Cooperatives, the instruments of Social Justice

Food comes from their farms but the dining tables of farmers fall short of it, tilling lands not their own and if they do, tied-up to costly seeds and technologies that adhere to conventional agriculture which is beyond their control. They sell their products under the mercy of “compradors,” following an oppressive marketing system that makes their farming non-viable. Aptly described as “unsung heroes” and the “backbone” of the country, yet, they wallow inside the vicious cycle of poverty. What makes it more painful is that there are agricultural programs designed to somehow alleviate their economic difficulties to increase their productivity (i.e. financial assistance for farm inputs and post-harvest facilities), yet, could not reach them as these are trapped in pockets of those who cannot moderate their greed.

How about our indigenous peoples? Well, they have become “squatters” in their own native land as the ancestral land which their forefathers had occupied for hundreds of years are now converted into massive plantations. These are “blessed lands” of our indigenous peoples and these are the choicest of land. According to a Study of the Development Academy of the Philippines, some 63% of Mindanao is now under the control of Trans-National Corporations (TNCs) and our IPs find themselves farming marginalized and highly steep mountainous areas. “Gamay langngatulod, angkabawmoligidna.”

The “blessed lands” have ceased to be so because these lands, where plantations have loomed, reek poisons,