Stop Land Grabbing! Save Agrarian Reform!

Save Agrarian Reform Alliance Year-end Report

Secretariat, Focus on the Global SouthDecember 5, 2014

Flow

• Overall Context • Activities • Outputs/Outcomes• Gaps/Challenges• What’s for 2015?

OVERVIEW

Inclusive Growth? No significant improvement in

poverty incidence : 25.2 percent in 2012 (2012 FIES)

Magnitude of poor Filipinos 23.7 million in 2012, still rural in character

One of the highest inequities/gini coefficients in Southeast Asia; higher than Thailand’s.

Jobless growth: declined in the period 2011-2013, a supposed period of increasing growth rates in the country (DOLE)

Agri/Agrarian Athrophy

• In retreat/declining productivity for the last 3 decades due to systematic gov’t neglect (2.9% growth from 2000-2010)

• While still the second largest absorber of country’s labor, rural poverty remains high

• Outmigration, increasing joblessness, aging labor, changing countryside

• Agrarian reform, an ‘orphan’ program• Lack of public investments

Rural Poverty Worsening

• Rural poverty reduction from 2009 to 2012 (among highly rural provinces + provinces with a high AR backlog) was slower than national poverty reduction on the whole

• Number of rural poor greatly increased in the period 2009 to 2012

A Dying/Dead? Program• Snail-paced implementation of CARP/ER• Legalistic secretary• President’s pronouncement but still sticks with Secretary Gil • Land grabbing, land use conversions • Landlord impunity and human rights violations • Fragmented coalition for CARP/ER (civil society/social movement and even

in government)• 2015-2016: election year, as in the past, reforms and implementation of

CARP/ER will be difficult/uphill battle• June 30, 2014 and beyond: landlord counter-reform offensive• ASEAN integration and impacts to agri/AR?• Mga lupang napamahagi na- reconsolidation of reformed lands in Central

Luzon ; conveyor– mechanization (farm workers lost labor/halimaw- class issue)

• Land Exemptions

2014 Objective

• Push the government to fulfil its Constitutional obligations and promise to effectively implement agrarian reform in the country, and defend, respect and protect the human right to land and productive resources of farmers, rural women, indigenous peoples and the rural poor.

Specific Objectives

• Inform the public/raise public awareness on agrarian reform, including various land/water grabbing situations and its effect on rural communities and the various human rights violations by the state and non-state actors;

• Popularize the demand for more effective agrarian reform implementation across the country in the context of uncertainty of funding for and the future of CARPER by 2014.

• Through dialogues, push the government to act on specific demands to resolve the specific issues of affected communities.

Campaign Main Features

• Sustained build up activities and media and propaganda offensives

• Executive and Legislative engagements, including with the Congressional Oversight Committee on Agrarian Reform and the Commission on Human Rights

• Local and sustained mobilizations • Two waves of mass mobilizations in Manila (March and June

2014)• Information and education campaign: university fora, social

media work, etc.• Alliance- building: with like minded groups, universities/student

youth groups, Church, urban-based organizations

Activities

• Mobilizations (7):– Lakbayan: First Wave/Quarter

of 2014: week-long mobilizations during the first week of March in Malacanang at DAR

– Congress/House actions– Kalbaryo ng Magsasaka– June CARP Anniversary– Support to Porac land grab

mob-Ayala and DAR– Support to PKKK’s petition for

CARP Coverage action

Activities (2)

• Support for local land grabbing and land reform cases through media/advocacy work– Case of illegal land use conversion in Bulacan– Sumalo, Bataan– Porac, Pampanga– Sicogon, Iloilo – Hacienda Luisita

Activities (3)• Media events and press releases

– Primer (English and Filipino) on agrarian reform/CARP impelementation– Three infographic posters documenting the land grabbing and

resistance in Boracay, Sumalo, and a general poster on the need to campaign for farmers’ right to land

– Sixteen (16) press releases highlighting government’s inaction and lack of political will to implement CARP/ER, demand for access to information, emphasizing agrarian reform as a key national and social reform agenda, plight of farmers, land grabbing and land use conversions by real estate developers and corporations, landlords and increasing trend of human rights violations and attack on peasants and human rights defenders.

– 29 interviews in TV and radio; for print and online: 51 media mentions– SARA vs. KMP as two main poles

Activities (4)• Peoples’ Agrarian Reform

Congress on June 6• Outreach to student groups:

more than 3,000 students were reached by the room-to-room campaigns, 2 big fora, online and social media campaign. UP USC adopted agrarian reform/support for CARP/ER as an agenda– AFARM– Buklod Atenista – UP USC

Activities (5)

• Alliance building– SENTRO/APL– CBCP-NASSA– Students– World March of Women/CATW-AP– Human rights groups: PAHRA, PCICC– Farmers’ groups- NAPC FLWRS, TFM, AR Now!

Activities (6)

• Legislative/Executive Dialogues– COCAR hearing: La Breeza Hotel– Committee on AR-House of Rep hearings – Executive?

Outcomes

• SARA’s role as radical pole supportive of CARP/ER

• Closer working relationship with youth groups: formation of AFARM; USC adopted AR/ CARPER for the first time

• Sustained media offensive (at least until August)• Recognized peasant-led coalition critical of

government; first to call for the resignation of Gil • Positions asked by COCAR and House of Rep

Gaps/Challenges

• Separate funds– so far, much of funding/resources come from Focus’ pot. Do we fundraise separately?

• Gap in the media work- especially for the 3rd-4th quarter of the year

• Sec. Gil still hasn’t resigned; still slow implementation

• Focus as secretariat- to continue or not to continue?• Allies- have we reached those what we want to

reach?

What for 2015-2016?

• Objectives?• Targets and Priorities• Tactics and Strategies• Limits and Opportunities• Commitments and Expectations• New Projects:– Civil Society Audit of CARP/ER– ED Sessions and Youth Congress with youth/student

movements

Campaign of Save Agrarian Reform Alliance- pressure tactics

- information & education- mainstream & social media (esp. on

cases)- Agrarian Reform Congress on June

6- critical engagements with COCAR,

CHR, executive- Networking- students, Catholic

Church, other basic sectors (labor, women, urban poor)

- support individual cases

Comments

• Ric: Ateneo and UP- nakuha/nabuksan na larangan• Gap: engagement with the Senate; Koko Pimental as

champion • HB 4296: opposition

– CON: Tottie: FEFreedom; tanggalin ang CLOA, farmland as collateral/UP School of Econ (Fabella, Clarete, Chiciamco, Paderanga- theoretical underpinning, Fermin Adriano) vs.

– PRO: Christian Monsod, Solita Monsod, Rene Ofreneo– Mano-mano ang congressmen- isolate the Negros bloc – Boyet Gonzales- archiving

• CARP Audit

Bataan

• Ka Bobby: case of CLOA generated in 2002– 100 hectares – but cancelled (dummy persons), then, petitioned for cancellation – 2006: case started– 2008: decision for CLOA cancellation– Transfer to Korean nationals ang CLOA (without charter

change); was covered again by DAR– Organized Syndicate of DAR Employee, RD, personalities – Gen. Dumpit- tao ni McCoy/ Marcos – Case of reclassification for exclusion from CARP – Irrigated lands- Abucay, Bataan

Bataan

• Ka Larry: petition for the CARP coverage– were already covered and land titles generated/CLOA- 1,000 hectares in Hermosa and Bagac- 1,000 – Morong– not yet covered – Femy Rivera- 300 hectares – Security guards– private security guards

• Ka Elvie: all the petitions for CARP coverage involving 12 municipalities– remove the PARO San Luis; provincial consultation in December 13 organized by PKKK- per landholding- what’s the reality (rice lands); December 8: Nueva Ecija – Camp in January in front of DAR

Bataan • Ka Jimmy: Modus operandi: syndicato in Bataan (1997); mastermind in

DAR Central Luzon- teofilo inocencio; may abogado- Atty. Anselmo Carlos (humahanap ng buyer at bumibili at nagbebenta): 115- Laperal; 90 hectares: Bataan shores; Arnel Mallari – Land speculation – Generated CLOA but not registered at the Registry of Deeds; only survey and

then they sell of the lands to the developers and other land speculators – Audit- anomalous – Dummy ARBs- etsapwera ang actual ARBs – Isinama sa accomplishment– survey pero binebenta lang nila

• ARB carding– they did for the whole country; beneficiaries are not actually on the ground; dummies

• Need legal– for ombudsman– Atty. Flores; MARO Salvador (Balanga)– documents are difficult to get from the

government– tinatago ng MARO

Bataan: moving forward

• Ka Elvie: anong pwedeng gawin?” Legal- failure of AR implementation in once province as trigger for CARP audit – Omi: magfile ng Task Force Bataan sa DAR- use the data of Ka

Jimmy, Ka Bobby and Ka Larry to deepen the investigation; on the spot, hold Inocencio accountable

– As SARA, formulate a letter as earliest possible time because of widespread corruption- draft c/o Ka Elvie • Lahat signatories • PCIJ – to conduct investigation

– Checkmate: Delos Reyes • Consequence: baka di mapaipasa ang batas

• Ric: impacts– anti-corruption; anong gagawin ni P-Noy rito? Restitution; iwasto (slogan: laban ng SARA rito)– Lawyer needed for audit– Restitution – AR Commission- pansalo

Calibration

• Petition-letter c/o Ka Elvie• Media- press release • PCIJ • Ombudsman – Legal luminary/assistance: Marlon Manuel – UP Law Center- Dannie Con.– Dean Raul Pangalanan- c/o Ric