Quezon coco farmers not celebrating for San Isidro

LUCENA CITY—The annual colorful celebration of the feast of the farmers’ patron saint, San Isidro, on May 15 has lost its meaning to poor coconut farmers in Quezon province, an official of the Coalition of Coconut Farmers of Quezon (Coco-Farm-Quezon) said on Sunday.

“With the continuous injustice being committed against the farmers in their struggle for the return of the coconut levy and their seeming endless quest for liberation from the bondage of the soil, there is no reason for them to celebrate,” Jansept Geronimo, Coco-Farm-Quezon secretary, told the Inquirer over the phone.

He said the members of the organization and their allies would remember the feast of San Isidro with just a simple feast and prayers in their respective villages.

He said that because of shortage of funds, the farmers also had to shelve their plan to stage another protest march from Lucena to Manila in time for the San Isidro feast to compel the national government to finally settle the coconut levy issue in their favor and resolve the lingering issue of agrarian dispute in Bondoc Peninsula.

Education of children

The farmers, he said, had to prioritize the education of their children who needed to be enrolled this month in time for the opening of classes in June.

Geronimo also said several nongovernment organizations that have been supporting the cause of the coconut farmers had begged off due to limited funds.

In November, more than 100 coconut farmers from Quezon province, joined by Church people and activists groups, staged a 160-kilometer march from Lucena to Manila to dramatize their demand for the return of the coco levy fund.

Geronimo lambasted President Aquino’s “noncommitted stand on the coco levy but obvious bias” for his uncle, business tycoon Eduardo Cojuangco Jr., chairman of food and beverage giant San Miguel Corp. (SMC), which holds at least P85 billion worth of shares bought with coco levy fund.

Coconut farmers’ organizations in the country have been seeking the return of the levy funds used to acquire the SMC shares of stocks. However, the Aquino administration has ruled out the urgent use of the frozen funds.

Meanwhile, the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Bondoc Peninsula (KMBP) reiterated its call to President Aquino and the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to immediately resolve all pending cases that hamper the long-pending distribution of farmland in the area, particularly in the 1,716-hectare Hacienda Matias in Barangays (villages) Don Juan Verselos and Butangiad in San Francisco town.

KMBP president Maribel Luzara said the tillers of the vast hacienda had suffered for so long because they still have to occupy the land long awarded to them by the DAR.