Lumads Call for End to Mines, Plantations, Militarization in Response to Rice Crisis

Kusog sa Katawhang Lumad sa Mindanao (Kalumaran) scoffed at Malacañang’s efforts to curb the current rice crisis saying that the measures being taken fall short of addressing the root of the issue. “Ang yutang kabilin nahimong yutang plantasyon ug yutang minahan (The ancestral domains of indigenous peoples have become the domain of plantations and mines),” said Monico Cayog, Chairperson of Kalumaran.

“And mga palisiya ni Gloria maong hinungdan niini nga krisis. Dakong kaulaw nga nag-angkat og bugas ang Pilipinas, usa ka agrikultural nga nasud. (Gloria’s own policies have caused this crisis. It is an embarrassment that an agricultural country is importing rice),” Cayog said. He added that production of indigenous varieties such as ‘Ata rice’, which are grown organically, have dwindled because of land-use conversion policies. The group asserted that the Arroyo government has a bias for the billion-dollar pesticide and fertilizer industry, while determined to replace organic varieties with genetically modified organisms controlled by transnational corporations.

Cayog also sited the increasing number of hectares in Mindanao that are being converted to agribusiness plantations for export bananas, pineapples, oil palm and others. Two million hectares are targeted for conversion into agribusiness plantations as part of Arroyo’s Medium-Term Philippine Development Program of 2004-2010. Another top priority of the MTPDP is the development of the large-scale mining industry.

“Ang mg komersyal nga plantasyon ug dagkong minahan nga gikontrola o gipanag-iyahan sa mga dagkong kapitalista nagsige og sulod sa mga yutang kabilin. Ang yutang nahabilin samot nga nagkagamay alang sa pagtanom og humay ug mais. Bisan ang kalasangan nga maoy tinubdan sa pagkaon alang sa mga lumad karon samot nga nagkagamay tungod sa logging ug mining. (Agribusiness plantations and large-scale mines owned or controlled by big capitalists are ever-encroaching into our ancestral domains. Less and less land is available for planting of corn and rice. Even the forest, which has always been a source of food for lumads, is shrinking because of logging and mining),” Cayog added.

The Mindanao-wide Lumad alliance also called on Archbishop Angel Lagdameo and the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines to look at larger policies that are causing rice and corn shortages, not just encourage people to eat camote as an alternative. “Unsaon namo nga makakaon og kamote nga dili man gani kami nakatikad sa kaumahan tungod sa militarisasyon? Pugos kaming ginapabakwit o mahadlok moadto sa mga uma. Angay kining tan-awaon nga isyu ug panawagan sa tinuod nga reporma sa yuta sa CBCP Rural Congress. (How can we eat camote when we can’t even get to our farms because of militarization? We are either forced to evacuate, or we are afraid to travel to our farms. The CBCP’s Rural Congress should address these issues and call for genuine land reform.)”

The lumad group condemned the military operations that accompany the implementation of Arroyo’s development priorities in the mining and agribusiness sectors. Recently, a special security group was offered by Malacañang to foreign mining firms in addition to the standard military operations that have wreaked havoc on the civilian population, causing three major evacuations in Mindanao between November 2007 and February 2008. .

”Samot nga magkaisog ang tao sa kagutom. Mag-atubang si Gloria sa nagkadaghang protesta tungod sa padayon niyang pagtalikod sa batakang panginahanglan sa katawhan samtang iyang gikawkaw ang rekurso sa nasud. (People will become even more courageous because of hunger. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will be met with more and more protests because she continues to neglect the basic needs of the people while plundering the country’s resources.)”

“Ang gikinahanglan sa lumad mao ang yuta. Ang gikinahanglan sa mag-uuma mao ang yuta. Nanawagan ang kalumaran nga ihunong ang pagpalapad sa mga plantasyon, ihunong ang mga dagkong mina, ihunong ang militarisasyon isip kasulbaran sa kasamtamang krisis. Panalipdan ang yutang kabilin ug iasdang ang tinuod nga reporma sa yuta. (We lumads need land. Farmers need land. Lumads are calling to stop the expansion of agri-business plantations, large-scale mines, and militarization as a means to end the present crisis. Defend the ancestral domain and struggle for genuine land reform),” Cayog said. ###

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