Stop the criminalisation of peasant women!
Solidarity with the Sumalo peasants in Philippines
On International Women's Day, the Global Network for the Right to Food and Nutrition stands in solidarity with the Sumalo peasants in Philippines and calls for the dismissal of their cases and an immediate end to criminalisation.
The Global Network for the Right to Food and Nutrition (hereafter GNRTFN) expresses its solidarity with the nine (eight of them women) peasant leaders of SANAMABASU (Samahan ng Nagkakaisang Mamamayan ng Barangay Sumalo), a peasant organisation in the Philippines, who are staging their "surrender" to the authorities on 8 March, International Women's Day. Since the arrest warrant was issued on 21 February, the peasants have temporarily evacuated their homes to avoid arrest.
The Sumalo peasants have been campaigning for decades for the recognition of their right to land and their right to food and nutrition. Their struggle began when the wealthy Litton family bought the land they farmed and occupied in 1979. Since the introduction of the agrarian reform programme in 1989, the Litton family has been trying to find ways to exempt their land from the agrarian reform scheme. Even when the land acquisition and distribution was ordered by the Office of the President in 2019, the armed guards and pro-Litton family villagers blocked the government's efforts to survey the land - the first and necessary step in generating and registering the farmers' individual titles.
In the face of the slow implementation of agrarian reform, the Sumalo peasants, their leaders and family members have been victims of harassment, intimidation, criminalisation and even murder. To date, none of the perpetrators have been held accountable. According to the peasants' testimonies, the Litton family has filed more than 50 criminal, civil and administrative cases against the Sumalo peasants since they petitioned for agrarian reform. In 2021, an ejectment case against them resulted in the demolition of 76 houses, rendering them homeless and deprived of their land and livelihoods.
The recent charges against nine Sumalo peasants is yet another attempt to silence and demoralise them and weaken their movement and struggle. In July 2022, several individual claimants known to be close to the landowner family filed a case of syndicated estafa, a non-bailable offence, against these nine SANAMABASU members - eight women and one man. Four of them, all women, are elderly, aged 72, 69, 68 and 61 years respectively. The complainants claimed that the nine accused conspired to collect money with an alleged promise of the accused that they would secure the implementation of agrarian reform and the inclusion of complainants as agrarian reform beneficiaries. The nine Sumalo peasants deny all allegations.
Today, the nine peasants have decided to "surrender" in defiance of the power and influence wielded by the company owner and the private armed guards at the local level. In doing so, they are asserting their legitimate claim to the land and taking their fight for justice and the realisation of their right to food and nutrition into their own hands.
We, the undersigned members of the Global Network for the Right to Food and Nutrition, stand in solidarity with the nine Sumalo farmers, their families and communities. We urge the government of the Philippines to
- Immediately drop the cases of the Sumalo farmers and act in accordance with its human rights obligations regarding the right to food and nutrition;
- Take all measures to protect the Sumalo farmers from violence and criminalisation and bring the perpetrators to justice;
- Guarantee the Sumalo peasants' right to land through the rapid implementation of the agrarian reform in accordance with national law and international human rights standards (e.g. FAO Tenure Guidelines, and the recently adopted General Comment No. 26 (2022) on Land and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights).
Signed by
FIAN International
FIAN Indonesia
FIAN Sri Lanka
FIAN Austria
FIAN Switzerland
IBFAN Mexico
Focus on the Global South
Indonesia for Global Justice
Gaza Urban & Peri-urban Agriculture Platform (GUPAP) (Gaza, Palestine)
ACTUAR (Portual)
CEFROHT (Uganda)
Training and Education Center on Ecology and Health for Peasants (Mexico)
Prof. Dr. Anne C Bellows, Dept of Nutrition and Food Studies, Syracuse University