Reports from Correspondents: Agrarian revolution advances in Cagayan Valley
Agrarian revolution is vigorously advancing in several guerrilla fronts of Cagayan Valley. After suffering from serious setbacks due to errors of adventurism and insurrectionism, and after a period of conservatism in the first years of the Second Great Rectification Movement, agrarian revolution is now vigorously undertaken in the region as the key link in advancing the mass movement in the countryside. Following are reports of victories in agrarian revolution achieved in the Reynaldo Pi�on Front in Isabela and the Venerando Villacillo Front in Quirino.
More than 1,000 families benefit from agrarian reform in Isabela
More than a thousand families in the Reynaldo Pi�on Front in Isabela have benefited from vigorous agrarian revolution campaigns. The campaigns became the key to achieving victories in the political and organizational fields. As a result, organizing committees have been set up in 11 barrios.
The campaign started gaining momentum July 2000, and like a prairie fire, its flames and fervor have quickly been spreading to nearby areas.
Wage increases comprised the biggest victory achieved by the people in the agrarian revolution campaign. The daily wage of farm workers was raised by P10 to P20 for tasks like weeding, cutting, harvesting, applying fertilizer and planting. For plowing, wages rose from P120 to P150-P160 per day. About 990 families or 4,940 individuals in 11 barrios benefited from this campaign.
Peasant associations were able to demand the P10 increase during barangay assemblies. Prior to this, the organized peasants firmly united on the need to raise wages. The campaign was waged simultaneously in adjacent areas. The peasant associations were also able to win allies among some members of the barangay councils.
In a number of villages, wages were likewise raised by confronting certain landlords and encouraging rich peasants to grant the peasants' demands.
Along with the campaign to raise wages, ammoyo or mutual aid teams, as well as other cooperative systems, were revived and consolidated in order to lessen high production costs and loans.
Rental for the use of rice mills was lowered from P20 to P18 per can of palay (equivalent to approximately 17 kilos). About 180 families or more than 900 individuals in five barrios benefited.
In two barrios, owners of village stores selling overpriced goods were convinced to lower prices with due consideration for fair profit.
A barrio-wide mass action to lower interests on loans was likewise successful. A local usurer was convinced to lower interest rates per harvest by 50%. From 30%, interest was lowered to only 15%. Eight families immediately benefited.
Organized masses in three villages also successfully resisted deceptive government projects such as the Community Based Forestry Program or the DENR's Social Forestry Program that are, in essence, systematic means of landgrabbing.
Success in raising banana prices in Quirino
Organized peasants in the Venerando Villacillo Front(VVF) in Quirino province are waging militant action to advance the campaign to raise the prices of their products, particularly bananas. They are also mobilizing to eradicate fraudulent practices in the counting of bananas, which further decrease the amount paid for their products. The prevailing fraudulent method of counting enables the merchants to acquire for free one to two bananas or every piece of banana they pay for.
In the first quarter of 2001, prices of bananas were raised higher than the 50% minimum target at the start of the campaign .
Prices were raised weekly for a period of eight weeks. Lakatan prices were raised by a minimum of P5 per week. Prices rose from P65 per hundred to P119. For damilig (saba), prices were raised by 100%, from P35 to P70 per hundred.
About 60 poor peasant families in a village benefited from this victory. More are expected to benefit as the campaign is waged in other barrios.
The revolutionary movement is also currently raising the peasants' organizational level and political consciousness. The peasant organizations are in the process of transformation into effective cooperatives. With this aim in view, there are efforts to consolidate the organizing committees of the Pambansang Katipunan ng mga Magbubukid (PKM or the National Peasant Association, the national democratic underground mass organization for the peasantry) and establish the full-fledged mass organizations in the barrios.
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