Bicol farmers reap gains in coco campaign
The price per kilo of copra rose from P9.80 to P11.00 after some 3,000 protesting coconut farmers trooped to the Cosay Oil Mills in Pili, Camarines Sur on March 16. The coconut farmers were members of the provincial chapter of the militant Bicol Coconut Planters� Association, Inc. (BCPAI) and hailed from the towns of Nabua, Balatan, Bato, Bula, Baao, Buhi and Iriga City.
Aboard more than 40 jeeps and trucks, the farmers staged a caravan from Nabua. Before proceeding to the town of Pili, they picketed the Baao offices of the reformist Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement and the Pambansang Koalisyon ng Samahan ng mga Magsasaka at Manggagawa sa Niyugan. They criticized the two non-governmental organizations for pretending to represent coconut farmers in striking a deal with Danding Cojuangco on the coco levy funds.
Upon reaching the Cosay Oil Mills, the farmers were unable to meet with the owner Victor Cosay and thus failed to conduct the planned confrontation. The Cosay family comprises the biggest traders in coconut and other agricultural products in Bicol. On April 6, a hundred coconut farmer-leaders returned to the oil mill and pushed through with the confrontation. Cosay was forced to raise the price of copra, do away with the price deduction for resiko and have his weighing scales calibrated to ensure that there was no cheating.
More than 2,000 coconut farmers likewise participated in another mass action led by BCPAI in Pasacao, Camarines Sur on March 18. The coconut farmers from the towns of San Fernando, Pasacao, Pamplona, Libmanan, Sipocot and Bula in the same province rallied in front of the Bicol Oil Mills. They also picketed the house of the oil mill�s owner, Apeng Olivan, to confront him but he refused to show up. There was some tension before the farmers wrapped up the activity and made an organized withdrawal, when the municipal police threatened to disperse the rally as the farmers� permit allegedly limited them to the town plaza.
These actions formed the first salvo in the region of a nationwide coconut campaign begun by the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, BCPAI and Piglas-Timog Katagalugan in January. In the face of the intensifying poverty and oppression of small coconut farmers, BCPAI is showing renewed vigor after years of inactivity.
As the campaign advances, BCPAI�s reorganization is ongoing, from the regional level down to its municipal chapters. It launched its regional assembly in Legazpi City on April 2, where it elected its regional officers and outlined its general program of action.
The assembly united on four main calls for the coconut farmers in the current campaign: (1) raise the price of copra to P20.00 per kilo, equivalent to the price of a kilo of rice; (2) eliminate the price deduction for resiko; (3) put a stop to cheating in the weighing of copra; and (4) restore the coco levy funds to the small coconut farmers. BCPAI also united to resist militarization in the countryside and its attendant human rights violations.
The reinvigoration of BCPAI and its leadership over the coconut campaign in Bicol are an important leap. Along with coconut farmers in Southern Tagalog and other regions involved in the ongoing campaign, the Bicolano farmers are reaping gains.
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