Break the chain– Peasant and Indigenous communities left reeling after #KristinePH

October is both the Peasant and Indigenous Peoples Month, but celebrations were interrupted as Severe Tropical Storm Kristine troubled the Indigenous lands and farming areas in the country. 

The Department of Agriculture reports P3.76 billion in agricultural damage as of October 30. Data on farmlands across the nation are still unclear; most of the farmer accounts being posted online are at the barangay-level. 

But the farmers’ individual voices represent the bigger, national picture: farmers continue to suffer losses rooted in government incompetence. Natural disasters like Kristine exacerbate the issue and show just how little support there is for peasant communities.

In a Facebook post made on October 25, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) recounted how farmers have little faith that the P250+ billion budget for 2025 flood controls will be used for actual “tangible aid”. Furthermore, KMP wrote, “... farmers frequently encounter harassment, red-tagging, and coercion, often intensified by the presence of US troops under EDCA.”

Filipino farmers have expressed their concerns over low palay prices even before Typhoon Kristine. One farmer in Sta. Cruz, Laguna told the Amihan National Federation of Peasant Women that the storm damage will cut their slim earnings to a quarter of their expected profit. 

The same farmer said, “Kawawa talaga ang mga magsasaka. Hindi pa man nakakapag-ani, berde pa ang palay.” They are already taking stock of their losses before the crops are even ready for harvest. 

Luzon’s Eastern Backbone

What happened with Typhoon Kristine not only emphasized the government’s shortcomings, it also highlighted the important and irreplaceable role nature plays in the nation’s defense against natural disasters. 

The Sierra Madre Mountain Range is known as the “eastern backbone of Luzon”, and it has certainly earned this title. It’s a storm wall that spans ten provinces, serving as a barrier between Luzon and the Pacific Ocean. 

Sierra Madre’s most formidable enemy is not the typhoons that batter its slopes– it’s man-made construction programs like the Kaliwa Dam project. While the dam is meant to solve the water crisis in Manila and other nearby urban areas, the site encroaches on the Dumagat-Remontado Indigenous group’s ancestral domains as well as the Kaliwa Watershed, a forest reserve and national park and wildlife sanctuary.

The project threatens to flood at least 113 hectares of forestland, displace eight villages consisting of 1,465 families, and indirectly affect thousands more in the vicinity. Despite the dam being only at 30% completion last March, it has already disrupted the Dumagat-Remontados’ way of life. Thirty percent is too much as it is. 

Back in 2019, Haribon Foundation released a report that put it clearly: “While we recognize that Metro Manila has legitimate concerns on water security, these should not be addressed at the expense of human rights, our environment, Philippine laws, and sovereignty.”

The Kaliwa Dam also carries with it a symbolic weight. Joan Jaime of the Kalipunan ng mga Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas (KATRIBU) described the project as the gateway to the Sierra Madre. “If we allow Kaliwa, what’s stopping the government from building the rest [of the projects]?” Jaime said. 

Submerged farmlands 

Typhoon Kristine made landfall in Isabela on October 24. On the same day, Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) head, Constante Foronda Jr., told ANC’s Dateline Philippines, “Nabiyayaan po ang Isabela ng Sierra Madre. Mataas po ang mga bundok ng Sierra Madre, malamang na nasangga ng Sierra Madre ‘yung ulan at hangin nitong si Bagyong Kristine bago po makarating dito po sa pinaka-main na lugar ng Isabela.”

However, this does not mean Isabela was unscathed. Out of the province’s 34 towns, 29 were flooded, with farmlands and crops extensively damaged. Sagip Kanayuan has direct reports of farmlands submerged in the towns of Tumauini and Delfin Abono. 

For Isabela farmers, damages sustained after Typhoon Kristine is the latest in a chain of crises that go unresolved by the national government. The agriculture sector remains unsupported by the government, and this failure is felt deeply by farmer communities. They are still reeling from the effects of El Niño and the Severe Tropical Storm Enteng, which swept the country last September. They are also increasingly becoming concerned with their area’s intensifying military presence. 

While the Sierra Madre has not faltered in protecting Luzon and its residents, authorities have. That is why there is no space, now or ever, for destructive and manipulative projects like the Kaliwa Dam, nor any other reiterations of it. 

In a letter addressed to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Climate Rights International and Manila Observatory directors said, “As you have stated, in the battle to mitigate climate change ‘there will be no weapons to use; only behaviors and practices to improve upon.’ We call upon you to make the Kaliwa Dam project a model of that improvement.”

KATRIBU and Amihan Women call for donations for indigenous and peasant communities affected by Typhoon Kristine in Bicol, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, and Cordillera regions. Alongside other organizations, they champion peasant and indigenous rights in the Philippines.  

This fight did not only start with Typhoon Kristine, and it will not end with its relief and rehabilitation efforts. Likewise, the fight continues beyond October. The chain of suffering wraps around the whole nation, no matter the time or day. If the pain is shared, so too is the remedy. 

#PeasantMonth2023

#IndigenousPeoplesMonth2023

#LandToTheTillers 

#StandWithIPs 

#TheVoice 

Sources

Amihan Women. (2024, October 25). Mga magsasaka ng Sta. Cruz, Laguna, umaaray sa epekto ng tropical storm #Kristine sa kanilang palayan. [Status update]. Facebook. 

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/hXyHe1YjckK8jEcd/ 

ANC 24/7. (2024, October 24). Isabela reports minimal impact from 'Kristine', credits Sierra Madre for protection. [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PG4UdY70bkA 

Chavez, L. (2019, November 5). A Philippine tribe that defeated a dam prepares to fight its reincarnation. Mongabay. https://news.mongabay.com/2019/11/a-philippine-tribe-that-defeated-a-dam-prepares-to-fight-its-reincarnation/ 

Climate Rights International. (2023, October 22). CRI and Manila Observatory letter to Philippines President Marcos on the Kaliwa Dam project. https://cri.org/cri-manila-observatory-letter-philippines-president-marcos-kaliwa-dam-project/ 

Flores, D. (2024, October 24). Despite sufficient rice supply, farmers fear low prices after 'Kristine' losses. Philstar Global. https://www.philstar.com/business/2024/10/24/2394991/despite-sufficient-rice-supply-farmers-fear-low-prices-after-kristine-losses 

Forest Foundation Philippines. (2022). Sierra Madre Mountain Range: Backbone of Luzon. https://www.forestfoundation.ph/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Sierra-Madre-Mountain-Range_Landscape-Profile.pdf 

Haribon Foundation. (2019, June 25). Stop Kaliwa Dam. https://haribon.org.ph/blog/2019/06/25/Stop-Kaliwa-Dam 

Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas - KMP. (2024, October 25). Isabela farmers demand immediate compensation, decry militarization of disaster response amid #KristinePH onslaught. [Status update]. Facebook. 

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/MVvmo7PtPBTRRzky/ 

Sarao, Z. (2024, October 30). Agricultural damage due to Kristine reaches P3.76B. The Philippine Daily Inquirer. https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1999471/agricultural-damage-due-to-kristine-reaches-p3-76b 

The Coalition for Human Rights in Development. (2024, April 15). Philippines: The fierce resistance to stop the Kaliwa dam. https://rightsindevelopment.org/news/philippines-the-fierce-resistance-to-stop-the-kaliwa-dam/