Conversion of rice fields created rice shortage (tags)
In the Central Luzon plains, Nueva Ecija is unique. In this farming province, the biggest rice producer in this region, you see rows upon rows of rice paddies. But it had more rice lands before the phenomenon of land conversion in the late 80s. The large landowners converted their lands to non-agricultural use so these would not fall under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law enacted in 1988. Land conversion was also necessitated by population rise and the urbanization of many towns of the province.
AGRARIAN REFORM 29 bishops urge Congress to extend CARP (tags)
Twenty-nine Catholic prelates, including Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales and Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, have asked the House of Representatives to immediately extend through legislation the 20-year-old Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP). The CARP expires on June 10 this year.
Leftwing groups advise Sumilao farmers to be wary of Arroyo (tags)
Leftwing groups have warned farmers from Sumilao, Bukidnon, who met President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo at Malacañang on Monday, to be wary of her promises and not to allow themselves to be used. The peasant group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (Peasant Movement of the Philippines) and the fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (National Movement of Fishers of the Philippines) said the Sumilao farmers' land problem might be used by those advocating the extension of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, funding for which was due to expire in the middle of 2008.
FILIPINO TECH-VOC GRADS END UP WITH LOW PAY (tags)
Technical vocational courses supply the pool of skilled reserve labor that services multinational firms which transferred the labor-intensive part of their production processes to low-wage countries like the Philippines according to the militant labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU).