On The Sumilao Campaign, Party-List System

Manila - The Sumilao farmers finally ended victorious in reclaiming their land, albeit just less than a half of the 144 hectares they fought for. On March 29, 2008, an agreement was signed between the San Miguel Corporation and the farmers. The farmers will gain 50 hectares within the contested 144-hectare property through a deed of donation by San Miguel, while the remaining 94 hectares will be taken from other properties within the vicinity of the contested area.

Backtracking on the farmers’ campaign strategies

The group’s strategies included a sheer perseverance in non-violent struggle over a period of 12 years. They tried various means to get the government to act on their plight, including camp-out protest rallies and a hunger strike in front of the main office of the Department of Agrarian Reform in Quezon City.

Then, a few months ago, they made an arduous 1,700-kilometer long march from faraway Mindanao to MalacaÐ"±ang Palace that resulted in a pledge from the President herself to act favorably on their case. When they returned to Manila not too long ago to remind the government of its promise, obviously the government and San Miguel had to deal with the issue squarely and give the farmers what they wanted.

The farmers’ triumph is not theirs alone, but also of the Church and civil-society groups that helped them in various ways.

Dramatizing a movement’s campaign, in order to get massive public and media attention, should take some unconventional strategies. A long march from Bukidnon to Manila was quite unprecedented and therefore worthy of media coverage. A wide media mileage on a particular cause breeds added pressure for the concerned authority, in this case the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and the President.

Because the Sumilao’s case represents many other struggles of indigenous peoples in the country, their struggle fits in the larger social frame of collective struggles against development aggression, marginalized sectors and indigenous people as well as irresponsible governance and a global campaign for genuine agrarian reform. This high-relevant framing makes the protest something that easily appeals to and is easily shared by human rights advocates and many other farmers. The movement was then quick to earn alliance, moral support and even useful logistical donation from the Church, schools, NGOs and many moral watchdogs. This now added more dimension to the public pressure. The magnitude of the struggle as shared by thousand other poor farmers in this country has made the Sumilao case attractive to resource mobilization support from those which share their �frame’.

The Sumilao farmers brought their case directly to MalacaÐ"±ang because they felt powerless in resisting a huge agribusiness firm that decided to put up a big piggery and displaced them from their land. It seemed a David-Goliath battle. The conversion of agricultural land to commercial and industrial uses, if done in an arbitrary and haphazard way, poses dangers on farmers’ lives.

The strategies proved successful in the end. In what they considered to be a sweet victory after experiencing toils and tears of walking from Bukidnon to Manila, the Sumilao farmers said that the MOA signaled the end of their exodus to reclaim their ancestral land.

“On the eve of our reclaiming and taking possession of the land, we fought, we sacrificed, and struggled for so long and so hard. Acknowledging the hardships and sacrifices that we had to undergo, on this day we will celebrate the victory and perseverance, sacrifice and peaceful action,” the media quoted Bajecjec Merida, the group’s spokesperson.

Under the agreement signed on Saturday, the farmers will gain 50 hectares within the contested 144-hectare property through a deed of donation by San Miguel, while the remaining 94 hectares will be taken from other properties within the vicinity of the contested area.

The 94 hectares will be distributed to the farmers through a voluntary offer to sell under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP). The Sumilao farmers will receive the land through a newly organized cooperative, the Panaghiusa sa mga Mag-uumang Nakigbisog alang sa Yuta sa Sumilao (Panaw-Sumilao).

The success of the farmers could be partly attributed to the ongoing mass mobilizations against the present administration for charges of corruption, creating a political opportunity to ride (political opportunity model at work). With various sectors calling for President Arroyo’s resignation, she was left with less choices but to heed the call of the farmers.

If it was success to the Sumilao group, was the struggle really over? Was it success in the larger frame as well? It should be pointed out that there are countless other landownership cases in other parts of the country that cry out for resolution despite the implementation of the government’s CARP since 1988. Much remains to be accomplished in addressing this bigger social problem.

Now that the country faces an imminent food crisisвЂ"and the potential threat of civil strifeвЂ"resulting from the high prices of rice