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Staff participate in Action Research and Food Defenders Training

CWEARC staff participated in the Food Defenders Training organized by the Philippine Network of Food Security Programmes (PNFSP) Inc. The said training aimed to build the capacity of PNFSP partners and members in action research, campaigns and advocacy on food defenders’ rights.

Photo Credits: PNFSP

Defending the Rights of the People, Women and Children

“If we stop defending our rights because of fear from the harassments and intimidation being perpetrated by state security forces upon us then we might as well be dead.” This was a statement by one of the women leaders who attended the Women Human Rights Defenders training workshop for Cordillera women held on September 9 to 10 in Diliman, Quezon City.

Spearheaded by Cordillera Womens Education Action Research Center (CWEARC) and Innabuyog, 60 women leaders and organizers from the six Cordillera provinces gathered together in the training workshop who vowed to safeguard and protect their rights as a people and as women against state perpetrated violence and violations of their rights. National minority women from other regions of the Philippines from places as far as Mindanao and Palawan were also present during the activity. While they were there mainly as observers, they also ended up sharing their own accounts and experiences in defending and protecting their rights as they similarly encountered the same or even graver human rights situation than their counterparts in the Cordillera.

The activity in the main provided a framework for understanding human rights that could further build the capacity of women leaders and organizers in addressing the human rights situation in their localities. The main input was given by the Cordillera Human Right Alliance Vice Chairperson Audrey Beltran. She provided the basics on documentation which can be used as a guide whenever women are confronted with cases of human rights violations. She also discussed how they can assert their rights through para-legal means even without the benefit of lawyers around. The activity also provided a venue for sharing of experiences by the women on the human rights situation in their villages underscoring the situation of women and children. They also exchanged accounts on how they confronted the numerous cases of state perpetrated violations in their communities from past to present.

The women expressed that violations of their rights are common whenever projects or programs are brought in by the government or when big companies enter into their localities where there is opposition from the people because of the possible adverse or negative impacts. Some destructive programs and projects opposed by the people were mining ventures of big companies such as Golden Lake and Olympus in Lacub & Baay-Licuan in Abra, Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company operations in Mankayan, Benguet, the construction of the Alimit Dam in Ifugao and Chevron-PRC Magma’s Geothermal Power Plant in Kalinga. Women of Sagada, Mountain Province reported the Peace and Development Team (PDT) of the AFP program supposed to maintain the peace and order in the locality has allowed state troops to occupy the Dap-ay, an indigenous socio-political structure where elders meet.

The women recall of their experiences on the militarization of their villages which had debilitating and even long lasting effects. Farmers are not allowed to tend their fields disrupting economic activities in the communities (Kalinga, Ifugao and Abra). Military troops encamp in schools, health centers or even houses making them their temporary detachments or quarters endangering the lives of civilians like in the cases of Lacub in Abra and Balbalan in Kalinga. Aerial bombings have left many, especially children traumatized (Malibcong, Abra). Many had been suspected of being members and supporters of the New People’s Army (NPA) making them vulnerable to harassments and intimidations and where some have been summarily killed. Women organizers of Innabuyog, and women development workers of other NGO’s have been tagged by the military as members of the said armed revolutionary organization.

In addition, women in the communities have suffered from particular forms of violence by state security forces. Sexual harassment and abuse had been common. Soldiers also court the women, even a number who are married, impregnate some and abandon them after they leave the area. Children have become vulnerable where they are made to act as spies.

The abovementioned problems faced by the women have not cowed them into fear or submission. Despite what they reported as the difficulties they suffered from the militarization of their villages, they still persist. In fact the women expressed becoming emboldened and more determined to act upon their situation after they heard stories of courage from women in other regions who dealt with state sanctioned atrocities and violence. They also remembered how their elders and their ancestors steadfastly fought to protect their lands and resources so that they and the next generations could still enjoy the natural wealth of their ancestral lands. These became their source of inspiration.

The participants were jubilant over the success of the training workshop since they said it gave them encouragement having established reciprocal and mutual support in facing their common situation. It reaffirmed their commitment of working together starting at the level of their communities and in unity with other women in the regional and national levels in defending and protecting their rights, resources and lands.

The training workshop ended through the drafting and signing of a unity declaration which defines the program of action that will be carried out by the women in the continuing struggle to defend and safeguard their rights especially that under the present administration of Duterte, human rights violations has not stopped and is in fact escalating.

Tanglag rice mill: A symbol of indigenous peasant women’s empowerment

Empowered are the indigenous peasant women of Sitio Liglig, Tanglag in Lubuagan, Kalinga who have defined and asserted their role in their community’s development through a socio-economic project despite the reality where there is low regard to women in their tribal community.

Sitio Liglig is a tribal community where men are recognize as the ones working for the betterment of the village. It was even a taboo for this community that a woman participates in community decision making and discussions during meetings. Just like most of the tribal communities in the Cordillera, women are just observers during the said community meetings. Their voices are sent via their husbands or male elders in their families. Their active role however in the resistance against the Chico dams in the 1970s to the 1980s significantly changed the community and tribal mindset on women, giving due recognition and acknowledgement to women’s role and participation in production, development and struggles.

Therefore, their persistent effort for the successful management of a rice mill in the community was a breakthrough for the recognition of their capacity in manning a socioeconomic project. This project was also very significant for the community’s recognition that women are men’s partners in community and nation building.

The success of the project was because of the desire of Liglig Women to end their suffering from the backbreaking job of pounding rice which they attributed as one of the reasons of some of their illnesses. It had been a long time suffering not only for women but also to the children who are assuming the task. After their long hours in the field under the scorching heat of the sun, they still have to endure an hour or two just to have food for dinner. This task had been hindering them for having enough time to rest or socialize in the community. They had a rice mill before but it had depreciated and there was no fund to replace it with a new unit.

In 1992, through the service of the Cordillera Women’s Education Action Research Center Inc. (CWEARC), the said women are trained of skills related to project management like auditing, book keeping and others. Along with CWEARC, women asked for financial assistance from another development institution which is the Montañosa Relief and Rehabilitation Services (MRRS) now Cordillera Disaster Response and Development Services (CorDisRDS) which was granted. They then made use of their traditional practice of innabuyog (working together) to facilitate the success of the project.

Their success in setting up the rice mill led to their incorporation into the wider community organization which is the Tanglag Community Organization for Unity and Development (TACOUD) as the women’s committee and mainly in-charge of the rice mill’s management.

The rice mill cooperative
Presence of a rice mill had given so much relief on women and children. It has also eased the hardship of the people in the said community in pounding, strengthen community unity and able to support greater participation of TACOUD in political activities especially for the women. It had also addressed the problem in carrying their palay to the nearest rice mill in town enduring hours of walk through the rugged terrains.

To manage the mill better, women and other members of TACOUD set up a system by organizing a cooperative that has clear policies. CWEARC and MRRS assumed assistance in developing the system.

The full operation of the rice mill cooperative has not only benefited the members but the whole community itself. Like any livelihood projects, the rice mill coop does not only speak of benefits, but it also speaks of responsibilities for the beneficiaries and the communities it is serving. They are given the task to maintain the stability of the equipment and the cooperative. They all have to work together for the progress of the project. Every member has to sacrifice time and effort to safeguard this livelihood project and ensure that the policies are being enforced.

On the other hand, lessons were drawn from the management of the old rice mill. The lessons include installing mechanisms to avoid petty corruption, unpaid credits and finance opportunism and come up with a strict monitoring system. It is also part of the cooperative’s policy to ensure that the benefit of the community always overrule self interests of few individuals. In this way, the cooperative will prosper.

In 2007, scarcity of rice was experienced in Liglig and neighbouring communities. As a response, MRRS offered a rice loan. They distributed 25 cavans of rice in Sukiap and Liglig and every household was able to get one can. It was agreed that the loan will be paid to the cooperative. Seeing the need for a rice cooperative especially during lean months, TACOUD decided to incorporate rice cooperative in their livelihood project. Thus, when the rice loans were all paid, they used it as seed money for the said endeavor.

Moreover, the rice collected from the payment of the rice mill is also added to the rice cooperative. The community’s rice supply then was continuously growing making it sufficient for the rice needs of the community.

Another service offered by the cooperative is buying rice from the community. The cooperative purchases a ganta (2.5 kgs) of milled rice for P70.00 (US$1.7) and sells it at P80.00 (US$1.92)/ganta. It has provided a venue for the community to sell rice in times of emergency. With the generated profit, the members are able to borrow from the cooperative in times of emergencies like medication, tuition fee of children, and the cooperative is able to support the fare of their participants for seminars and organizational development activities held in the town center.

Policies of the rice mill operation
In order for the community to be involved in the operation, they formed several clusters which are rotating every month. These clusters are Dallug, Ambato, Kupyaw, Gawaan, and Bannong-Gaang. Each cluster has a leader, treasurer, purchaser, maintenance and operators that composed of women and men. These people have particular tasks that help ensure the continuity of operation.

The milling schedule is on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Payment is either in cash or in kind (rice). Each can (the size of the 17 kilograms of cooking oil) is charged P20.00 (US$0.48) or one chupa (large size sardine can) of milled rice. Credit was one of the most significant lessons from the old rice mill that TACOUD believed to have caused its failure. It is then very important part of their new rice mill to enforce a “no credit policy”. Consideration is however given for dire situations where a minimum credit of 5 chupas or the milling for 5 cans of unhusked rice, is allowed. Deduction of 5 chupas everytime the debtor comes for milling is done until he/she has paid all the credit. The cooperative also made guidelines in terms of the mill’s operation. These guidelines included ensuring that the machine is in good condition before starting the engine; ensure that the engine has enough gasoline before turning it on and avoid emptying the tank before refilling it; ensuring cleanliness; immediate replacement of damaged spare parts; and only the maintenance group will be the ones in charge of the repair during the occurrence of machine dysfunction to avoid chaos. The bottom line is the cluster officers shall ensure the smooth flow of the rice mill’s operation and management.

Moreover, there is an annual assessment on the how the cooperative operated and it is in this assessment that the members identify the strong and weak points. In cases of failure, they draw lessons from it in order to avoid its occurrence in the future. Further, the coop policy states that the members should grasp and follow the right principle of criticism and self criticism.

They have to avoid envy, unhealthy competitions between clusters and other attitudes that can break the cooperative and the unity of the people itself.

Meanwhile, part of the member benefits is being entitled to have a free rice mill once a year. For monitoring purposes, they have a record of all the members indicating who has already availed and those who did not.

Responsibilities of the rice mill cooperative committee
The rice mill cooperative committee is composed of eight people (committee head, treasurer and six cluster heads). This committee is the one in charge in managing the rice mill. They ensure that the orientation and policies of the mill are enforced. Moreover, they are the ones facilitating cluster assessments and serving as role models in the implementation of policies. Also, they are facilitating the overall audit and assessment every after six months. Further, this committee reports to the members of the cooperative annually every general assembly of TACOUD.

The rice mill is owned by the community as stressed earlier and the fund shall be used not for self interests but for the interests of the people. Collected funds shall be used for community activities. On the other hand, if there are seminars held outside the village, representative/s can use the fund to attend and re-echo the seminar to the members.

All the expenses and income shall be recorded properly and the overall treasurer is in charge of the task.

“1/4 policy”
The cooperative has designed “1/4 policy” where in from the income, ¼ (25%) is allotted for maintenance, another ¼ shall be deposited to the bank for depreciation purposes, ¼ is segregated for political activities and the remaining ¼ of the income is allotted for contingency purposes. The depreciation fund shall be strictly enforced so that when the rice mill engine depreciates, there is a sure fund to buy new one.

“Mutual Aid fund”
Being a cooperative, the organization has designed a scheme called “Mutual Aid fund” where in part of the rice mill income shall be separated for credit purposes. The 1/3 of the allotted fund for political activities is used for this purpose. In cases of emergency, a member can borrow a maximum amount of P500 (US$12.00) from the said fund without interest. However, they have a responsibility to pay their debt after one to three months in order for it to be used by other members.

Some recommended improvements from the members
After one round of cluster assessments, there are several recommendations brought out. One is to further develop the rice mill like building a concrete water container to accommodate more water, create a better placement of the rice husks and buy a hose to ease the hard work of fetching water for the mill’s water container.

 

 

 

Changing the lives of Mabaca indigenous peasants and women through the power from water

Rice mill and cooperative is the most requested project in the remote areas in the Cordillera region where rice is the primary crop. This is because shortage is often experienced given the situation that rice farms are limited to about 0.2 hectares per family in the Cordillera interiors. Most of the communities produce rice once a year thus, it is only able to produce the rice needs of the family from 2-4 months.

There is rice shortage but at the same time there is a need for a rice mill. Farmers’ organizations, especially women see the rice mill as a tool to unburden them from the backbreaking labor of pounding rice. This is particularly true among Kalinga women who by culture are the ones in charge of the work.

There had been a lot of rice mill projects assisted by service non-government organizations belonging to the consortium of the Center for Development Programs in the Cordillera region (CDPC) where the Cordillera Women’s Education Action Research Center Inc (CWEARC) is included. Some of the rice mill and cooperatives prospered which is primarily attributed to the unity and perseverance of women and peoples’ organizations who led these projects. Some of these projects however failed.

Learning the hard way from a rice cooperative
Earlier in 1996, a rice cooperative was run by the local women’s organization in Mabaca with financial assistance from Cordillera Women’s Education Resource Center (CWERC). The chapter of Innabuyog-Kalinga Apayao facilitated the partnership. Nine cavans of rice then was provided as the initial revolving capital which families of the women’s organization borrowed in times of critical rice supply. Rice borrowed is returned usually during harvest time with a small interest to increase the volume of rice being revolved among members who are in dire need of rice.

The failure however of the rice cooperative as shared by the women’s organization is attributed to the low management capacity of and skills in managing a socioeconomic project. In the short course of practice, the rice cooperative was privatized by some officers, transparency was not developed and collective management was not facilitated.

The organization also acknowledged that there were no committees created to oversee the cooperative’s operation. There were no systems enforced to ensure that the cooperative is operating smoothly. The rice loans turned out as dole-out because there was no clear policy of payment and collection of payments. Moreover, loans were not well recorded, use of loan payments was not accounted and an audit was never conducted.

These explain an outstanding point in their assessment that the rice cooperative did not deliver its function of contributing to advance a community livelihood project.

Members of the women’s organizations lamented strained relationship within the organization due to how the project turned out. They have truly learned the hard way. Although disheartened, they have been looking forward to revive the cooperative. Given the chance, they said, they already know the needs in order to manage a project well.

Bringing their lessons to greater heights
Having been granted the second chance, their next project turned out to be one of the success stories in the socio-economic work in the region. The project is a micro-hydro which powered a rice mill of the rice cooperative, energized all houses of 36 households and powered a community blacksmith of sitio Bayowong, Barangay Mabaca of the Municipality of Balbalan in Kalinga province. It started with the desire of the Mabaca Farmers’ Alluyon (MFA) to relieve the women in the community from the hard work of pounding rice.

On April 2001, the project took off with the assistance from Montañosa Research and Development Center (MRDC) and other partner non government organizations (NGO) in the region. The operation of the rice mill cum rice cooperative and community blacksmith began in 2003.

Mabaca Farmers’ Alluyon
All the farmers, including women in the village are members of this organization. This was formed because of the farmers’ desire to work together in order to be able to bring development in their community. They are one in the belief that unity will enable them to survive the difficulties that severe poverty brings. They then sought the support of NGOs for the aforementioned socio-economic project and it was granted by MRDC and other partner institutions.

According to their narration during the socio-economic workshop on March this year, working for the project did not end when it was granted. It was only the beginning of hard work and struggle for the members of MFA to solve the encountered problems in putting the rice mill up. It was an achievement in progress. The process itself was a learning journey for them starting from the planning until rice cooperative’s full operation.

Project cost
The all over cost of the project is P1.2 million (US$28,571.50) including the counterpart of the peoples’ organization (PO). Half of the cost is loan and the other half is grant. Also part of MFA’s counterpart to the project is the manual hauling of purchased materials, widening and clearing of irrigation canal, producing locally hand sawed lumber and voluntary labor until its full operation.

A learning process
As a farmers’ organization that is not adept in the management and operation of such livelihood project, it was a journey of learning. First was setting up of the micro-hydro project as a source of energy for the rice mill, lighting of houses and eventually set up a blacksmith that is also powered by the hydro.

Before the project started, the members of MFA went to a learning trip in barangay Ngibat in the municipality of Tinglayan, also in Kalinga province. It is in this barangay where an existing rice mill cooperative which is providing them electricity used for light and in the blacksmith is located. This is an example of a successful socio-economic project which continues to operate as of press time. Further, this micro hydro project is one of the pioneering success stories of MRDC in developing appropriate technology among indigenous peasant communities in the Cordillera. When electricity from the Kalinga Electric Cooperative (KAELCO) finally reached the said community, most of the people decided not to connect with it. Their reason was, the electricity produced by the rice mill is enough for their energy needs.

MFA learned a lot from Ngibat Rice Mill Cooperative. Participants of the learning trip told that the success story of Ngibat gave them strength to continue the same project in their own community. MRDC and other partner NGOs helped MFA with the basic skills in operating the micro-hydro project, the rice mill and cooperative and the community blacksmith. During the earlier months in operating the technology, the officers and the whole of MFA were guided by MRDC in instilling the right orientation in managing the technology and the use of the technology in galvanizing community unity.

By 2003, all houses consisting of 36 households enjoyed lighting until 10 o’clock at night. This allowed children to study their lessons and enabled folks to do their weaving of baskets, mats and other handicrafts in the night. Light is opened at 4o’clock in the morning allowing the peasants to do the home chores and preparation for their school-going children while they equally prepare their needs for their farm work. When there is a community occasion, the energy supply is available for overnight.

The rice mill began its operation in 2003. The rice mill charges P7.00 (US$0.16) per can (the size of a 17- kilogram cooking oil) or 2 chupas (large size of a sardine can) of milled rice for every can of unmilled rice.

Like that of Tanglag, members of the MFA were taught on the principles of collective ownership thus avoiding the overruling of self – interest among members which will prevent the occurrence of petty corruption. The association then created guidelines of the rice mill cooperative. They formed committees with specific tasks. It was stressed in the guideline that there shall be no credit and a member should not be absent during his/her shift in manning the operation unless there is a valid reason.

Present status of the project
As of the moment, the project is smoothly moving forward. According to the MFA, they applied all the lessons they have learned during the earlier months of operation. The beneficiaries have also expanded. It is now serving not only the residents of Bayowong but also nearby villages who are buying palay in their community. Moreover, it is now generating electricity that they are using as a source of light and used in the blacksmith.

The project did not only relieve the women from pounding rice but it has benefited the whole community. According to them, there is already no need for them to buy farm tools in the town center because people in the community can already forge bolos, knives and other farm tools.

Challenges met
The leaders of the MFA said, the biggest problem they have encountered is the non cooperation of the other members of the community who did not believe that the project can prosper. The rice mill cooperative was told to be a project of the New Peoples Army (NPA) and local community members who were affected by that false tagging refused to be part in the beginning. The fear dominated among some community members.

However, the leaders and majority of the members of the farmer’s association were determined to pursue the project, asserting that it is theirs and it is for the benefit of their association and community. The state of government neglect where social services is nil in the area propped up MFA’s determination for this project. They put their best efforts in order for the project to push through until such time that the aforementioned section of the community who were not participating earlier were convinced that the rice mill is a good project and it can benefits all of them.

Manang Fely Gonayon, one of the staunch women leaders proudly acknowledges the improved management capacity of the farmers’ association which she also believes is a process of transforming attitudes and mindsets of women to work together, trust on their capacities and putting worth to or valuing their contributions.

Members of the MFA said that it is normal in a community to have some member not cooperative in the beginning but in the end, they will come in when they see that the peoples’ organization is united and have the strong will to make the project successful. It is also a test on the flexibility and patience of the association in managing community members being a community institution which is wielding unity of minds who are strongly influenced by an attitude of “to see is to believe”.

Recommendations
MFA believes that there is a need to widen the villages that the rice mill is serving. In order to attain this, its membership and leadership are convinced that there is a need for them to be informed and trained on issues relative to energy and electricity in order to maximize the project. The technical knowledge
and trainings will accompany the sustained leadership trainings among the farmers, women and the youth groups to be able to manage effectively and efficiently the project, defend the project from destruction most possibly from militarization and demand more of this kind of service primarily from government units and concerned agencies, and from the services of civil society organizations.