that “by modernizing our agriculture and fisheries sector and increasing the incomes of nearly half the nation’s population who live in the rural areas, the multiplier effect on the economy will be stupendous." Over 66 percent of our labor force is directly and indirectly employed by the agriculture and fisheries sector.

Call for a genuine agrarian reform
Arellano, however, clarified that the modernization and increasing the income in the agricultural sector will only materialize with the implementation of a genuine agrarian reform to confiscate tillable lands from the big landlords and distributing them to the small farmers.

"The faulty and pro-landlord Comprehensive Agriarian Reform Program Extension with Reforms(CARPEr) and the Stock Distribution Option (SDO) have only worsened the farmers' condition, contrary to its aim to speed up land reform and providing opportunities for millions of poor Filipinos in the countryside," Arellano added.

Pangilinan according to the group should endorse the passing of HB 3059 or the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill, the progressive lawmakers' replacement to the Akbayan-sponsored CARPEr.###