Yesterday was to say the least, long and full of unexpected surprises from start to finish. In the morning, Mary Ann and I met to join the Reform CARP Movement folks at St. Peter’s Parish. While waiting for more farmers to arrive, I got to meet some really cool organizers in the women’s movement with whom I shared chicken adobo and traditional Bulacan rice (cooked and wrapped in banana leaves). If there’s one thing that comes from everyone knowing I’m Filipino-American and making it a point to make that distinction about me, it’s the hospitality. While of course for my parents, I shouldn’t be trusting or too friendly with people, the folks Mary Ann has introduced me to have been really nice and open to talking with me in my messed up Tagalog about the work they do in rural communities or just about their lives.

Soon after eating, we started to march from the church to congress. The Reform CARP Movement is a coalition of different farmers’ groups and supporters, including Pambansang Koalisyon ng Kababaihan sa Kanayunan (PKKK), UNORKA, PAKISAMA, Task Force Mapalad, Akbayan!, Kaisahan, AR Now!, and others. About 200 or so farmers and supporters took part in the march waving their flags of all different colors and chanting:

CARP Extension with Reform!
Isa Batas! Isa Batas!

Reform na agrarya
Huwag Babuyin!

Once we reached congress, I met up with Mary Ann in Baraquel’s office to listen to a caucus meeting of Akbayan! and other groups on what might happen later on during the congressional plenary session. It took forever for the plenary to begin due to the heightened security and restricted entry to the building. The Reform CARP Movement farmers were only allowed to send in a hundred members due to the talk that Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) would also be sending in members to sit in the galleries, so security was afraid of potential rioting and what not. Most everyone else stayed outside the gates to the congressional compound demonstrating in solidarity with those inside.

The plenary began with the calling of an executive caucus, which apparently House Speaker Nograles wanted in order to discuss the CARP Extension bill in private and outside of the public’s eye. During that closed door session, a straw poll was taken among the present 199 representatives (which was like a record number of attendance) with a slim majority voting to pass extension that night. However, back on the floor, discussion shifted to a manifestation and interpellation of a bill regarding energy and renewable resources. Akbayan! Representative Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel made a statement on the importance of CARP, citing that yesterday was the 20th anniversary since the original bill was signed into law 10 June 1988. She then later questioned an article posted on Inquirer.net, which stated the House voted to defer the CARP Extension bill for July. Baraquel ask the speaker if it was the process of the House to make statements to the media on House decisions without ever actually taking a formal, open-floor vote, and in the case of the CARP Extension bill, not opening up discussion to allow for a vote.

House Majority Leader Arthur Defensor was mainly responded to Baraquel. He called the CARP a controversial bill in comparison to a piece of proposed legislation on energy that the House was hearing arguments for after the executive caucus closed. Defensor even went on to say that he would not want to waste the representatives’ time to discuss such a controversial bill (even though the straw poll indicated congressmen would pass the extension). Baraquel asked if there would be a vote at all this week, and when Defensor replied he wasn’t sure, the farmers sitting in the second gallery began jumping down to the floor and shouting for the congressmen to vote on the bill.

It was quite a small uproar, which the media of course sensationalized through their reporting and camera angles. Here is one clip: http://www.gmanews.tv/video/23966

It was a little disheartening to hear Defensor say there wouldn’t a vote and to see the farmers react so strongly to it with anger and sadness. Outside farmers were speaking with so much passion at wanting the government to pass a bill that pretty much entails giving farmers rights and advancing social justice in rural areas. While I couldn’t catch all the Tagalog, the fervor in their voices and their gestures shook the humid air outside the congress building. One woman asked the crowd, Did God give the land to the Arroyos, the Cojuangcos, and other long-time land-owning families? No, he gave the land for everyone to work hard and learn the value of doing so through enjoying the fruits of their labor.

Sitting, arms linked, in a circle, the farmers began singing songs, which I learned later were church songs and a very famous song of revolution called “Ang Bayan Ko.” This song originated as a form of resistance against US colonial rule, and was later sung during the Japanese occupation and the Marcos dictatorship. Here are the lyrics: http://www.msc.edu.ph/centennial/bayan.html

In between songs, a nun gave a prayer, during which she said, Walang iwanan, sumama lahat if the police or the military take us. Just to see the kind of solidarity and commitment the farmers have to each other and to their cause was amazing. Despite the many police cars and soldiers with automatic rifles surrounding them, the farmers did not stop voicing their concerns and holding fast to each other in their circle.

A little later, Baraquel, Jaime Tadeo, and Congressman Edcel Lagman came out to talk to the farmers. They broke news that the House and Senate passed Joint Resolution No. 21, which extends the land acquisition and distribution (LAD) component of CARP until the end of the year. Lagman stated that the resolution signifies that the House is committed to CARP extension and to be assured that the full bill will be passed.

The farmers proceeded to march to the gates of the congressional complex to meet their brethen who stayed out all day with their candles, signs, and flags calling for CARP extension. Amid effigies of congressmen and wafting cigarette smoke from the police, the flags of the different farmers’ groups hung brightly in the camera lights of the media tracking all the proceedings the whole day through. It was quite a sight to see and end a very long day in the midst of.