Struggling for Land and the Right to Food. Peasants are among the most vulnerable to hunger in the Philippines

Quezon City, April 17, 2013 – On today’s International Day of Peasants’ Struggles FIAN Philippines calls for a human rights perspective to end hunger and poverty among Filipino peasants.

The International Day of Peasants’ Struggles reminds us of the Philippines’ long history of land grabbing by international and local actors. Throughout this history until now, Philippine peasants have been struggling to defend or to get back their lands. The peasants’ right to land is closely linked to their right to adequate food. Food is life and for peasants life is land. Land assures the farmers’ right to feed themselves and their families and to live a life in dignity. Up to now, at least one million farmers and landless in the Philippines are deprived of this human right.

Hunger worldwide and in the Philippines is mainly rural. Farmers, who produce our food, belong to the poorest sectors and suffer most from
hunger. More than 50% of Filipinos live in rural areas. They comprise 70% of the poor. 35% of the population, or 60% of the poor, depend
directly on agriculture.

FIAN Philippines as a section of FIAN International has been supporting peasants worldwide in claiming their land and thus their right to adequate food. Peasant struggles in the Philippines have led to important gains. At the same time, setbacks and losses reversed achievements. The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP or CARPER) was enacted in 1988 as a response to peasant action. The struggle, however, has continued as landlord resistance, land conversions, cancellations of land titles and reversals of court decisions keep undermining the program.

Even more than 20 years after the enactment of CARP, rural relations are still dominated by inequalities in land ownership and the existence of enclave-like haciendas controlled by powerful landlords. Farmers are still being evicted, displaced, threatened and even killed. Land grabbing by national and transnational business, especially for the production of biofuels, has become another urgent threat for farmers and their lands. Moreover, worsening climate conditions made small farmers more prone to floods, typhoons and droughts.

Farmers in the Philippines have remained poor and prone to hunger, because the Philippine government has failed to protect, respect and
fulfil their human rights, especially the right to adequate food. Violations of the farmers’ right to food have different dimensions: From physical harassment by state and non-state actors that prevent farmers from peacefully occupying or cultivating their lands to false legal charges. A strong legal framework is needed to fulfil their right to adequate food, but laws such as CARPER are poorly implemented and limited.

One limit of the agrarian reform law is the lack of a human rights perspective. CARPER does not clearly integrate the right to adequate
food of small farmers. Biased for agro-industrial production, the government thus fails to address the small farmers’ needs to develop
their landholdings in a sustainable way that feeds present and future generations.

UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Olivier De Schutter, stresses small-scale farming as a solution against hunger as it can be
highly productive per hectare and effective in the use of natural resources. Small-scale farms have the potential of true sustainable
farming, which not only raises the farmers’ incomes, but also best addresses local food needs.

A clear mind shift towards a human-rights based framework is needed to end poverty and hunger among Filipino farmers. The lack of
consideration for the right to adequate food when it comes to land rights and rural development is symptomatic for a generally weak legal
framework to the right to food in the Philippines. However, the Philippine State has committed itself to International Laws such as
the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). As such, the Philippine State is obliged to take all steps
necessary to assert the right to food of all Filipinos at all times, also of the Filipino peasants.

Contact: fian.philippines@gmail.com

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