Kim’s Dream Orlan Ravanera
The Philippines Has Long Lost Its Economic Sovereignty
Conquest of our country began in 16th century when the Spaniards came as conquistadores (conquerors), subjugating the Philippines through sword and cross. Our country then was oozing with ecological resources with billions of florae and fauna which were endemically found only in our country. But our ecologically wealth is not only found above the ground; beneath are high quality minerals, especially in the second biggest island (Mindanao) with some 72 kinds of minerals. Such ecological wealth does not stop at the shorelines as the Philippine archipelago had been described as the “center of the center of marine life on earth.” The Spanish conquistadores had not only exploited the country’s vast resources but the Filipinos’ labor force through the Encomienda System that converted vast tracts of land to produce food for the conquistadors.
Then in 1898, a new imperial power conquered our country, defeating the Spaniards to begin the American Rule as no less than then US President McKinley declared that God told him in a dream to liberate the Filipinos from Spain. US historians revealed that some 600,000 Filipinos had been killed in that war described by these historians as “liberating the souls of the poor Filipinos through death.” Following an extractive economy, the Americans have exploited our natural resources. In fact, there was a big debate in the US Senate in 1990 as some US Senators proposed to end US rule in the Philippines as our country is in the other side of the globe, stating that better to colonize the nearby countries like Mexico or Cuba as it would take three months to travel to the Philippines. But a certain Sen. Larry Heaney stood-up, firmly favoring the continuation of US imperial rule in the Philippines as the dipterocarp forest of the country can supply the timber needs of the world for century to come. It was in that light that our country had supplied the timber needs of the world in the last century, the reason why we have lost our 17 million hectares of dipterocarp forest. We have not just lost our forest we have also lost our precious blessed land.
As published in Washington Post by Mr. Peter S. Goodman in New York on December 30, 2023, entitled, “The Colonial Roots of Philippine Poverty,” it was declared that “the desperation confronting tens of millions of landless Filipinos stems in part from policies imposed by the powers that controlled the archipelago for centuries – first Spain and then the United States. Because the United States opted not to engage in the redistribution of land, families that collaborated with colonial authorities retain oligarchical control over the soil and dominate the political sphere. Policies engineered to make the country dependent on American factory goods have left the Philippines with a much smaller industrial based than many economies in Asia.” Such truism is the root cause of poverty in a very rich ecological country that has become so poor because of the modern-day American Imperialism in cohort with the oligarchs. American Imperialism that controls more than one half of the world’s resources has either made Third World countries like our country as either Market or Target. Market means, our country has just become a dumping ground of finished products and our rich resources are extracted following an extractive economy. Target means our country has just become US military base which will be the target when war erupts.
The blessed island of Mindanao has been repeatedly mentioned as now controlled by corporate globalization which is producing high value fruits like pineapple and banana to supply the consumerist needs of the people in advanced countries while we cannot even produce enough basic staples for our hungry people
Indeed, the Philippines is the biggest rice importer in the world and 90% of our milk are imported, the reason why 85% of the Filipino children are malnourished. Mr. Goodman has mentioned the pitiful incidence in Butong, Quezon where thousands of tribal Filipinos are living under shattered tents along the hi-way, so poor and hungry because their 1,111 hectares of their ancestral domain where their ancestors are buried, has been illegally grabbed by a rich powerful corporation.
The author has underscored that corporate globalization has conquered Mindanao where the choicest of lands have been converted into massive plantations by powerful corporation in cohort with powerful oligarchs which is not only happening in Butong, Quezon, Bukidnon but almost everywhere else. Such is very glaring in San Vicente, Sumilao, Bukidnon where in 2016 the 5,000-ha. -ancestral domain of the Manobo Tribe under Bae Merlita Mayantao was fenced by a powerful corporation. When they protested, barrage of firepower rained upon them by a powerful Tagbagani Security Force and then and there, killed three tribal members and wounding three more.
(sinceWhat is so painful is what is happening now in Sitio Kibaritan, Malinao, Kalilangan, Bukidnon. The 195-hectares farmland that has been farmed for more than 50 years by the Indigenous Tribe has been converted into military reservation which is contrary to the declaration of the LGU and agencies of government that such was already a community with an elementary school, a chapel, and a day-care center. Such declaration of military reservation was in utter disregard to the prior right of the occupants that had caused the deaths of three innocent children when an UXO bomb exploded without even a warning of the presence of the bomb.
the farmers are now living in hunger and extreme poverty because their farms have been fenced and every time they would attempt to enter to harvest their crops, they are being pushed around and even mauled. Every night, there are gun fires that have already cause so much anguish and phobia especially to the children who have stopped going to school anymore. Question? Is their land for military reservation? No. They have discovered that such will be converted into massive hybrid banana plantations as the military officials and the DAR Under Secretary Jeffrey Galan have signed an agreement with a corporation. Is corporate globalization being done now through militarization?
The non-stop entry of trans-national corporation is happening in Amai Manabilang and Wao, Lanao del Sur where a total of some 26,000 hectares are being transformed into plantations i.e., cacao, coffee, and bamboo under the guise of promoting Agro-industrial development in Amai Manabilang harassments and repression are being employed to forcedly evict the Ilocano farmers. As narrated by the Ilocano farmers; “May mga araw na sinisira ang aming mga pananim, inaagaw ang aming mga lupain at takot kami na patayin. Kami po ang isang libong pamilyang Ilocano at kami po ay nananawagan ng agarang tulong sa aming MAHAL NA KABABAYANG PANGULONG PRESBBM para mabigyang solusyon ang pang aagaw ng lupa na aming sinasakahan”.Hard-working, compassionate and with high reverence to nature, some 1,000 Ilocano farmers coming from La Union, Pangasinan and Tarlac known as LAPANTAR came to Mindanao in the 1950’s and 60’s as settlers and have wonderfully developed the blessed land in Amai Manabilang known then as Bumbaran (Francfort and Upperport). In the last 60 years, the settlers and their descendants have wonderfully developed their agricultural lands sustainably following natures and sustenance economy, treating nature as like a “home” where their basic needs and the communities are provided for. Well, their long years of farming speaks well that they have already acquired prior rights over their land, following diversified and integrated sustainable agriculture and the ones supplying sugar cane to two manufacturing sugar plants, namely, Crystal and BUSCO.
The new conquistadores are focusing on maximizing short term profit through maximizing consumer goods. Our firm stand is NOT TO MAXIMIZE CONSUMER GOODS BUT TO MAXIMIZE OUR VALUES TO LIVE A DIFFERENT WAY OF LIFE TO DEBUNK THE MUNDANE AND GO TO THE SUBLIME. Let us therefore liberate ourselves from unbridled materialism and consumerism. The new masters of the land, the architect of government policies, the corporations, must stop sacrificing Mother Earth and the people to the altar of greed and profit! Let us now debunk the EGO (Satan) as Satanic greed has indeed ruled the homo sapiens. Let the message of King Solomon reverberate when he said in Ecclesiastes “Fame, wealth and power are meaningless, utterly meaningless. What is important is how we have served the least of our brethren.” When that happens, we will end up in the loving embrace of the Unseen Formless Being, called God.
