Peasant women and farmers vowed to remain outside the Department of Agrarian Reform until National Peasant Day on Oct. 21 after police moved to dismantle their protest camp Monday.
At least 20 delegates and peasant advocates were injured as they tried to defend the camp, according to the Amihan National Federation of Peasant Women.
Amihan said personnel from the Quezon City Police District and the Philippine National Police tried to clear the camp on Oct. 19 despite permission from the agrarian reform department for the farmers to stay.
The group said the police action unfolded while farmers from Bicol, Bulacan, and Hacienda Luisita were holding a dialogue with DAR officials.
The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas said farmers also had scheduled dialogues with the DAR and the Philippine Coconut Authority.
“Farmers came to Manila to demand solutions to long-standing land problems, not to be blocked by the police. The government must listen to farmers and address their demands instead of obstructing their peaceful protest,” KMP said.
Amihan condemned the attempted demolition as the government’s “fascist response to Filipino farmers’ legitimate demands.”
“Dahas at pagpapalayas ang nararanasan ng mga magbubukid sa kanayunan, at hanggang dito ay marahas pa ring pinalalayas ang mga magsasakang nagsusulong sa kanilang mga karapatan,” said Zenaida Soriano, national chairperson of Amihan.
The confrontation followed the dismantling of an earlier farmers’ camp outside the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
Amihan said police ordered the farmers on the evening of Oct. 16 to leave the camp within two hours.
More than 400 peasant women and farmers from Tarlac, Bicol, Negros, Bulacan, Southern Tagalog and Cagayan Valley began traveling to Manila on Oct. 15, International Rural Women’s Day, to press demands over land, livelihoods and human rights.
They are opposing land-use conversion, development projects and initiatives described as “green” projects that they say displace farmers and fisherfolk and threaten their livelihoods.
In Silay, Negros Occidental, peasant women and farmers are opposing the conversion of at least 3,000 hectares of agricultural land into a solar farm, according to Amihan.
The group also criticized the World Bank-funded Support to Parcelization of Land for Individual Titling, or SPLIT, program, saying it seeks to divide collective farms into individual land titles and could make agricultural land easier for private businesses to acquire.
The farmers’ protest also targets Pax Silica, the Luzon Economic Corridor, wind and carbon projects planned on forest lands and waters, and what Amihan described as the government’s failure to protect and assist farmers during Super El Niño.
KMP said farmers from several regions came to Metro Manila to raise long-standing land disputes and oppose land grabbing, agricultural land conversion, and projects they say threaten livelihoods and the environment.
The group also accused police of applying a double standard by allowing religious groups to hold campouts in Luneta and along EDSA while blocking the farmers’ encampment.
KMP said farmers defending their land and livelihood should be afforded the same right to protest.
Amihan urged the public to support the camp and join the farmers’ protest on Oct. 21.
“Kailangan nating magkaisa sa paglaban sa Pax Silica at iba pang mapanirang proyekto sa ating kalikasan at kalupaan,” Soriano said. “Ang paglaban sa Pax Silica at paglaban para sa lupa, pambansang soberanya, at buhay. Sumama sa Protesta ng mga Magbubukid sa Oktubre 21!”
