Under the gloomy skies of June, our fields were filled with blood and terror. The rain pours like tears, bloody tears of injustice and traumatic experiences of our farmers and indigenous people in the countryside.
In a recently published article on a national circulation and in an interview with UPLB’s College of Agriculture Dean Dr. Domingo Angeles by a national radio-station, concerns on the dwindling number of Filipino farmers was raised.
For more than twenty years since the Philippines ratified its membership at the World Trade Organization (WTO) the already backward Philippine agricultural economy suffered more and more defeats.
We pay our highest respects to the fallen 44 and to the civilians who died at the Mamasapano bloodbath, as we call for accountability and justice from this government’s ineptness but ALL OUT WAR is NOT an option.
If Tito Manny is alive to this day, for sure he will be one of the advocates against aerial spraying in banana plantations for this endangers the lives of our people.
Our journey towards a sustainable agriculture remains to be a long and winding road as we are still confronted with landlessness and capitalist opportunism in the agriculture sector. Don’t get me wrong; despite its inadequacies and tendencies to favor the rich farmers and landlords, the Organic Agriculture Act of 2010 is a milestone in our quest for a sustainable agriculture.
As the crisis worsens in third world countries like the Philippines, health care is apparently not a priority for the government. With the continuing neglect and consistent slash of budget for health among any other social services, this resulted to a ballooning and complex problems of health concerns.
The price of a kilo of garlic skyrocketed to almost 400 pesos for almost a month now. We witnessed the pungency of this corrupt-ridden government, as our plate became less savory.
