The militant Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) expressed its dismay on the continuing commemoration of World Food Day in our country when most of our countrymen are hungry. According to Danilo “Ka Daning” Ramos, secretary general of the group, “World Food day is really a misnomer here in our country, instead it should be called World Foodless Day, because we have no food on our plates. As the recent SWS survey would attest more 15.1 million Filipinos are hungry due to landlessness and joblessness,”

“Food is now really harder to come by these days even for us food producers. The price of our palay (unmilled rice) is really low P7-P9 while traders sell rice at P18 at the minimum. They make a killing at the expense of us who worked day and night to feed the country. All we are asking is for the farm gate price of palay to be increased to the NFA price of P10.50-P12. This does not mean that the price of rice will increase. It only means giving what is due to us farmers and lessening the profit of the rice cartels,” explained Ramos.

As for his part Carl Anthony Ala, public information officer of KMP said that according to a new University of the Philippines study the 7 out of 10 Filipinos below the poverty line are in the rural areas. “This study glaringly shows the impoverished situation of the peasant sector and our demand for the increase in the farm gate price of palay is legit and long overdue,”

“Traders should not use our demand to further jack up the price of rice because we will be watching them. They have lived of our labor long enough it is time that we are compensated for our hard-earned work, because we also deserve to live decently,” added Ala.

The regional chapters of the KMP will launch farm strikes to emphasize their demand for the increase in the price of palay and to call for genuine land reform. The culmination is a massive mobilization in Manila on October 21. # # #

KMP - 15 October 2004