Agri workers call for an end to martial law in Mindanao

On the 1st year anniversary of the declaration of martial law in Mindanao, the Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) unwaveringly reiterated its call for its lifting.

According to UMA Secretary General John Milton “Butch” Lozande, “Martial law has only led to the suppression of the trade union rights of agricultural workers. It has also increased the number of killings among their ranks, alongside peasants and lumads who are asserting their rights to their lands against the unabated expansion of agri-business plantations in the island.”

Most prominent is the case of intensified militarization of Compostela Valley (COMVAL) and trade union repression of Sumifru banana workers.

This is a reaction of the Duterte regime’s fear of the increasing membership and strength of trade unions under the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) not only in Sumifru but in other banana plantations in Comval as well. In the recent past, the said unions have conducted a number of successful strikes against their companies for labor violations like changing their pay from daily to piece rate.

In December 2017, instead of facing the eight KMU-affiliated unions of Sumifru Philippines to negotiate a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), its management utilized State forces to supress workers’ growing clamor for higher salaries and better working conditions. Their unions and the KMU were red tagged, members were harassed and several were forced to surrender as NPA rebels.

Another atrocious case under Duterte’s regime of impunity is the massacre of eight T’boli-Dulangan Manobo in Lake Sebu, South Cotabato on December 3, 2017. The lumad group asserted their right to their land by refusing to renew the Industrial Forest Plantation Management Agreement (IFMA) with Silvicultural Industries Inc., a Consunji company, and occupying the said land after the contract expired in 2016. The ancestral land was being targeted by Consunji for his company’s coffee plantation. The military wasted no time brandishing the massacre as a military encounter with NPA rebels even with massive evidence contradicting their claim. Inspite of all these, the President himself has constantly promoted the expansion of agribusiness plantations in lumad and Moro areas.

Evidently, President Duterte is using martial law in Mindanao to intimidate the Filipino people especially those who are asserting their social and economic rights. This is a key ingredient in his ultimate quest to rule tyrannically over the country and destroy all those who dare to criticize him.