Yesterday, October 21, peasant groups and other democratic sectors marched to Mendiola, Manila to commemorate Peasant Day. Led by the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), they called for an end to the widespread conversion of agricultural lands, land grabbing, destruction of fishing grounds, neoliberal policies and importation that kill the livelihood of farmers, and militarization in the countryside that displaces farmers and indigenous peoples from their land.

Concurrently, they called for the implementation of genuine land reform that would distribute land to tillers and ensure food security for the country.

In Mendiola, farmers burned an 8-foot-high map depicting the land monopolies and political dynasties in the Philippines.

“Despite various land reform programs—from PD 27 to the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, and now President Bongbong Marcos’ New Agrarian Emancipation Act (NAEA)—farmers remain landless, and rural poverty persists,” KMP chair and Makabayan Coalition senatorial candidate Danilo Ramos (Ka Daning) said. In fact, land grabbing continues under Marcos Jr, he added.

Ka Daning cited examples particularly the vast scope of Vista Land Properties and the additional 11,210 hectares declared by the Villar family; 37,307 hectares declared owned by San Miguel Corporation’s Ramon Ang; 25,440 hectares of Ayala Land Inc owned by the Zobel-Ayala family; and 102,954 hectares of DMCI owned by the Consunji family and its 6,600-hectare expansion of oil palm plantation in Negros. Outside of this are hundreds of hectares of traditional haciendas, commercial plantations for export, and other vast lands held by old and new types of landlords.

Farmers declared Marcos as the “leading cause of hunger” in the country, especially amid unrelenting price increases of rice and food. They also called for compensation for crops damaged by climate change.

They called for an end to the “de facto martial law” in peasant communities that has resulted to widespread human rights violations. According to Tanggol Magsasaka, of the 105 extrajudicial killings under the Marcos regime, 72 were farmers. The majority of the 755 political detainees are also farmers.

Similar activities were held in Tuguegarao City, Cebu City, Iloilo City, Bicol, La Union, Ilocos, and Negros.

The night before, farmers, together with Ibon International, held a forum at the University of the Philippines-Diliman on the negative effects of the World Bank Group’s policies in the Philippines. In the forum titled “PandaramBongbong: Imperialist push of IMF-World Bank”, they condemned the World Bank and International Monetary Fund for their role in the plunder of the country’s wealth and exploitation of Filipino workers. These policies result in the widespread displacement of farmers and indigenous peoples from their lands and ancestral domains to make way for large-scale infrastructure projects and market-based land reform.

The forum was followed by a cultural program.