In a news conference in Quezon City today, the militant peasant group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) set a “Five-point demand” for the Philippines to counter the burdensome impacts of the trade liberalization brought by the country’s membership to the World Trade Organization (WTO), which is set to hold its Fifth Ministerial Meeting in Cancun, Mexico next week.

KMP secretary general Danilo Ramos said, “Filipino farmers believe that the Five-point demands are “doable” for the government and are beyond the framework of the WTO.”

The “Five-point demands” being pushed by the KMP are:

1. Stop the implementation of WTO liberalization policies! This is to stop the bleeding of Philippine agriculture and the economic genocide of small Filipino farmers under WTO.

2. Institute production and marketing subsidies in agriculture! This measure must be instituted with the end view of developing local agriculture production technology and national industrialization because it is only through these that subsidies will truly serve Filipino small farmers.  

3. Conduct impact assessment on the effects of WTO liberalization! An impact assessment on the effects of WTO liberalization in Philippine agriculture to have a clear and objective basis for its abrogation by the Philippine Senate.
  
4. Reject the Harbinson text and no commitments to the “new issues” in the Cancun meeting. As the Cancun agenda will tackle a new round of negotiations to further liberalize international trade and cover new issues to expand the WTO regime in services, fisheries and investments, the Philippine government must not make any new commitment in Cancun except with regard to demanding for a moratorium in the implementation of WTO liberalization policies. In lieu of the Harbinson text and “new issues”, the Philippine government must uphold national patrimony and implement genuine agrarian reform. 

5. Stop rice liberalization and importation! The rice sector is already badly hit with liberalization policies even if it is still technically under the “quantitative restrictions”. 

Ramos said that “Rice is the staple food of Filipinos, it must not be compromised for inclusion in the WTO trade regime to pave the way for rolling back the rice trade liberalization policies already implemented by the government.”

The full-scale liberalization of the rice industry would take effect in the year 2004 as outlined in the Harbinson text of the WTO.

“Unhampered rice importation and liberalization in 2004 would aggravate the situation of our already hurting rice sector,” the KMP leader added.

The KMP also assailed the Macapagal-Arroyo government’s plans to amend the 1987 Constitution to make it tailor-fit to the needs and dictates of the WTO, particularly agricultural trade liberalization and foreign ownership of lands and utilities.

“It is now an open book that plans to amend the 1987 Constitution is aimed to remove any remaining protectionist provisions, pave the way for a 100 percent foreign ownership of lands and unhampered dumping of foreign agricultural surpluses in our local market,” Ramos said.

Carrying the theme, “Land! Food! Jobs! Not Imperialist Plunder! Get Out of WTO! Oust GMA!”, peasant group said it would launch nationwide protest actions on September 9-10 principally directed against the Macapagal-Arroyo regime’s all-out puppetry to imperialist globalization, blatant corruption and total war policy. #

KMP - 6 September 2003