Illo, Jeanne Frances I.

Pineda-Ofreneo, Rosalinda

English

Canadian Woman Studies / les cahiers de la femme (E-Journal, York University)

Land Rights for Filipino Women The View from Below by Jeanne Frances I. I& vest Wind). A small group of wom- and Rosalinda Pineda- en's rights advocates, with the help of allies in government, also lobbied the government for the protection of women's land rights in the uplands. La lutte pour b dmit h ka tow dcs Once the legal and implementation f;mmrr dr communautc's twraks lcs dcseworb for land distribution had been set, groups like the govern- It callcdfor genuine land rejorm and nationalist ment's National industriulization whih fieusing on specijc peaant On the Role of Fili- women i demand, namely: recognition of their pino Women and right to own kznd priority to widows and singh the Women in m o t h  in h d  distribution programs. Development fo- cal ~oin ts  it orean- '2 ized in various de- Philippines est t d s  rilcente et elk partments, including the Department comprcnd lcs groupes trJs divmifils ofAgrarian Reform (DAR), came into q u i t r a v a i l l n t t p a ~ i s i ~ m m e n t  the picture (1110 et aL 1994). This l'un dc lhu& CA articksepenche sur articie focuses on the experiences of dnuc dr ces otganismes dc fmmes qui, two women's organizations and some h cause dc hrs ont obtcnu une results of the implementation of the politiquc comprihmive dc rilfirma Philippine Comprehensive Agrarian agraires awe Philippines. Reform Policy. The call for land rights for rural women is a Grly recent one, not even a decade old. It first reverberated within organizations of peasant women, and was echoed in the coali- tions they formed together with peas- ant men. Women's equal rights to ownership of the land as well as to equd shares of the farm produce found recognition in the "people's agrarian reform program." Insistent pressure from nongovernmend or- ganizations (NGOS) and people's or- ganizations, resulted in Republic Act G657 otherwise known as the Com- prehensive Agrarian Reform Law (W) of 1988. The struggle for rural women's land tights involved different groups, sometimes working independently from each other (1110 1988). At the forefront have been peasant women's organizations-principally the Kirtapunan ng Bagong Pilipina (Asso- ciation of the New Filipina) or KaBaPa, and Amihan (literally, Har- The peasant women's groups The advocacy and struggle for women's land rights was led by KaBaPa and Amihan. KaBaPa emerged from the peasant movement based mainly in Central Luzon. It was founded by 2,000 grassroots women in 1975. Its goals are equal- ity, development, and peace as enun- ciated by the United Nations. It cur- rently has 28,000 members and re- mains mainly rural based. It has reor- ganized its membership into specific sectors depending on their tenurial status and livelihood source. One such sector is the Katipunan ng Kirbabaihang Magbubukid (Associa- tion of Peasant Women) where the issue ofland rights is a strong point of advocacy. KaBaPa, after almost two decades of existence, has outstanding achievements in the field of educa- tion and training, community-based services and projects (including con- sumer and production cooperatives), and networking nationally and inter- nationally. Its president, Trinidad Domingo, is well-respected in the broad women's movement. She was nominated to be a sectoral repre- sentative in Congress by many wom- en's groups. She currently sits as a Commissioner in the National Com- mission on the Role of Filipino Women and heads the National Peas- ant Council. Amihan was established in late 1986. It called fbr genuine land re- form and nationalist industrializa- tion whiie focusing on specific peas- ant women's demands, namely: rec- ognition of their right to own land, priority to widows and single moth- ers in land distribution programs, just wages for women agricultural workers, protection from sexual har- assment, and extension of maternity benefits and day care services. Its attitude towards the state is indicated by the fact that Amihan has not ac- tively sought affiliation and working relationships with government agen- cies, preferring to keep its independ- ence and to encourage peasant women to harness their own resources for development (Taguiwalo and Miralao). Both KaBaPa and Amihan were active in the Congress for a People's Agrarian Reform (CPAR), a broad coa- lition of peasant and rural workers' organizations which existed from 1987 to 1993. During its existence, CPAR was responsible for launching The PeopbiAgrarian W r m  Program which stipulated that: All women members of the agri- cultural labour force must be guaranteed and assured qd rights to ownership ofland, quaJ shares of the firm's produce, and representation in the people's councils andother decision-m&- ing bodies. (Chapter VII, Spe- cial Concerns, Section 1, Rural Women) 114 CANADIAN WOMAN STUDIESlLES CAHIERS DE U FEMME CPAR engaged in intensive lobby- ing coupled with mass mobilization for agrarian reform, establishing a campaign towards the legislation of an alternative Peopk? Agrarian Re- firm W. Unfortunately, the cam- paign did not prosper. There was not enough push from the ground. After several yearsofoperations, cph~folded up in 1993, its members agreeing to part ways amicably in recognition of irreconcilable differences in approach, principally as regards relations with government. Nevertheless, as indi- vidual organizations within and out- side CPAR, both KaBaPa and Amihan have long experience in advocating and struggling for women's land rights. Experiences with the Agrarian Reform Program Groups, like KaBaPa, that wish to engage the government in their strug- gle for women's rights can invoke legal provisions that seek to protect women's claims to land. The Philip- pine Constitution recognizes the fun- damental equality ofwomen and men before the law. The principle of gen- der equality is likewise affirmed in new codes and laws. After intensive lobbying by different women's groups, the New Family Cod af- firmed women's rights to own prop- erty and to contract employment and credit without their husbands' con- sent (1110 n al. 1994). Meanwhile, in the uplands, Administrative Order No. 4, Series1991 of the Depart- ment of Environment and Natural Resources, grants stewardship cer- tificates to land under the Integrated Social Forestry Program to both spouses, making wife and husband co-stewards of the land. A recent law, the Women in Deuehpmmt and Na- tion-Building Act, provides equal ac- cess to resources, including credit and training. These laws, however, have yet to be fully implemented. Under the Comprehensive Agrar- ian Reform Policy, a total of 10.3 million hectares of land is pro- grammed for distribution over a ten year period. This consists of 6.5 mil- lion hectares of public alienable and disposable lands as well as Integrated Social Forestry Program areas to be distributed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. In addition, 3.8 million hectares of private agricultural lands and reset- tlement areas are to be distributed by DAR. Between 1987 and 1992, DAR has, in fict, already distributed a total of 1.07 million hectares, or 28 per cent of its scope. Two land-ownership instruments arc distributed by ~ m u n d e r  the- ian reform program: emancipation patents and certificate of land owner- ship agreements. As of 1992, DAR had distributed about 363,277 hectares of agricultural land only ten per cent of which have gone to women. This land distribution is covered by 270,096emancipation patents, eleven per cent of which have been issued to women beneficiaries. With 18 per cent of all certificate of land owner- ship agreements being awarded to women, relatively greater numbers of women have benefitted from these agreements than from emancipation patents. Nonetheless, women con- tinue to receive a lower share of total land distributed. Despite claims to gender equality, therefore, laws have been unable to protect or promote women's rights to land. KaBaPa has pointed to a disa- bling provision that limits women women in decision-making bodies, such as the Provincial Agrarian Re- form Coordinating Committee, has likewise imperiled women's chances of gaining control over land. The experience of Amihan with local DAR offices underscores this point. . . .Amihanmembers in Mindoro attempted to occupy 110 hec- tares of abandoned land, hoping to m& it productive. But right away, women were given the runaround by government offi- cials when thcy tried to get data about the land thcy occupied. The women were even asked to present video documentation that they really were farmers. In the Boncoc Peninsula, on the other hand, tenant farmers belonging to an Amihan chapter are still trying to have a 166- hectare hacienda tilled in their names under the CARP compul- sory acquisition scheme. Here again, government officials have not been fully cooperative. When the hacienda was declared eligi- ble for compulsory acquisition and redistribution to farmers, members of the Amihan trooped to the Municipal Agrarian Re- form Office to be registered as beneficiaries. An amazed officer queried: "Where are your hus- bands?" The women angrily re- 'What? the matter, aren't we entithd to bencfit from kznd reform? We work on the kznd ourselves, and shou(tlr a major part of the b u r h  when expenses have to be paid. " beneficiaries only to "qualified women members of the agricultural labour force," a phrase that has been inter- preted to mean actual tillers. Trini- dad Domingo ask: what about the women who manage and do farm work other than tilling? This and similar questions continue to plague women's land rights activists. The low level of representation of plied: "What's the matter, aren't we entitled to benefit from land reform? We work on the land ourselves, and shoulder a major part of the burden when expenses have to be paid." So far, only two Amihan members-both wid- ows--have been allowed to reg- ister under the program. (Oliveros l99 1) VOLUME 15, NUMBERS 2 & 3 KaBaPa has had one test case for claiming women's land rights. This involves some 350 hectares of former sugarcane land in Lubao, Pampanga, which was abandoned by absentee landlords who had gone abroad. The former sugar workers cultivated the land, planted vegetables, corn, and finally rice. They were harassed by the military, and some peasant lead- ers were killed or tortured. The men began to lie low. It was the women who pursued the struggle to daim the land which reached a high point in 1988. The women leaders held dia- logues with DAR officials and were even referred to the Department of National Defense, then headed by the current President Fidel Ramos. Both the DAR central oace  and the Supreme Court decided in the wom- en's favour, saying they should be recognized as leaseholders who have first claim to the land. The problem was that the landowners r e h d  to give the women this recognition. They were thus forced to deposit their share ofthe hannst in the bank The women are confident, however, that they will finally get the land and when they do, they will make sure that women's names will appear as owners, either jointly or separately. The problems concerning land rights do not reside only with the state andlor its functionaries. Some are rooted in gender relations within the family. Amihan has pointed out that the call for recognition of the women's right to land must be com- plemented by a call to democratize the family (Oliveros 1991). Hus- bands' resistance, monopoly over decision-making, and sometimes even violent assertion of male power through wife beating, constit& for- midable obstacles to women's em- powerment. Amiban leaders believe that the key is organizing and raising the aware- ness of men as well as women. Some- times, they complain, organized men feel threatened and prevent women organizers from doing their work. They also have differences with male- dominated peasant organizations over how land will be distributed because some male leaders still insist on h- ily-based distribution through the male head of household (01' lveros 1994). As the stories of the two peasant women's groups show, the struggle goes on in many arenas. In claiming their share of the land, rural women not only have to deal with landown- ers and the state, but also with the men who refuse to recognize their rights. Depending on the context, tactics can range from confrontation to negotiation and persuasion. At all times, however, vigilance is required. Vigilance does not stop with writing women's right to land into law, but continues with ensuring that wom- en's rights to land translate to deeds and effective control of the land. Jeanne Frances I. Illo L the coordinator of the Women i Studies Program of the Institute ofPhilippine Cukure, Atcneo dr Manila University. Rosalinda Pine&-Ofineo is the coor- dinator of tbe Women and Dcvclop- ment Program of the Col.& of Social Work and Community Development, University of the Philippines. Amihan. Amihan Praymcr, Ang Tunuy M Repormung Agray:  Binhi ng Kalayaan ng Kababaihang Magbubukid. Metro Manila: Amihan, 1988. Congress for a People's Agrarian Re- form (CPAR). "The People's Agrar- ian Reform Program." Adocument adopted by CPAR, Quczon City, 3 1 May 1987. Domingo, Trinidad, KaBaPa Presi- dent and Commissioner of the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women. Personal In- terview. G December 1994. 1110, Jeanne Frances I., ed. G e n h  Issues in Rural Development: A Workshop Report. Quczon City: Institute of Philippine Culture, Ateneo de Manila University, 19 88. Perez. Women in A~Iruurc: The Philippine Ca.u. Quezon City: In- stitute of Philippine Culture, AtencodeManila University, 1994. Katipunan ng Bagong Pilipina (KaBaPa) (n.d.). Peminismo at Kdabaihan sa kianayunan. Docu- ment of KaBaPa. Oliveros, Tess, Amihan Executive Director, College of Social Work and Community Development, University of the Philippines. Per- sonalInterview. 5 December 1994. Oliveros, Tcss. "Organizing Peasant Women: Confronting Power Where Power Lies." Laya Feminist Quarter& 2(4) (1991). Philippines (Republic), Department of Agrarian Reform (n.d.). G m -  prehensive Land Wrm Program. Quezon City: Department of Agrarian Reform. Subcommittee onAgriculture,Agrar- ian Reform, Environment and Natural Resources (n.d.). "Input to the Country Report for the Fourth World Conference on Women." Typescript. Taguiwalo, Judy and Jean Mirho. "Two Types of Women's Organi- zations: Homemakers and Activ- ists." condensed by Daisy Valerio. Laya Feminist Quarterly 2(4) (1993). 1110, Jeanne Frances I. with Neila R Marquez, Yasmin Lee G. Arpon, Reprinted with permimion of the Yasmin S. Gatal, and Joannah G. IWTC. W t :  Grace Jung CANADIAN WOMAN STUDIESILES CAHIERS DE LA FEMME 

Land Rights for Filipino Women: The View from Below

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Land Rights for Filipino Women: The View from Below

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Canadian Woman Studies / les cahiers de la femme (E-Journal, York University)