Kim’s Dream Orlan Ravanera
“When I Gave Food to the Poor, they called me a Saint,
The late Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador once said, “When I gave food to the poor, they called me a saint; when I asked why they are poor, they called me a communist.” The good Archbishop kept on asking that question to somehow enhance his constituency’s social consciousness to struggle against oppressive rule prevailing then in his country. He had to be silenced thru the barrel of a gun while he was celebrating a mass early morning.
Like the late Archbishop, some `101 Chieftains of the Indigenous Peoples in Mindanao have been silenced through barrels of guns since 2016 when they resisted against the enclosure of their ancestral domain through corporate globalization as Mindanao has now some 200,000 hectares of massive plantations to satisfy the consumerist needs of the people in developed countries. Indeed, the enclosures of the commons (forest, land, water and natural resources) are now intensifying which were once the ancestral domain of the Indigenous Peoples that they were cultivating then in the spirit of sharing and service to one another. It is their belief then that no one can own the land that will outlast us, the land will own us instead when we die. Thus, private ownership was not in their language. Yes, they may have no title; but are the hundreds if not thousands of years of occupying the land not a concrete evidence of ownership? NO! As far as these new occupants are concerned, now brandishing land titles, many of which had been gotten hideously in connivance with power-that-be, in gross violation of the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act (RA8371).
Why was there massive plunder of our natural resources? A century or so ago, three- fourths of the Philippines were wooded with some 17 million hectares of dipterocarp forest. Today, only half a million hectares are left. As our dipterocarp forest goes, so goes our mega-diversity composed of billions of living organisms (flora and fauna) which are only endemic in our country which has been described as the richest on earth, becoming extinct even before being discovered. The powerful loggers and cohorts, many of whom were elected to key positions because of their tremendous rakings that were used to buy votes, have created a strong cabal of vested interest including those who were tasked to enforce the laws.
Our once rich agricultural lands have become addictive to chemical dependent conventional agriculture that is only successful in polluting our watersheds and in further impoverishing the peasantry as big agri-business corporations have robbed the rural communities of their farming. In fact, the Indigenous Peoples are now the poorest of the poor, from being the masters of the land (Ancestral Domains) for thousands of years. Their Ancestral Domains have been land-grabbed and if they would resist, they are being killed.
Our marine ecosystem fare no better as fishing communities continue to suffer from high poverty rate as the bays’ ecological integrity is fast vanishing due to the destruction of the mangroves and coral reefs. Massive siltation and pollution are giving the final death blow to the marine and fishery life, making our coastal communities the poorest of the poor. Based on studies, 10 of the 13 major bays in the country are now biologically dead; of the 25 major rivers, 15 have already dried-up or polluted.
A Study has shown that almost 90% of the ecological people (farmers, fisherfolk, Indigenous Peoples) are below poverty line because of the destruction of the ecosystems aggravated by social injustices. In fact, 3 to 4 young farmers have already left farming, going to the urban centers to work as janitors, drivers, waiters or if beautiful, as dancers. Based on the UN Study as reported by the Food Agricultural Organization (FAO), the rural people are the victims of climate change and the on-going protracted war. As reported, “in the last decade, Philippine Agriculture has just contributed .02 percent to the GDP.” Why? Because of wrong policies tied up to conventional agriculture where everyone has profited from farming (fertilizer and seed dealers, the usurers, the compradors, etc.) but not those who work so hard, exposed to the excruciating heat of the sun and outpourings of rains – the poor famers.
Social injustice is indeed becoming worse, where a few elites have much too much and the many who are poor have much too little that is now glaringly seen in the life of the farmers tilling the land not their own and if they own the land, they do no control the mode of production and marketing.
Social injustice is seen in the life of the 13 million (MCOs) member-consumer-owners of so-called Electric Cooperatives which are only cooperatives in name but do not practice the time-honored and universally-accepted cooperative principles and values. The 13 million MCOs have more than a total combined one trillion -peso capital shares in their respective Electric Cooperatives but until now such is not recognized. Isn’t that a great social injustice and horrible deception to the Filipino people? When a former Chairman of Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) advocated to rectify such, he has been crucified by the Ombudsman and by the Sandigan Bayan! For what? For doing his job! Indeed, enough is enough of oligarchical control in a Republican and Democratic State where the welfare of the people is the supreme law! After six long years of judicial persecution, he was recently adjudged innocent. Yes, LABAN LANG!
There can never be social transformation unless the Filipino People are conscienticiized on these painful socio-economic-ecological realities by asking the right questions as done by the late Archbishop of El Salvador. But “RED-TAGGING” continues without let-up through putting-up “red flags” in communities or tribes who are resisting the grabbing of their ancestral domain.
Indeed, these painful realities and social wrongs must now be rectified – for people, planet, prosperity and peace – for God’s greater glory!
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