Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura
Federation of Agricultural Workers | Philippines
APril 17, 2020
The Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura heavily criticized the Duterte government for threatening the Filipino people with further repressive measures such as explicitly placing the country under Martial Law instead of urgently providing them with aid.
According to UMA Chairperson, Antonio “Ka Tonying” Flores, “The primary reason why many are going against quarantine rules is the lack of prompt and adequate socio-economic aid. Many barangays have not yet received the already limited social amelioration.”
“Meanwhile, agriworkers have not been included in the Department of Labor and Employment’s Covid-19 Adjustment Measures Program (CAMP) as they are considered as informal sector workers, even if there are cases of work stoppage in plantations and mills. Neither were they able to access DOLE’s Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD) project,” Flores added.
In the IATF’s third report to Congress, it boasted of providing assistance to 118,086 workers under CAMP and 167,941 workers under TUPAD.
Flores said, “The Bukidnon Sugar Milling Corporation (BUSCO) stopped its operation for about two weeks. In Agusan del Sur, Soriano Farms and Lapanday banana plantations in Cabadbaran and Jabonga reduced working days from six to three days a week. But none of their workers reported having received any aid from DOLE for not being able to work due to companies’ temporary closure or compressed work week.”
“The administration has given so many promises and targets undelivered. The least that agriworkers need are menacing remarks from the President as the country tries to survive a pandemic.”
“Instead of intimidation, why doesn’t the President present what he is going to do in order to protect our food frontliners? Why does he not talk about measures to ensure that their produce are bought at fair prices?”
In Cagayan Valley, traders bought rice farmers’ palay at P14/kilo taking advantage of their desperation to get their produce to the market. In Batangas, molasses were bought at P10/kilo instead of P40 because only one trader was buying molasses from small sugarplanters, while sugar plummeted from P1,500 to P1,200 per bag (50 kilos).
“What can the President say about the fact that only agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) from 2010 to the present are the only ones who will be given IDs, which will be used to access much needed services to increase their farm production? This resulted to thousands of ARBs not being included in the cash assistance and seedlings program by the DAR. A case in fact are Hacienda Roxas ARBs in Nasugbu who are already at about 1,500. Meanwhile, none of our member farmworkers in rice fields have reported of getting assistance from the Department of Agriculture.”
“The President seems to think that he and his Cabinet members’ ineptitude in addressing the pandemic can be covered up by militaristic solutions and verbal abuse. He undermines the public in misleading them that it is the “quarantine violators” who are responsible for the country having the highest number of Covid-19 cases in Southeast Asia, when he allowed more than 500,000 Chinese into the country in failing to declare a travel ban immediately just to please China. For all these reasons, he should already resign together with DOH Secretary Duque.”
“If the President continues to fail to heed the people, this will only lead more people to support the call for his ouster,” Flores ended.
