PAKISAMA’s Statement on the Sumilao Settlement Agreement

PRESS RELEASE on the SUMILAO SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT

Reference: PAKISAMA (Soc Banzuela, 09177188986), pakisama_pilipinas@yahoo.com

Thanks But No Thanks

Today, March 29, 2008, one of the most important land reform battles in Philippine history comes closely to an end. The Sumilao farmers will ink a Settlement Agreement with San Miguel Corporation, to be witnessed by the Government and the Church leaders, by lunch time in San Carlos Seminary in Makati .

The Settlement agreement provides for the Sumilao farmers to get back 50 of their 144-hectare ancestral land through a deed of donation from San Miguel Corporation and get another 94 hectares through a voluntary offer to sale (VOS) scheme of the Department of Agrarian Reform in adjacent properties in Sumilao, Bukidnon in the coming days or months.

“Halu-halo ang aming nadarama. Natutuwa kaming malapit nang matapos ang kampanya ng Sumilao farmers. Natutuwa kami para sa kanila nguni’t may awa ring nadarama. Nagagalit kami sa mga ginawa ng San Miguel Corporation at lalo na ng Pamahalaang Arroyo (We have mixed feelings. We are happy the Sumilao campaign is nearing an end. We are happy for the Sumilao farmers but also pity them. We are angry at the various actions of San Miguel Corporation and the Arroyo government!” said Crispino Aguelo, President of the Pambansang Kilusan ng mga Samahang Magsasaka, a national confederation of peasant federations (PAKISAMA).

“PAKISAMA joins the Filipino people in congratulating the Sumilao farmers. After almost two decade of persistent non-violent struggle, they are about to get 144 hectares of land though most of them are not the ancestral land they have been fighting for and the presence of serious prohibitions. This to us is not a full victory but victory nevertheless to the Sumilao farmers especially in the context where the Arroyo government and landlord San Miguel Corporation have combined forces to thwart their claims,” said Aguelo.

“Clearly, the Sumilao story as covered intensively by media, points to the Sumilao farmers gaining land, not because of the commitment of government to the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP). Otherwise the Sumilao farmers need not have to undertake a 1700 kilometer march .and need not have taken three years to resolve. Nor it was because of the commitment of SMC to corporate social responsibility (CSR). Otherwise it did not launch a coordinated campaign to divide and rule the Sumilao farmers, undermine the Sumilao farmers’ and their supporters’ credibility, and imposed serious disempowering conditionalities in their “donated 50-hectare property”, Aguelo added.

PAKISAMA believes it was the unprecedented 1,700 -kilometer march of the Sumilao farmers and the broad support they generated from serious civil society institutions especially the Church that posed a serious threat to the President’s political survival and eventually forced the Palace and SMC to blink.

Amidst the looming rice crisis and the continuous landlord resistance to CARP, PAKISAMA calls on fellow farmers organizations to close ranks and start a broader nationwide walk until CARP is extended and reformed and until a new government is installed that will demonstrate true commitment to the cause of the farmers.

PAKISAMA STATEMENT ON THE SUMILAO CASE

Today, March 29, 2008, one of the most important land reform battles in Philippine history comes closely to an end. The Sumilao farmers will ink a Settlement Agreement with San Miguel Corporation, to be witnessed by the Government and the Church leaders, by lunch time in San Carlos Seminary in Makati .

The Settlement agreement provides for the Sumilao farmers to get back 50 of their 144-hectare ancestral land through a deed of donation from San Miguel Corporation and get another 94 hectares through a voluntary offer to sale (VOS) scheme of the Department of Agrarian Reform in adjacent properties in Sumilao, Bukidnon in the coming days or months.

“Halu-halo ang aming nadarama. Natutuwa kaming malapit nang matapos ang kampanya ng Sumilao farmers. Natutuwa kami para sa kanila nguni’t may awa ring nadarama. Nagagalit kami sa mga ginawa ng San Miguel Corporation at lalo na ng Pamahalaang Arroyo (We have mixed feelings. We are happy the Sumilao campaign is nearing an end. We are happy for the Sumilao farmers but also pity them. We are angry at the various actions of San Miguel Corporation and the Arroyo government!” said Crispino Aguelo, President of the Pambansang Kilusan ng mga Samahang Magsasaka (PAKISAMA).

PAKISAMA joins the Filipino people in congratulating the Sumilao farmers. After almost two decade of persistent non-violent struggle, they are about to get 144 hectares of land though most of them are not the ancestral land they have been fighting for and the presence of serious prohibitions. This to us is not a full victory but victory nevertheless to the Sumilao farmers especially in the context where the Arroyo government and landlord San Miguel Corporation have combined forces to thwart their claims.

The Sumilao farmers deserve recognition as well for their highly remarkable and respectable contribution to Agrarian Reform in the Philippines by serving as an inspiration to millions of landless Filipino farmers. Through their 1,700 kilometer walk in October-December 2007 (among many non-violent protests they launched in the past i.e., a land occupation campaign, two hunger strikes, Jubilee Pilgrimage) they have ignited once again the concern on Agrarian Reform and they have inspired the commencement of other walks of several thousands of Filipino farmers all over the country for the same purpose of getting their rightfully- owned lands.

PAKISAMA joins the Sumilao farmers, in thanking thousands of individuals and organizations here and abroad who generously shared legal, moral, social, political, intellectual, logistical and financial support to the campaign. Without the hundreds of peoples organizations, non-government organizations, churches, schools, media agencies, local government offices and sections of government, and kindred volunteers, the farmers wouldn’t have reached this far – literally and figuratively.

Today the Arroyo administration will claim its facilitating role to end the Sumilao crisis in a win- win arrangement. It may present it as its expression of commitment to fight poverty. We cannot avoid, however, to express a different opinion and instead our condemnation and anger over the Arroyo Administration’s actions on the case over the past three years.

This struggle of the Sumilao farmers clearly reflects the corrupted state of this government. Supposedly entrusted by the Filipino people to enforce the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law which in essence is a law tilt in favor of the farmers, it chose to be a biased mediator in favor of big business, and in this case, the San Miguel Corporation.

In the very first place, the Sumilao farmers need not have to undertake that long and difficult 60-day 1,700- kilometer march had this government acted with dispatch on their petition in November 2004. No less than the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) had already noted the SMC violation of the 5-year land development period. The Sumilao farmers need not have to come back here in Manila and do a Jericho March had this government enforced its December 18 revocation order. Instead, it remained deaf to the calls of the Sumilao farmers for a cease and desist order and immediate issuance of notice of CARP coverage. It conveniently allowed SMC to continue its construction activities and destroyed the top soil of a significant area of the contested irrigated agricultural land. It waited and attended the negotiations, eventually facilitating it to finish immediately only so the “noise” will likewise end.

With no cease and desist order and notice of CARP coverage much more a land title in their hands, the Sumilao farmers, while having the continuous support of Cardinal Rosales and the Church, were not in a very strong bargaining position in the negotiations that followed with San Miguel Corporation. Eventually, given the real prospects of losing in the Supreme Court especially after its most recent 9-6 decision in favor of Neri’s silence, the Sumilao farmers succumbed to accepting a Settlement agreement that included some disempowering provisions.

Likewise, San Miguel Corporation will extract the best “public relations” juice on this settlement agreement. It will claim its land donation to be an expression of its “corporate social responsibility”. To us, however, that is not a “donation” but a short-changed compensation to the Sumilao farmers’ losing their invaluable 94- hectare ancestral land to the SMC’s piggery business, and to the loss in income they could have derived since that land was awarded to them in 1995.

We also condemn the conditionalities imposed by SMC to the Sumilao farmers in exchange to the “50- hectare donation” such as 1) the Sumilao farmers to organize a new cooperative that will receive the “donated” property and the succeeding 94 hectares, 2) the prohibition to the Sumilao farmers to plant fruit trees, raise hogs, and build permanent dwellings anywhere within the “donated” 50 hectares, and the 3) re-instatement of the Torres decision in the 94 hectares within the 144-hectare contested property, thus, effectively revoking the December 18 Presidential order, the one thing the farmers won in their 1,700 kilometer march. We strongly feel these conditionalities are acts to disempower and diminish the efforts and impact of the Sumilao farmers.

We also hope the Settlement Agreement would put to end end the “divide and rule” game being played by SMC in the Sumilao community, induce SMC to correct the assorted lies in SMC-sponsored front page-paid ads out to destroy the credibility of the Sumilao farmers and their supporters, and put an end to efforts at bending the law in their favor for the purpose of SMC’s so-called “development” plans.

We learned three bitter lessons/concerns in the Sumilao Case.

First, it is possible for landless farmers to get land even faced with powerful adversaries such as a corrupt government and cunning multinational corporation. But they can never get these lands like a walk in the park. Only if they are able to organize themselves and conduct a disciplined and persistent non-violent action and are able to get the support of powerful civil society institutions especially the Church enough to pose a threat to the continuous stay in office of the President will the balance of forces tilt in favor of the farmers. But even, then, they must be prepared to settle and compromise.

Second, there may be Corporations who will be emboldened by the SMC-Sumilao farmers’ settlement agreement and take the wrong cue of violating with impunity the agrarian reform laws with the hope that if caught and become so publicly controversial, they can do an SMC-Sumilao deal.

Third, the Arroyo government will not most likely implement the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law forcefully even amidst very strong clamor from broad civil society organizations including the Church. At best it will mediate a settlement.

These lessons point to us farmers and agrarian reform advocates who see the importance of agrarian reform as basis for national development and industrialization to forge build stronger organizations among ourselves and forge greater solidarity with civil society organizations. They also point to the need for us to exert greater vigilance in our communities. And finally if we hope to ensure a speedy distribution of the remaining 1.3 million hectares covered by CARP, we must seriously consider participating in the broader campaign to build a strong reform constituency that will help extend and reform CARP and install a new government that would have the commitment to implement it.

ANNEX:

PAKISAMA salutes the Sumilao farmers for their three important contributions to Philippine society.

One, their Christian witnessing to truth and justice through persistent non-violent action. Two, their positive impact to fellow farmers, students, churches and the Filipinos as a whole. And three, their significant influence to agrarian reform and national development.

Christian[1] witnessing to truth and justice through Active Non-Violence[2]

They waged over the past decade two popular non-violent mass campaigns on agrarian reform, a 28-day hunger strike and a 60-day 1,700-kilometer cross-country walk both catching national attention and pushed two Presidents of the Republic to recognize their just claim to 144-hectare ancestral land.

In 1997, 17 of 137 landless farmers from Sumilao, Bukidnon staged a 28-day hunger strike in Manila and Cagayan de Oro to reclaim a 144-hectare prime and irrigated ancestral agricultural land earlier (1995) awarded to them under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) of the government but then subsequently converted to other uses and returned by the Office of the President to the previous land-owner (Quisumbing). President Ramos recognized the legitimacy of their claim and awarded them100 of the 144 hectares. However, the Supreme Court, on a technicality (late submission by the Department of Agrarian Reform of Motion for Reconsideration) reversed Ramos’ win-win decision and returned the entire property to the Quisumbings.

Ten years later, in the last quarter of 2007, 55 of the 170 members of the Sumilao community walked 1,700 kilometers from their village to Malacañang Palace over a two month period to reclaim again the contested property. The Quisumbings did not implement its purported development plan within the 5-year period in clear violation of the strict rules on land conversion but sold the property to San Miguel Corporation which started to build a piggery complex not included and far different from the previously-approved development plan. Sixty nine days after they started their walk, the President revoked the earlier land conversion order of her office setting the stage for the coverage of the property under agrarian reform.

Positive impact to fellow farmers, students, churches and the Filipinos as a whole

In both campaigns, the Sumilao farmers inspired support and participation of the broadest sections[3] of Philippine society especially the churches and students[4] and catalyzed fellow farmers[5] to wage similar non-violent initiatives to claim their land rights.

The hunger strike caught national attention achieving a 46% awareness level among Filipino adults and virtual unanimous support (90) to their cause according to a 1997 Social Weather Stations Survey. The cross-country walk was joined in by at least three thousand individuals and three hundred organizations across the country and was in front pages of major dailies and television channels in over a month.

Students and faculty of various schools including the Ateneo de Manila University accompanied and hosted the Sumilao farmers in their hunger strike and marches. A score of Bishops led by Jaime Cardinal Sin (1997) Sin and Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales (2007-2008) and Jesuit Archbishop Antonio Ledesma, Bishops Francisco Claver and Pacana, and the CBCP-NASSA Chair Broderick Pabillo and their respective arch/dioceses also lent a helping hand by providing food, lodging accommodation, written statements of support and actual presence in Masses and dialogues with government officials.

A similar hunger strike was waged by a group of landless farmers from Negros in early 2007, whose group’s name was taken from the Sumilao farmers’ cooperative (MAPALAD Multi-purpose Cooperative), the Task Force MAPALAD. Following the cross- country walk of the Sumilao farmers in 2007, several farmer groups followed long distance walk such as the Task Force Mapalad in Negros, mobilizing 5,000 farmers in a three-day 100-kilometer walk around the island of Negros . Farmers from Hacienda Yulo in Luzon also waged a 14-day walk. Just recently, the broad peasant movement advocating the extension and reformed implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program beyond June 2008 has decided to do marches in the coming 100 days and adopted the symbol: foot, to signify their broad unity and commitment to walk.

Significant influence to agrarian reform and national development

Both campaigns helped educate the broad public and policy makers on the importance of the Constitutional mandate to develop the nation by undertaking agrarian reform.

At the height of the 1997 hunger strike, various opinion leaders debated the importance of agrarian reform to national development. Eventually, no less than the Office of the President certified as urgent bill the passage of the CARP Fund Augmentation Bill. Three months after, a new law was enacted providing 50 billion pesos to CARP’ s implementation for a ten-year program extension (1998-2008) allowing the distribution of some two million hectares of land during the period.

The Sumilao Walk for Land and Justice likewise revived the public debate on the importance of agrarian reform. San Miguel Corporation and the Federation of Philippine Industries justified the state- of- the- art piggery business built on the contested property in Sumilao arguing growth and productivity while 20 Ateneo de Manila economics professors defended the Sumilao farmers’ claim to the land arguing the role of agrarian reform in the success of neighboring economies such as South Korea and Taiwan. The Sumilao farmers’ case has been featured in a couple of recent Congressional hearings debating whether or not to extend CARP.

[1] Most of the Sumilao farmers are Higaonons but baptized Christians (Catholics and Protestants). The Jesuit Vincent Cullen was well known to them. Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales, who worked for ten years in Bukidnon as Bishop, later would testify, he knew them personally.

[2] The Sumilao farmers have a cooperative, the MAPALAD Multipurpose Cooperative organized by an NGO based in Bukidnon (Kaanib Fdtn), and pioneered by a couple of Xavier University graduates. MAPALAD is a member of the national federation Pambansang Kilusan ng mga Samahang Magsasaka (PAKISAMA) which trained members on the principles and methods of active non-violence (ANV). Peter Tuminghay, a leader of MAPALAD, underwent a trainers’ training course on ANV sponsored by PAKISAMA in early 90’s.

[3] Includes broad movement of agrarian reform-focused Peoples Organizations (e.g., ARNow!), the national movement of non-government organizations (e.g.. CODE-NGO, PMP), major print and broadcast media (e.g., PDI, ABS-CBN, GMA 7), and even government agencies and individuals especially from the Department of Agrarian Reform.