THE PHILIPPINE STATE’S OBLIGATIONS TO ITS CITIZENS’ RIGHT TO ADEQUATE FOOD AND RIGHT TO ADEQUATE HOUSING An NGO Report for Submission to the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights November 2003 ORGANIZATIONS THAT PARTICIPATED IN AND CONTRIBUTED TO THIS NGO REPORT 11.11.11, Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP), Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA), Food First Information and Action Network (FIAN), KAISAMPALAD, Management and Organizational Development for Empowerment (MODE), Philippine Network of Rural Development Institutes (PhilNet-RDI), Philippine Human Rights Information Center (PhilRights), Philippine Peasant Institute (PPI), Southeast Asian Regional Institute for Community Education (SEARICE), Tambuyog Development Center, Alternative Forum for Research in Mindanao, Inc. (AFRIM), Integrated Rural Development Foundation of the Philippines (IRDFP), APL, Volunteers for Urban Renewal, Inc. (VUR,Inc.), KASAMAKA, KASAMA KA.
Transcript
THE PHILIPPINE STATE’S OBLIGATIONS TO ITSCITIZENS’ RIGHT TO ADEQUATE FOODAND RIGHT TO ADEQUATE HOUSING
An NGO Report for Submissionto the United Nations Committee on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
November 2003
ORGANIZATIONS THAT PARTICIPATED IN AND CONTRIBUTED TO THIS NGO REPORT
11.11.11, Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP), Philippine Alliance of Human RightsAdvocates (PAHRA), Food First Information and Action Network (FIAN), KAISAMPALAD,Management and Organizational Development for Empowerment (MODE), Philippine Network ofRural Development Institutes (PhilNet-RDI), Philippine Human Rights Information Center(PhilRights), Philippine Peasant Institute (PPI), Southeast Asian Regional Institute for CommunityEducation (SEARICE), Tambuyog Development Center, Alternative Forum for Research inMindanao, Inc. (AFRIM), Integrated Rural Development Foundation of the Philippines (IRDFP),APL, Volunteers for Urban Renewal, Inc. (VUR,Inc.), KASAMAKA, KASAMA KA.
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ENDORSED BY 1,487 leaders of peoples organizations, institutions and NGOsin the Philippines
THE PHILIPPINE STATE’S OBLIGATIONS TO ITSCITIZENS’ RIGHT TO ADEQUATE FOODAND RIGHT TO ADEQUATE HOUSING
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 4
Framework of the Report 4Major Flaws of the 1994 Philippine Report 5
OVERVIEW ON THE PHILIPPINE SITUATION 7
THE RIGHT TO ADEQUATE FOOD 14
Nutritional Adequacy 14Food Safety and Quality 15Availability and Sustainable Production 23Sustainable Access 31
Small Farmers and WTO Agreement onAgriculture 39
THE RIGHT TO ADEQUATE HOUSING 46
Habitability 46Legal Security of Tenure 48Location and Availability of Services, 51
Facilities, InfrastructureAccessibility - Economic and Physical 52
RECOMMENDATIONS 60
REFERENCES 64
APPENDIX: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE REPORT 65
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INTRODUCTION
1 Desiring with the peoples of the Philippine Archipelago the respect, protection andprogressive realization of their human and peoples’ rights, this non-governmentorganization (NGO) report is presented to the United Nations Committee onEconomic, Social and Cultural Rights (from hereon referred to as Committee). ThePhilippine NGOs note with deep concern that the Philippines as a State Party to theInternational Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) has failedto comply with its reporting obligation in a timely manner, having had its last report tothe Committee in 1994.
2 The report focuses on article 11: on the right to an adequate standard of living,particularly on the right to adequate food and the right to adequate housing. The TaskForce Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP), together with many peoples’organizations, environmental and development organizations, research institutionsand other non-governmental human rights organizations in the Philippines, collateddata and information for the period 1995-2003 to make this NGO report.
Framework of the Report
3 This report makes use as framework the state obligations to respect, protect and fulfillhuman rights and the normative content or key elements of the right to adequate foodas elaborated in the Committee’s General Comments (GC) 12 and 15 and the right toadequate housing as discussed in GC 4 and 7. As is true of all other human rights,the State has the obligation to respect, to protect, and to fulfill the right to adequatefood and the right to adequate housing. The Philippine NGOs consider the GeneralComments as currently the most authoritative and precise interpretation of the right toadequate food and the right to adequate housing.
4 This means that for the Philippines as State Party to the International Covenant onEconomic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), it must ensure that food is sufficientand nutritious, safe, acceptable culturally by consumers, adequately available andaccessible economically and physically and that the realization of the right does notinterfere with the enjoyment of other human rights. The right to adequate housing hasa number of components, including the following: legal security of tenure, habitability,location, economic and physical accessibility, cultural acceptability and availability ofservices, materials, facilities and infrastructure.
5 The key elements of the right to adequate food have already been used by the WorldFood Summit in 1996 in defining food security as a situation wherein 1) food isavailable at all times; 2) all people have access to food; 3) food is in adequate supplyand of sufficient quality and variety; and 4) food is considered acceptable by specificcultures. After that Summit, two expert consultations on the right to adequate food asa human right were organized by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner
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for Human Rights (OHCHR) in December 1997 and by the Food and AgriculturalOrganization of the United Nations (FAO) in November 1998.
6 The right to adequate housing is recognized in several international instruments,including, the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (Art. 17.1), theConvention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (Art.14.2), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (Art. 16.1), the Convention relating tothe Status of Refugees (Art. 21), and the International Convention on the Eliminationof All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Art. 5,e, iii). The Philippines is signatory to allthese conventions.
7 This report recognizes the indivisibility of human rights. Civil and political rights can inno way be disunited from economic, social and cultural rights. So is the indivisibility ofthe key elements of each right. Permeating the framework is the aspect of gender.The report, while not having a separate and distinct section for gender, takes genderinto consideration, whenever and wherever possible. This report presents the directactions of the Philippine government through its various institutions and/or bodies, aswell as other entities, like multinational corporations, insufficiently regulated by thegovernment, that violated persons’ and/or peoples’ right to adequate food and right toadequate housing.
8 The final section of the report contains the conclusions and recommendations drawnfrom the stated principles and data presented.
Major Flaws of the 1994 Philippine Report
9 The Philippine NGOs note that the Philippine Government Report of 1994 containedmajor flaws and thus described a very inaccurate picture of the economic, social andcultural rights of the peoples in the country. The Philippine report glossed over andcovered up the widespread violations of economic, social and cultural rights,especially of the most vulnerable sectors in the Philippines.
10 There was an omission of the impact of more than a decade of martial law and thedictatorial rule of President Ferdinand E. Marcos on human rights. The PresidentialDecree of the martial law period, PD 1177, which automatically appropriates debtpayment, continues to be an obstacle to the progressive realization of economic,social and cultural rights of the majority of the peoples. It is important to note that asof July 2003, 28.43 percent of the Philippine national budget is used for debtservicing. The felling of forests and leveling of mountains to accommodateinvestments, the massive violations of human rights and the carryover of a coerciveenvironment maintained by the impunity of the personnel of the Armed Forces of thePhilippines and the Philippine National Police were not included in the report.
11 The progress of reported major government projects were not monitored so thatresults of such by the year 1994 could, in the least, be part of the report. For example,there is no reported result of the 1985 Dairy Production Program, in which 1,006 dairycows were reported dispersed to 22 cooperatives in Northern Mindanao and Southern
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Tagalog in order to produce 15 per cent of the country’s dairy requirements within 10years (meaning in 1995). There is no statement as to how far the country has fulfilled“self-sufficiency in all basic food items” which is the objective of the 1985 AgriculturalAgenda for Action.
12 There is need for a specific query on the effect on sustainable production by the“intense use of fertilizers” as reported in the government program, 1987-1992, whichposted a land productivity growth of 3.13%. The experience of the Green Revolutionimposed upon the farmers during the martial law period had left the farmers to dealwith poor soil, lost seeds and declining diversity in the field, and dependency onpesticides and fertilizers.
13 While the Philippine NGOs agree that the State Party has “a margin of discretion inchoosing its own approaches ... to ensure that everyone is free from hunger and assoon as possible can enjoy the right to adequate food”1 data gathered show thatcertain steps taken by government in the implementation of its obligations as memberof the World Trade Organization (WTO) exacerbate the lives of those already belowthe poverty line and deprive indigenous peoples’ access to their own means ofsubsistence, including their right to adequate food and right to adequate housing. ThePhilippines ratified the Genera l Agreement on Tariff and Trade-Uruguay Round(GATT-UR) in December 1994. There is need to assess the impact of the WTO oneconomic, social and cultural rights.
1 GC, No.12, par.21; Maastricht Guidelines on Violations of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Part II,par.8
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OVERVIEW ON THE PHILIPPINE SITUATION
Table 1. The Philippines: Facts and Figures
TOTAL LAND AREA (in Hectares)(as of December 1996)Alienable and DisposableTotal Forest LandTotal Marine Water Area (including EEZ)Length of Coastline
30,000,000
14,117,24415,882,7562,200,000 sq km17,469 km
POPULATION (as of May 2000)Population growth rate
76.5 M2.36%
OTHER STATISTICSCrude birth rate (per thousand population), 2000Crude death rate (per thousand population), 2000Infant mortality rate (per thousand live births), 1999Under-five mortality rate (per thousand live births), 1997Maternal mortality rate (per 100,000 live births), 1990Life expectancy at birth, 2000Simple literacy rate, 1994Functional literacy rate, 1994Government spending on education as % of GNPGovernment spending on education as % of Budget
Sources of Data: NSCB; Key Indicators of Developing Asian and Pacific Countries, 1999; UNDP,Human Development Report 2001; FAO Fishery Country Profile, Phil. May 2000
Table 2. Philippine Labor Force Survey, April 2003 (Preliminary results)
PhilippinesApril
2003 January
2003 October
2002 July
2002 April
2002
Total 15 years oldand over (in 000)
51,596 51,280 50,841 50,530 50,167
Labor force (in000) Participation rate(%)
34,63567.1
33,67865.7
33,67466.2
33,91867.1
35,05269.9
Employment (in000) Rate (%)
30,41887.8
30,11989.4
30,25189.8
30,10488.8
30,18686.1
Unemployment (in000) Rate (%)
4,21712.2
3,55910.6
3,42310.2
3,81411.2
4,86613.9
Underemployment(in 000) Rate (%)
4,73315.6
4,84916.1
4,62715.3
5,16117.1
5,92219.6
Source: National Statistics Office, Manila, Philippines, June 20, 2003 Table 3. Household Population 15 Years Old and Over by Employment Status,
July 2001 - July 2003
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Household Population15 Years Old and Overby Employment Status
1. Data were taken from the results of the quarterly rounds of the Labor Force Survey (LFS)using past week as reference period.
2. Details may not add up to totals due to rounding.
Underemployed persons include all employed persons who express the desire to have additionalhours of work in their present job or an additional job, or to have a new job with longer workinghours.
Visibly underemployed persons are those who work for less than 40 hours during the referenceperiod and want additional hours of work.
/p - preliminary
Source: National Statistics Office
Table 4. Outstanding Debt by the National GovernmentIn Billion of Pesos
year domestic foreign total debt
Marcos 1981 28.93 20.02 48.94
1982 35.62 25.11 60.73
1983 41.69 14.82 56.51
1984 62.64 61.11 123.75
1985 82.53 59.82 142.35
1986 201.27 174.18 375.45
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growth- Marcos Administration 667%
Aquino 1987 229.27 195.08 424.35
1988 265.45 192.89 458.34
1989 289.33 198.50 487.83
1990 300.15 302.38 602.52
1991 342.56 425.91 768.47
growth- Aquino Administration 105%
Ramos 1992 502.94 473.45 976.39
1993 682.07 586.69 1,268.77
1994 670.56 556.91 1,227.47
1995 724.61 600.93 1,325.54
1996 748.29 583.56 1,331.85
growth- Ramos Administration 73%
Estrada 1997 757.25 866.75 1,624.00
1998 859.61 940.81 1,800.41
1999 986.72 1,155.50 2,142.22
2000 1,080.65 1,568.16 2,648.81
growth-Estrada Administration 116%
Macapagal 2001 1,270.85 1,609.84 2,880.69
2002 1,410.00 1,830.00 3,240.00
growth-Macapagal-Arroyo Administration 22%
Source:BoT (1981-90); PSY (1991-2001) and DoF (2002).
14 For all the natural richness in lands and waters of the Philippine Archipelago, manypeoples of the country do not enjoy the right to "an adequate standard of living forhimself (herself) and his (her) family, including adequate food, clothing and housing,and to the continuous improvement of living conditions."
15 A study conducted by IBON on the cost of living and minimum wage showed thatthe minimum wage set by the Philippine government is not enough for an adequatestandard of living in 1998 (Table 5).
Table 5: Daily Cost of Living and Minimum Wage Rates (in peso)
Daily Cost of Living for a Family of Six Minimum Wage Rates, Purchasing Powerof Peso, and Real Wage, 1998
16 Thus by setting a minimum wage lower than what is necessary to livedecently, the Philippine government violated the rights of workers to anadequate standard of living. In addition, even as the wage level is already low,many workers do not receive the correct pay. It was reported that more than 1.22million minimum wage workers in Metro Manila were deprived of their correct paybut few were indemnified. A January-June 1999 Department of Labor andEmployment (DOLE) Survey revealed that one out of 10 firms in Metro Manila didnot comply with the minimum wage set by law and one out of three firms wereviolating general labor standards. The 1999 situation is worse than 1998 since morefirms (from 216 to 430 firms) were found to be violating the minimum wage law 2. Inaddition, there is failure of government in its obligation to protect workersfrom companies and factories as we note increasing number of companiesnot complying with the minimum wage pegged by government.
17 Aside from low wages, workers face the bigger problem of possible unemployment.The National Statistics Office reported that more than one million joined the joblessin April 1998. The number of jobless Filipinos rose from 3.3 million in April 1997 to4.3 million in April 1998. The statistics agency also noted that most of the regionsposted double-digit jobless rate with Metro Manila posting the highest at 18.9% 3.Although the recorded unemployment of 4.2 million for April 2003 is lower than thatof 1998, it must be noted that many of the labor force have left the country throughthe years and they continue to form part of the brain drain. The outflow of nurseshave already resulted to the shutting down of hospitals or hospital wards due toinadequate health personnel. Although there are a significant number of overseasworkers who have success stories, there were trade-offs -- many of them suffer frominhumane treatment from their employers while many of their families suffer due tobroken homes.
18 In a drive to be more competitive and reduce costs, employers have come out withnew work arrangements -- flexible work arrangements and casualization of labor.Majority of those affected by these new work arrangements are women workers.Instead of regular workers, employers now hire non-regular workers (casual,temporary, piecework or seasonal labor). Other employers resort to job rotation.Many of the workers employed under these arrangements do not receive socialsecurity benefits such as maternity and retirement pensions 4. But workers agree tothese unfair arrangements due to absence of adequate job opportunities.
19 According to the 1997 Family Income and Expenditure Survey, the average incomeof the richest 10% of families was P491,658 (more than likely, their income would behigher than this amount) compared to only P20,621 for the poorest 10% of families(Table 6).
2 Philippine Daily Inquirer, November 20, 1999.3 “7-Year High: 4.3M Pinoys have no jobs due to crisis,” Philippine Daily Inquirer, June 17, 1998.4 Amaryllis T. Torres, “Developing Women as Human Resources for Trade Liberalization: The Women’sCritique,” Philippine Women Taking on APEC and Globalization, Philippine Women’s Forum on APEC(PWFA), 1998, P.22.
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20 Among various percentile groups of households in the Philippines, incomedistribution is becoming more unequal. Table 17 shows decreasing income sharesof families from the first to the ninth decile while those in the tenth (the richestfamilies) are getting richer (an increase of 3.8 percentage points in their incomeshare.
Table 6 : Distribution of Families by Income Decile
21 In terms of magnitude of poor families (below the poverty threshold) in the country,the greatest percentage increase was recorded in Metro Manila, ARMM, CentralLuzon, Bicol and Central Visayas. Metro Manila topped in the largest increase innumber of poor households, even as it is the center of industrial activity in thecountry.5
22 In 1990, it was estimated by the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor(PCUP) that there were about 15,070,240 urban population. Of these, the urbanpoor are 7,944,147 or 53% of the whole urban population. In 1995, there were anestimated 18 million urban poor nationwide with more than 4 million living in MetroManila.6 Metro Manila 7 was identified as the densest region in the country, with16,496 persons per square kilometer. In 1996, the National Capital Region wasrecorded with the highest number of urban poor population with more than3,447,216 8. The country’s mega city, Metro Manila, has a population of 10.3 M in2000 where half of the population are squatter communities.
5 Urban Poor Situationer reported by the National Anti-Poverty Commission to the National Urban PoorAssembly, 2002 with the National Statistics Office as their source.6 Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI), 10 January 19957 Identifying the Poorest in Metro Manila, Monograph No. 16, National Statistics Office, Manila, 1996.8 Habitat II, Presidential Commission on Urban Poor, National Development and Housing Framework
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23 Majority of the urban poor have no permanent jobs. Many urban poor and slumdwellers are caused by the migration of rural poor into the towns and cities lookingfor jobs and better life. Migration to the city propelled by land conversion ofagricultural land has increased by 10 percent according to research statistics in2000. Squatter colonies sprout like mushrooms in many parts of cities as risingfactories and construction of commercial centers and infrastructures toutemployment opportunities. Between 1980 and 1990, the urban population grew by5% with most rural-urban migration going to Metro Manila.9
24 The National Anti-Poverty Commission reported that the most number ofhouseholds whose incomes cannot buy a nutritious meal come from largelyagricultural areas. Topping the list are the Autonomous Region in MuslimMindanao, Western Mindanao, Bicol, and Central Visayas 10. In Mindanao alone,the main corn producing island, half of its population, some 7 million people, livesbelow the poverty line, with incomes insufficient to meet basic needs for nutrition,shelter, and clothing. They are part of the 22 million people who live below theofficial poverty line 11. 95 percent of the agricultural labor force are small peasantsand 50 percent of them till the land as tenants or owner cultivators while the otherhalf work as itinerant labor force, moving from one area to another.” 12
25 Another constraint among vulnerable groups is their limited marketable skills andaccess to education. Surveys on rural households such as the 1990 IASt survey 13
of some 8,935 rural households and the 1992 Survey on Rural Welfare 14 found outthat most farmers only reached or finished the elementary level. The same surveyalso showed interesting results in terms of secondary occupation by farmers. Only37 percent of the 8,935 respondents declared that they have secondary occupation.Most of the secondary jobs undertaken by these farmers are construction-relatedwork such as carpentry, painting and plumbing or becoming workers in other farmsor non-farms. Only 7 percent were engaged in business or manufacturing. The1992 Survey on Rural Welfare and the 1996 MODE Survey among heads of ruralfamilies showed the same trend: the majority of respondents finished someelementary education. Only a small percentage reached the college level orfinished their college education 15.
26 These farming families are sorely lacking in terms of material assets, which theycould use as collateral for loans or which can be easily convertible to cash forinvestments. A scan of their household assets also indicates the paucity of their
9 Fast Facts on Philippine Housing and Population, Quezon City, National Housing Authority10 Business World, August 10-11, 200111 www.oxfam.org, www.wwf.org12 Pascual and Glipo, p. 1813 UPLB-Institute of Agrarian Studies, Benchmark Survey of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program(CARP) Terminal Report, Vol.1, June 1992.14 Bureau of Agricultural Statistics, et. al., Survey on Rural Welfare (Part 1 of Rural Welfare Monitoring:Focus on Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries), December 1994.15 MODE, Rural Household Dynamics in the Philippines: Measuring the impact of Agrarian Reform andChanging Market Forces, 1996.
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material resources. Majority own radios (64%) and cabinets (58%) while only 5percent have motorized vehicles.
27 Among the rural poor, the incidence of poverty is higher in the upland areascompared to lowland areas (Table 7).
Table 7. Rural Poverty Incidence for Upland and Lowland, by Major Islands,Philippines, 1994
28 Poor families crowd in small often dilapidated houses in congested areas and far-flung villages. Sanitation has become a basic problem as people in this kind ofsituation are also forced to contend with lack of facilities such as water, garbagecollection, bathrooms and comfort rooms. Employment is not readily restored.16
Thus the poor in the Philippines go through a vicious cycle that brings them furtherto impoverishment and non-enjoyment of their human rights.
THE RIGHT TO ADEQUATE FOODNUTRITIONAL ADEQUACY
29 One key element of the right to adequate food is that food must be nutritionallyadequate in terms of quantity and quality. In General Comment 12, the Committeeon ESCR defined dietary needs as the diet as a whole which contains a mix ofnutrients for physical and mental growth, development and maintenance, andphysical activity that are in compliance with human physiological needs at all stagesthroughout the life cycle and according to gender and occupation.
30 The Philippine state failed to take concrete steps to progressively realizenutritionally adequate food for many of its citizens, especially children andwomen.
16 Formanes, Romeo, "Narrative on the Housing Situation in the Philippines", Volunteers for UrbanRenewal, Inc.
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31 The consumption of rice comprises the biggest percentage of total food intake(35.1%) among Filipinos, followed by fish and vegetables at 12.3 percent and 13.2percent respectively 17. The Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) survey in1993 disclosed that only protein met the recommended allowances of the essentialnutrients needed for nutritional health. Nutrient deficiency (iron, calcium, thiamin,riboflavin, ascorbic acid) ranged from 57.1% to 73.2% percent. Both food andnutrient intake have deteriorated over the years 18.
32 The nutrition situation shows the continued existence of protein-energy malnutritionespecially among pre-school children aged 5 years old and below. According to the1996 FNRI nutrition survey, eight out of 100 are at least moderately underweight,five out of 100 are stunted and less than five out of 100 are wasted 19.
33 The situation is not improving. 1999 statistics from FNRI reveal that seven out of100 children aged 0-5 years are afflicted with acute malnutrition and nine out of 100are moderately underweight. Compared with a similar survey in 1996, the numberof underweight and wasting pre-schoolers increased by 0.4% and 1.4%respectively. Stunting decreased by 0.1% 20.
34 In a study of the country's national nutrition program for the period 1998 to 2001, theunderweight in the 0-5 year old group of children decreased by 1.4% while stuntingdecreased by 2.6%. However, in the same period the situation worsened among 6-10 year old children where underweight increased by 2.7% while stunting remainedessentially the same at 41%. Based on 2001 data, the estimate is that in these twoage groups of children, 6.7 million are underweight and 7.5 million are stunted.21
35 Among pregnant women, the Fourth National Nutrition Survey (FNNS) of the DOSTfound that 4-5 out of ten pregnant women suffer from iron deficiency anemia.Moreover, FNNS showed that five out of 10 infants, ages six months to one year,are anemic. In general, 3 out of 10 Filipinos are iron deficient 22.
36 One of the main obstacles to the realization of the right to food is the discriminationexperienced by women in Philippine society. Women and girls, especially thoserecurrently displaced due to the continuing armed conflict in the country particularlyin Mindanao, are often among the first to suffer from hunger and chronicmalnutrition. “…. it is they who pass on the mutilations of malnutrition from onegeneration to the next. The so-called ‘life-cycle’ analytical method or approach
17 Food and Nutrition Research Institute, , DOST Fourth National Nutrition Survey: Philippines, 199318 ibid19 1996 Updating of Nutritional Status of Filipino Children at the Provincial Level, July 1997, p. 820 “Malnutrition rising among preschoolers, “ PDI, December 5, 1999. FNRI, 1996 Updating of NutritionalStatus of Filipino Children at the Provincial Level, July 1997.21 Florencio, Cecilia. The Philippine Nutrition Program and the Nutrition Well-being of Filipinos. An analysisof the Philippine Medium-Term Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition. Department of Food and Science andNutrition. University of the Philippines, Quezon City. January 2003.22 Manila Bulletin, May 29, 1999
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gives a more accurate view of the role played by women.”23 Furthermore, theFourth Report on the World Nutrition Situation of the United Nations ACC/SCNconfirms the relation between the infants born with impaired growth and the poornutrition during their fetal life.24
37 In summary, the Philippine state failed to ensure nutritionally adequate foodfor many of its citizens specially children and women. Malnutrition hasremained to be a problem in the Philippines, affecting a high proportion of thecountry’s population, the most prevalent being protein-energy malnutrition,vitamin A deficiency, iron deficiency, anemia and iodine deficiency. Thenational socioeconomic environment has continued to employ the “businessas usual” or more of the same approach in response to the malnutritionproblem.
38 The Philippine state has also violated the principle of non-discriminationregarding the right to food. Discrimination experienced by women inPhilippine society has remained to be one of the main obstacles in therealization of the right to food. Women and girls are among the first to sufferfrom situations of hunger and chronic malnutrition.
FOOD SAFETY AND QUALITY
39 This element of the right to food is very much interrelated with the right to health andthe right to life. The Philippines as a state party to the ICESCR has failed to takedecisive steps and definitive programs to remove threats and hazards tosafety of food.
40 Bioaccumulation of heavy metals: Metals as natural components of seawaterand sediments are generally harmless to marine life. However, they can build up tohigh concentrations as a result of human activities (e.g. mine tailings or industrialeffluents) and may thus represent a risk to human consumers 25. Presence of heavymetals in marine organisms could create health problems, if ingested over a longperiod of time.
41 Since fish is a major component of the diet of peoples in the Philippines,bioaccumulation of metals is a great concern. Heavy metals that arebioaccumulated in the muscle tissue, and therefore ingested when the fish is eatenposes a health risk to consumers.
23 Ziegler, Jean. Report by the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, E/EN.4/2001/53, 7 February 2001,p.2324 ibid25 FAO 1992. Manual of methods in aquatic environment research. Part II. Biological assessment of marinepollution with particular reference to benthos. FAO Fisheries Technical Paper, As cited by de Jesus, B.R.Jr. and Batungbakal, E.P.T bioaccumulation of Copper in Siganus fuscescens . A masteral thesis for thedegree of Master of Environmental Science: University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City.
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42 Food safety problems, ranging from being at high risk to severely impaired by thepresence of water and environmental pollution, are illustrated in the following casesof mining activities by both big and small entities.
43 Mindanao Island. In the municipality of Sibutad in Zamboanga del Norte in theisland of Mindanao, gold was discovered in one of its villages, Barangay Lalab, in1986. Small-scale gold mining activities reached its peak in 1988 to 1990 when anestimated 10,000 people from neighboring towns and provinces joined localresidents. In 1995, a large-scale mining operation was started by Philex MiningCorporation. In the first half of 1997, fish kills were reported in Murceillagos Bay inBaliangao, Misamis Occidental. After conducting an investigation on samples of fishand shellfish, the Department of Agriculture in the region reported of “mercury levelshigher than the maximum tolerable level of 0.5 ppm”. The blame was traced to themining activities in Sibutad 26.
44 Later, from May 1999 to September 2002, investigations were made on the effluentsof small-scale mines and of Philex Gold Philippines in Barangay Lalab by the NGOSave Nature Society. The laboratory analyses made on sea and creek waters, aswell as on sediments, revealed findings of mercury concentration above tolerablelimits where the standard for the North-Sea sediments by Bund/Lander is 0.2 ppm.Seaweeds in Lalab 1 and Lalab 2 were found to be contaminated with mercuryslightly higher for human consumption which is 1 ppm 27. In 1999, the Bureau ofFisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) tested waters coming from the Philexcreek and from Barangay Libay, Sibutad. The specimens were certified “POSITIVEfor the presence of Cyanide” 28.
45 Visayas Islands. 361 families or more than 2,000 individuals live in ManicaniIsland, Guian, Eastern Samar. The Hinatuan Mining Company (HMC) affected theisland’s population when the government, through its Department of Environmentand Natural Resources (DENR), implemented a retrogressive measure by approvingHMC’s application for a Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA) on thesame date Manicani was included in the 60,448 hectares Guian ProtectedSeascapes/Landscapes Project.29 HMC brandished its permit to operate inManicani under the provision of the Mining Act of 1995 that states: “...all mineralresources in public or private lands, including timber or forestlands as defined in
26 Sunio, Rose, T., M.D. “Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices of Small scale Miners in Lalab, Sibutal [sic],Zamboanga del Norte on Mercury Poisoning”. The Filipino Family Physician, Vol.39, Jan-Mar 2001, No.1.pp.9-18.27 Mercury concentration taken from the effluents of Small-Scale Mines and Philex Gold Phils. In BarangayLalab, Sibutad, Zamboanga del Norte. Collected by SAVE NATURE SOCIETY and Laboratory Analysis bySGS Philippines, Inc., Makati City28 Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic resources, Cyanide Detection Test (CDT), Laboratory NetworkCertifications on Accession Nos. W06-02-23-99 Creek Water; W01-03-18-99 Creek Water; W01-04-13-99Creek Water; P17-05-17-99 Kitong (Siganus guttatus); W01-05-19-99 Creek Water29 Guian Protected Seascapes/Landscapes Project was under the Presidential Proclamation No.469 signedby former President Fidel Ramos on October 28, 1992.
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existing laws, shall be open to mineral agreements or financial or technicalassistance agreement applications”.
46 The fisher folk of Manicani described the impact of HMC’s mining activities: ” the seaturns red when rainwater goes down from the higher portion of the mining activity,upon reaching the sea. The seawater bubbles and becomes rusty in color. Seacucumbers and “guso” (a type of seaweed used to make jelly) die. Even fishes inshallow waters float dead.” The toxic waste coming from HMC’s operations hasseriously affected fish and marine resources, the main sources of food andlivelihood. Impoverishment had set such that at least a third of the island’spopulation who were no longer able to buy rice, made the fruit tree called “rimas”their staple food. “Rimas” was once a food only given to pigs 30.
47 Luzon Island. On 24 March 1996, more than three million tons of mine tailing froma copper mine operated by the Marcopper Mining Corporation spilled into the Boacand Makulapnit Rivers in Marinduque Province, Philippines. The spill formed adeposit covering an area of approximately two square kilometer with an unknownthickness (estimated at greater than 10 cm) off the west coast of Marinduque Island.The spill is said to have affected the lives of 20, 703 people living in 27 river andcoastal barangays. A 30% reduction in saltwater fish catch from the 1995 estimatedvalue of 44,101 kg is attributed to the tailing spill. The mine spill affected the lives ofnot only the communities of Marinduque but other consumers as well years after theaccident happened.
48 The mine tailing that affected the Boac and Makulapnit River is said to be theresidue from the processing of copper-bearing ore. Marcopper claims that thetailing is not immediately toxic since the process does not use cyanide and otherpoisonous chemicals. A United Nations Mission conducted chemical analyses todetermine the toxicity of the mine tailing. Findings of the mission 31 revealed thatthe sediments did not produce high values of any potentially toxic metals althoughthe report did indicate the fairly high concentrations of heavy metals chromium,copper, zinc, and lead. However, the report also said that the concentrations andthe difficulty to extract them suggest that they would not be easily available tobiological systems and, thus, pose relatively little environmental risk.
49 However, a study 32 conducted on the bioaccumulation of copper in Siganusfuscescens or rabbitfish (locally called danggit) in the municipalities of Mogpog, Sta.
30 TFDP Report on Manicani Island, 200131 United Nations, 1996. Interim statement from the leader of the United Nations Expert AssessmentMission to Marinduque Island, Philippines. Nairobi, UN Environment Programme, July 1996. As cited inSocial Impact Assessment (SIA) of the Marcopper Mine Tailing Spill in the Boac and Makulapnit RiverValley, Marinduque Province, Philippines. A report to Placer, Dome, Inc. by the Centre for HumanSettlements, School of Community and Regional Planning. The University of British Columbia, Vancouver,B.C., Canada and the School of Urban and Regional Planning, University of the Philippines, Diliman,Quezon City, Philippines.32 De Jesus and Batungbacal (yr?) Bioaccumulation of Copper in Siganus fuscescens . Graduate thesis(Master of Environmental Science), College of Science, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City.
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Cruz, and Torrijos in Marinduque revealed that edible and inedible tissues ofsiganids have a significant amount of copper concentration. The copperconcentrations in the muscle tissues of siganids from Torrijos are within the USrecommended dietary allowance (RDA) 33and are deemed safe for humanconsumption. The authors, however, caution the consumers in the consumption ofsiganids from Banot, Bathala, Kawayan, Mogpog, Panag and Trapichihan all in themunicipality of Mogpog. Samples from these locations showed values above theRDA of 1.5-3.0 mg per day (with 9.6 mg as the highest reported value from asample in Banot in the edible tissues of the siganids). The authors attribute the highcopper concentrations to the 1996 Marcopper tailing spill to the municipalities’proximity to the spill site. The authors also discovered that copper concentration inthe muscle tissue of siganids increase with fish size possibly as a result of longerchronic exposure. Acute poisoning from the ingestion of copper salts is rarelysevere, if the metal is promptly removed by emesis. Copper resembles many otherheavy metals in its systemic toxic effects: widespread capillary damage, kidney andliver injury, and central nervous system excitation followed by depression. Livercirrhosis and disturbances of brain functions (e.g. coarse tremor and personalitychange) have also been reported.
50 Soil in all the 14 barangays of La Trinidad, Benguet had been tested acidic due toexcessive use of inorganic fertilizers and pesticides. Groundwater has been testedpositive for nitrate trace, indicating ground water pollution 34. In Pampanga, firmslocated along the Pampanga River are dumping their toxic wastes into the rivercausing health hazard to residents. To date, there are already tensions amongvarious users of water (agriculture and industrial-household users) especially duringthe dry season. For example, demand for irrigation in Central Luzon to irrigate31,500 hectares is conflicting with the demand for industrial and household water ofMetro Manila.
51 In Sibutad, Zamboanga del Norte, TFDP reported that water had to be treatedbefore it could be drinkable. In Leyte, residents of Sitio Guiwan, BarangayBuenavista reported that they had problems finding potable drinking water becauseof acid rain, which also destroyed crops and animals. The acid rain was attributed toair and water pollution caused by industrial companies (PASAR, PHILPHOS,Lepanto Mining) operating in the area 35.
52 Chemicals in Food: Food safety is also at risk or impaired due to chemicals usedas food preservatives. In wet markets in Metro Manila, many vendors are reportedto use dyes, of non-food grade, to make the fish look fresh. Some vegetablevendors resort to dipping their products in formalin. The use of formalin as apreservative in food products is a violation of the Food and Drugs and Cosmetics
33 There is no standard set by the Department of Health (DOH) regarding safe levels of copper in food.The Philippines adopts WHO standards.34 “Benguet vegetable industry eroding soil, water stability, “Philippine Daily Inquirer, January 23, 199735 “Leyte folk plagued by acid rain, can’t find drinking water, “ Today, March 18, 1996
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Act and Consumer Act of the Philippines 36. The Philippine government has poormonitoring procedures and thus failed in protecting its citizens from use ofhazardous chemicals in food.
53 Biotechnology and Genetically Modified Food: As of now, there are on-goingdebates about risks to humans eating bio-engineered foods. Non-governmentorganizations, especially environmental groups, have raised environmental andhealth concerns associated with the production, import and release of geneticallymodified organisms (GMOs). It is asserted that the greatest environmental concerncenters on the accidental release of GMOs in the wild. Disruption of localbiodiversity through increased predatory or competitive ability or disruptions of localgenetic diversity through breeding with related species are the major issues raised.Health concerns, on the other hand, includes allergic reactions to the foreign genes.European countries and some Asian countries have applied the "precautionaryprinciple" with regard to GMOs. They have established measures to minimize risksof GMOs such as banning of GE products and labeling of products containingGMOs 37.
54 In the Philippines, products with GMOs are already being marketed or used in foodpreparations and processing and people are consuming them without knowing it.Lack of laws on labeling of products containing GMOs makes it difficult for Filipinoconsumers to distinguish products in the market. In December 2000, Greenpeace-Philippines conducted a study on GE content of some 30 products sold in groceryshelves. Of the 30 products, 11 were found to contain either Roundup Ready crops(corn and soya) or Bt corn. These products were Bonus Vienna Franks, RicaProteina Hotdogs, Campo Carne Moby Hotdogs, Purefoods Beefy Hotdogs, QualityFoods Budget Franks, Foodmart Enterprises Crab Cake, Hong Chi Food Yung HoSoya Drink, Doritos Smokey Red Barbecue, Nestle Nesvita Natural Cereal Drink,Isomil Soy Infant Formula, Knorr Cream of Corn Soup 38. Other productsmanufactured outside the Philippines but sold locally that were tested and proven tocontain GMOs are Carnation Alsoy, Prosobee, Isomil, Enfamil, Similac Neocare,Betty Crocker, Morningstar Farms Better n Burgers, Baccos Bacon Bits, Fritos,Tostitos Crispy Rounds, Doritos Nacho Cheesier, Pringles and Kikkoman 39. In1998, the Southeast Asian Regional Institute for Community Education (SEARICE)conducted a study on the entry of transgenic crops in the Philippines. Resultsshowed that the Philippines imports considerable amounts of soybean and cornfrom the US, a major grower of transgenic soybean and corn. Based on the numberof hectares grown to GE corn and soya in the US and the lack of segregation lawsfor GE crops and non-GE crops, SEARICE concluded that the Philippines has beenimporting GE corn and soya without the knowledge of Filipinos 40.
36 Republic Act 793437 Third World Network, 200138 Greenpeace Briefing Kit, 200139 SEARICE Review, 199840 SEARICE Review, 1998
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55 In terms of crop production, GMOs in the Philippines are still in the process of field-testing. Bt corn has had much attention over the past two years, in terms of field-testing. It has been tested in two sites in Mindanao. One was conducted by Cargill-Agroseed in Lagao, General Santos City in 1999-2000 while the other wasconducted by Pioneer hi-Breed in Polomolok, South Cotabato, in 2000-2001. A newapplication for field-testing of Bt corn (Yieldgard) was sought by Monsanto-Philippines to be done in 32 sites in 6 provinces (Ilocos Norte, Isabela, CamarinesSur, South Cotabato and Bukidnon). As of July 9, 2001, the NCBP has alreadyapproved the field-testing on 10 sites.
56 In the country, there are two significant studies in the application of biotechnology inaquaculture --the first study is concerned with rabbitfish growth hormone (GH) whilethe second study experiments to accelerate growth using bovine growth hormone(bGH). There are no transgenic species available to consumers at present butgenetically improved tilapias have been in the market for quite some time. In 1994alone the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) research anddemonstration farms produced 31 million fingerlings of genetically improved tilapiaand carp. The fish farmers received 26 million of these fingerlings, while themultiplier stations received 114,450 breeders and other ASEAN countries received15,150 breeders 41. Transgenic fish in the market is not far behind. According toFAO, although no aquatic GMOs are currently traded, genetically modified soybeanis an ingredient of shrimp and other animal feeds that are traded globally. TheEuropean Community and Japan have labeling requirements for this feed, and thefeed industry is studying the worldwide reaction to the labeling and may look forsoybean replacements for feeds.
57 The Philippines has not been guided by the Precautionary Principle 42 in dealingwith the issue of GMOs. Concerns raised by non-government organizations onGMOs led to the formulation of a Draft National Policy on Modern Biotechnologyand its Products circulated in May 2001 but this was shelved for unknown reasons.The Department of Agriculture planned to issue an administrative order permittingcommercialization of GMOs in the first quarter of 2002 and this was only put on holddue to persistent lobby of Anti-GMO groups. 43
58 Parasitic Infestation 44: The most common health problem associated with fish asfood is the infestation of parasites. A study published by the World HealthOrganization (WHO) in 1995 estimated that about 39 million people worldwide areinfested with parasites transmitted by the ingestion of raw or improperly cookedfreshwater fish and crustaceans. Almost all of these people about 38 million lived in
41 Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Annual Report, 199442 This principle states that when there are threats of serious or irreversible damage to environment or tohuman health, the lack of scientific certainty on any particular subject should not be used to postponeprotection measures.43 These groups include Greenpeace, Southeast Asian Research Institute for Community Education(SEARICE), MASIPAG (Farmers and Scientists Partnership for Development and Progress) and othergroups which banded to form the NGO-GMO coalition.44 FAO. “The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture.” 2000
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Asia, with the remainder living in Europe and Latin America. In Asia, the problem isconcentrated in Southeast Asia and China.
59 Red Tide: Red tide is a biological event associated with human illness calledparalytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) and can have severe impacts on local fisheries.Red tide was reported in the Philippines as early as 1908. In Catbalogan, Samar, on21 June 1983 a family of eight was affected by PSP. Two children, aged 3 and 7years, died ten hours after eating boiled green mussels. Other members of thefamily became ill and were hospitalized. 45. There were seven documentedepidemics of PSP between 1983 and 1987. A total of 978 patients with a case-fatality ratio of 2 per 100 cases were reported. The epidemics were caused byPyrodinium bahamense var. compressum. Affliction with red tide continues to date.The incubation period, the time from ingestion of shellfish until the onset of anysymptoms, was from almost immediately to as long as thirty-four hours. Thesymptoms involved the gastrointestinal, neural and the respiratory systems. Theillness started with vomiting followed by numbness with or without paresthesia of thecircumoral area. Patients reported that the numbness descended to the upper thenlower extremities. This led to a light-headed or floating sensation. Later, inability towalk properly was experienced followed by dyspnea, dysphagia, and dysphonia inthis order. Deaths were due to respiratory failure. Case control studies revealed thatgreen mussels (Perna viridis) and Asian moon scallops (Amusium pleuronectes)posed the greatest risk for PSP. Shrimps and fish with gills and guts and sergestidshrimps did not pose risks 46.
60 Seliger (1989) 47 suggests that the spread of red tides to areas not previouslyaffected and the increased frequency of annual occurrences of PSP in alreadycolonized areas are the result of coastal hypertrophication. Increased nutrientsalong coastlines permit sufficient reproduction of dinoflagellates in entrained surfacepatches to compensate dilution losses, enhancing emigration over longer distances.It is argued that increased discharges of industrial and human wastes into majorwaterways, coupled with decreased natural filtering in the watersheds due todeforestation and filling-in of wetlands have markedly increased the nutrientconcentrations and sediment loads delivered in run-off to estuarine and coastalwaters. These nutrients now permit sufficient reproduction of dinoflagellates tocompensate organism dilution losses, enhancing the probabilities of successful
45 Gonzales, C.E. 1989. Pyrodinimun blooms and paralytic shellfish poisoning in the Philippines, pp 39-47.In G.M. Hallegraeff and J.J. Maclean (eds) Biology, epidemiology and management of Pyrodinium redtides. ICLARM Conference Proceedings 21, 286 p. Fisheries Department, Ministry of Development, BruneiDarussalam, and International Center for Living and Aquatic Resources Management, Manila, Philippines.46 Pastor, N.I.S. et al. Epidemics of Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning in the Philippines, 1988-1989, pp. 165-171. In G.M. Hallegraeff and J.J. Maclean (eds) Biology, epidemiology and management of Pyrodinium redtides. ICLARM Conference Proceedings 21, 286 p. Fisheries Department, Ministry of Development, BruneiDarussalam, and International Center for Living and Aquatic Resources Management, Manila, Philippines.47 Seliger, H.H., 1989. Mechanisms for red tide Pyrodinium bahamense var. compressum in Papua NewGuinea, Sabah and Brunei Darrussalam, pp 53-71. In G.M. Hallegraeff and J.J. Maclean (eds) Biology,epidemiology and management of Pyrodinium red tides. ICLARM Conference Proceedings 21, 286 p.Fisheries Department, Ministry of Development, Brunei Darussalam, and International Center for Living andAquatic Resources Management, Manila, Philippines.
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alongshore emigration. Pastor et al. (1989) 48 proposed a national PSP control andred tide management program. The activities should include the toxicologicalmonitoring of shellfish and the results should be made available to distant islandprovinces in the country. The program should be aimed at upholding the health andsafety of the public while protecting the reputation of the shellfish industry. Red tideremains a major problem in the country.
61 In summary, the Philippine state failed to ensure the safety and quality of foodand has not taken steps to progressively remove threats and hazards to safetyof food. There is bioaccumulation of heavy metals, presence of chemicals infood and parasitic infestation. It has not adopted the “precautionaryprinciple” with regard to GMOs and has not adopted laws on labelingproducts containing GMOs thus failing to ensure the right to information andchoice of peoples with regards GMOs. There is also failure to ensure safewater for peoples to drink and use. Some cases of pollution of waters bymercury, cyanide and mine wastes are related to large-scale mining activitiesby multinational companies in the Philippines.
AVAILABILITY AND SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION
62 Availability refers to the possibilities, either for feeding oneself directly fromproductive land or other natural resources, or for well functioning distribution,processing and market systems that can move food from the site of production towhere it is needed in accordance with demand. Food must be available at thehousehold, local, national and global levels. At the national level, the country’sability to supply sufficient food to its population depends on its capacity to produceand/or procure from outside sources. This implies that a country should havesufficient resources to be able to buy food when needed and that there is sufficientfood being traded at the global level.
63 However, as food markets have become internationalized, there are deepeningconcerns about food availability 49 and more importantly about increaseddependency on food imports Increased dependency on food imports could render acountry vulnerable to sudden rise and fall of food prices or to political decisions byforeign governments to sell or not to sell food.
64 Agriculture, particularly the food crop sector, has not been able to grow at a rateequal to the needs of feeding a growing population. The population growth rate
48 Pastor, N.I.S. et al. Epidemics of Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning in the Philippines, 1988-1989, pp. 165-171. In G.M. Hallegraeff and J.J. Maclean (eds) Biology, epidemiology and management of Pyrodinium redtides. ICLARM Conference Proceedings 21, 286 p. Fisheries Department, Ministry of Development, BruneiDarussalam, and International Center for Living and Aquatic Resources Management, Manila, Philippines.49 During the early 1990s, only 5% of total milled rice production was traded in the world market; wheat at20% and corn at 12%.
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(2.32% per year) outpaced food production growth of 1.0% 50. From 1993 to 1995,the daily per capita food supply 51 declined in terms of three nutrient indicators: perday calorie decreased at an annual rate of 4 percent; per day protein by 4.1 percentand per day fats by 1.2 percent . While food production is declining over the years,the available supply for daily consumption in 1995 compared to the recommendeddietary allowance (RDA) was sufficient to meet the food requirements of thepopulation. By the mid-1990’s, the Philippines had turned from a net agriculturalexporter to a net importer 52. In the cereal sub-sector, the country’s self-sufficiencyratio in rice went down from 89.49 % in 1996 to 73.16 % in 1998 (Table 8).
Source: Bureau of Agricultural Statistics, Indicators of Food Self-Sufficiency for Cereals, selectedLivestock and Poultry Products and Root crops, 1996-1998 as presented in Regalado et al., p.8
65 Dependency upon external food markets continued to grow. The country has toimport bigger volumes of grains to meet our cereal requirements (Table 9).
Table 9. Philippine Imports of Grains: Rice, Corn and Wheat (‘000 metric tons)
Source: Foreign Agricultural Service, USDA, National Statistics Office as presented in Regalado et al., p.8
66 With the decline of food production, the available supply for daily consumptiondecreased significantly for 1999 for cereal and cereal products, starchy roots andtubers, vegetables and fruits and milk and milk products. (Table 10).
Table 10: Available Supply and Recommended Daily Allowance
50 “More people but less land to till, “ Farm News and Views, March-April 1999, p. 451 Daily per capita food supply is measured in terms of weight or in terms of nutrient value.52 Department of Agriculture. Farms, Food and Foreign Trade: The WTO and Philippine Agriculture, Paperpresented during the National Consultation on Emerging Issues in the Next Round of WTO Negotiations,November 3, 1999, Quezon City, Philippines
Source: NSCB, Food Balance Sheet of the Philippines, 1993-1995, 1999 as presented in Regalado etal, p.7 and IBON, 15 & 31 December 2001, p.3
67 The Philippine state has not taken decisive steps to improve and stop therapid decline of food production in the country through agriculture. ThePhilippines failed in its obligation to fulfill the right to adequate food.
68 The Rice Industry: Any discussion on the Philippines’ food security will inevitablyfocus on its primary ability to produce or purchase rice. Rice is very important to thePhilippines’ rural economy and society. About 1/3 of its agricultural land is devotedfor rice production. Rice is the main staple, accounts for 35% of average Filipinodiet and around 80% of calorie intake among Filipinos. Yearly, each Filipinoconsumes 95 kgs of milled rice (1998 figures). About 2 million Filipinos are involvedin rice production and they produce 90 percent of the country’s rice requirement.Palay production accounts for about 19 percent of the total output of agriculture or2.9 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). Rice is the source of income to 3.2million rice farmers and their families 53 as well as to thousands of traders, millersand their dependents.
69 The rice industry is characterized by declining production, decreasing area devotedto rice farming and low productivity. Currently, the average rice yield for allecosystems (irrigated, rain-fed, upland) is 2.92 metric tons per hectare. PHILRICEestimated that the Philippines has to achieve 3.27 metric tons per hectare-yield in allecosystems (or 5.04 metric tons per hectare in irrigated areas) to be self-sufficient inrice (with a population of 71.54 million). With a higher population now, thePhilippines has to target higher yield, or otherwise increase the area devoted to riceproduction to achieve sufficiency level.
70 Low productivity in rice is to a large extent, the result of under investment innecessary infrastructure. In the 1970s, government poured billions of pesos intoirrigation projects. This paved the way for a period of surplus production. From thatperiod, however, the level of agricultural investments particularly in irrigation, havebeen on a steady decline. Further, water sources essential for irrigating farms andfor domestic use, like that of Liang River in Itogon, Benguet, are diverted for mininguse. The residents of Sitios Liang of Loacan Barangay, Apechay, Lib o-ong andGodfield of Poblacion, Itogon opposed the application of the mining company,Benguet Corporation, to divert water which is “the main source of irrigation for
53 Department of Agriculture, Rice. Paper presented during the National Consultation on WTO, November3, 1999, Quezon City.
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farmlands located downstream and along [Liang River’s] banks” and “the source ofdomestic water…thus, they have the priority to the right of user.” 54
71 During the rice crisis in 1995, government was forced to acknowledge thatagriculture has long been under funded and that infrastructure support has beenone of those severely neglected. Congress even doubled the Department ofAgriculture budget in 1996 at 25 billion pesos instead of the 12.62 billion pesosinitially allocated, half of which was allocated for irrigation projects and farm-to-market roads. But attention to irrigation which is crucial in increasing rice productionand productivity has not been sustained. Only 43% (1.3 million hectares) of the total3 million hectares of irrigable lands are irrigated. Area irrigated during the drycropping season in 1998 declined compared to the same period in 1997, from369,677 hectares to only 229,993 hectares 55 56. In 1999, the Department ofAgriculture was given a budget of only P14 billion compared to the Department ofNational Defenses budget of P51.6 billion.
Figure 1: Rice Production and Demand, 1981 - 1998
9,000,000
8,000,000
7,000,000
6,000,000 Production Total Demand
5,000,000 Source: BAS as presented by
4,000,000 Regalado et al., p.9
3,000,000
2,000,000
1,000,000
0
’81 ’83 ’85 ’87 ’89 ’91 ’93 ’96 ‘98
72 Another factor in the low productivity in rice is the ability of the producer to raise thenecessary capital to meet production costs. The devaluation of the peso and thehike in petroleum products resulted in higher prices of imported inputs such asfertilizers, pesticides and farm machinery. Consequently, farmers are incurringhigher production costs. With the ongoing financial crisis, farmers (who are
54 Petition signed by residents of sitios Liang of Loacan Barangay, Apechay, Libo-ong and Goldfield ofPoblacion, Itogon opposing the application of Benguet Corporation for water rights received by the Office ofthe sangguniang Bayan, Itogon, October 3, 2001 in TFDP Loacan File.55 Farm News and Views, March-April 1999, p.356 Fermin Adriano and Elvira E. Dumayas, “ The Politics of Food: Enough rice on the table is litmus test forEstrada.” Philippine Daily Inquirer, May 30, 1999
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considered high-risk borrowers) are having a harder time accessing funds,especially from the formal financial intermediaries (e.g. banks) and would rely moreheavily on informal sources (mostly traders) that would be charging higher interestrates.
73 Land Conversions: To encourage agribusiness and landlords to plant High ValueCrops (HVC), the government has provided incentives, tax holidays and technicaland infrastructure support and other perks. For export crop production, governmenthas also promoted contract growing, which allows direct participation oftransnational corporations in food production. Since rice and corn are no longerprofitable, according to the government, land allocated for cereals is being reducedin favor of HVCs. Rice and corn lands of 7.1 million hectares in 1990 shrank to 6.6million hectares in 1999, resulting in a decrease in agricultural production. Yet,government hopes to reduce rice and corn lands further to 1.2 million and 700,000hectares respectively. Recently, the Department of Agriculture has bared its plan todevote close to one million hectares of farmlands to HVC production. This shallconvert further lands allocated for food production 57. The consequentdisplacement of farmers and their families would make their access to adequatefood more difficult.
74 More than 54,000 hectares of lands are already legally converted lands. TheInstitute of Strategic Planning and Policy Study (ISPPS) reported the illegalconversion of 172,940 hectares of croplands around regional industrial centers 58
75 “The country’s food security and economic growth are much affected by theperformance of the agricultural sector. The underdevelopment of theagricultural sector and the rural areas in general significantly affects theproduction of food and other agricultural commodities. With very lowproductivity coupled with depressed prices, the income of rural families iskept low while the availability of jobs in the rural areas remains unstable. Withlimited opportunities and low incomes, rural people migrate to the cities insearch for greater economic opportunities. With a low supply of food from therural areas, food prices in the cities and urban centers rise exerting pressureon wages.” 59
76 The government’s move, to counterbalance this situation of neededcommodities and rising prices, was to increase importation. But this in turnerodes further the ability of the Filipino farmers to compete and theirmotivation to continue in agricultural production. Added on to the inability ofsmall farmers to have access to food are the growing numbers of urbanworkers who are also unable to cope with their low wages the rising prices of
57 IBON, 15 & 31 December, 2001, p. 758 Farm News and Views, May-June 199959 Regalado, Aurora and the Philippine Group. “State’s Failure to Fulfill and Defend its Citizens’ Right toFood: The Philippine Experience”, Paper prepared for and presented at the Asian Consultation onEconomic, Social and Cultural Rights, January, 2000, Quezon City, Philippines. (To be cited henceforth asRegalado and the Philippine Group.)
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food and other commodities. In ensuring their right to adequate food,members of both sectors increasingly compromise the enjoyment of theirother rights.
77 Economic and environmental issues affecting food sustainability: The long-term sustainability of food production demands the maintenance and enhancementof the country’s resource base and of its biodiversity as well as the equitabledistribution of these resources and the benefits derived from them. In thePhilippines, however, most of its forests and marine resources are already depleted.The present exhaustion and degradation of terrestrial ecosystems (deforestation,soil erosion and desertification and degradation of the aquatic environment) in thePhilippines are threatening people’s livelihood and survival.
78 The country is facing an ecological crisis and the Philippine state has nottaken decisive steps to stop environmental destruction harming sustainableproduction and availability of food, including water. The Philippines has failedin its obligation to protect the peoples' right to food.
79 Deforestation: In the 1930s, 57% of the country was covered with forest. Currentestimates of remaining forests range from 2.7% 23.3% of the total land area of 30million hectares. Environmentalists say that the needed forest cover to sustain agrowing population and economic activities should be at least 40%. The Philippinesalready reached the threshold in sustainable management. Philippine forests aredisappearing at an alarming rate at an average of 3.3% from 1980-1990 andincreasing to 3.5% from 1990-1995.
80 The environmental Science for Social Change (ESSC) said that the causes ofmassive and rapid forest destruction include logging, upland migration andagricultural expansion. The Timber Land Agreement System, which legalizedcommercial logging, was identified as the main culprit. Fifty percent of Philippineforests were lost to commercial logging during the Marcos regime. Some estimatesplaced the total degraded area in the country at 5 million hectares or 16.8 percent oftotal land area. The destruction of the Philippine forests may lead to the extinction ofmany of the country’s endemic species 60. Forest loss in the Cordilleras is affectingwater supply at Chico River, the major source of irrigation for rice lands in Kalingaand Isabela 61.
81 Soil Erosion/Degradation: Soil erosion/degradation poses a serious threat to thesustainability of agricultural production. Soil erosion means that the soil is alreadydepleted of nutrients and consequently, yield on degraded lands will be low. About69% of total Philippine land area is subjected to various forms of soil degradation 62.Some 100,000 hectares of land to a depth of one meter are lost to erosion per year
60 UNDP, Human Development Report 1999, p. 206: “Logging ban: Total or Selective?” Philippine DailyInquirer, January 16, 200061 “Forest loss draining Chico Dam water supply,” Philippine Daily Inquirer, January 22, 199762 “70 percent of Philippine land area show degradation signs,” Today, October 31, 1995
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in the Philippines. What is alarming is that many of the degraded lands arewatershed areas for most irrigation systems of the key grain areas in the country.Many of the country’s provinces have already lost 50% of their topsoil to erosion andthat 70% of all croplands are vulnerable to erosion 63.
82 In 1998, DENR listed 22 provinces with distressing soil erosion rates. These includeBatangas and Cebu (lost 80-85% of their top soil due to erosion), Marinduque (75-80%), Ilocos Sur and La Union (60-70%), Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga delNorte, Bukidnon, North and south Cotabato, the three provinces of Davao, NegrosOccidental and Oriental, Iloilo, Aklan, Capiz and Antique (50%) 64. Large-scalemining has caused irreversible destruction on the country’s fragile environment andloss of subsistence among many indigenous peoples 65.
83 In Fisheries, the average annual growth rate in fishery production achieved from1993-1998 was only 1.3%. Positive growths were recorded in aquaculture (anaverage of 4.7%) and in commercial fisheries (2.7%). Municipal fisheries has beendeclining through the years at an average of -3.2% (Table 11).
Table 11. Growth Rates of Philippine Fishery Production, 1993-1998
Source: Bureau of Agricultural Statistics as presented in Regalado et al., p.8
84 Depletion of Marine Resources: Mangrove forests are undoubtedly a most vitalresource in the export of nutrients to the marine waters. In 1967, Bureau of ForestDevelopment reported 418,990 hectares of mangrove areas. The ForestManagement Bureau (FMB) reported that mangrove areas are dwindling at the rateof 2% per year. Out of the original 450,000 hectares, only 117,700 hectares(26.16%) remained in 1995. The loss of mangroves can be attributed primarily tothe illegal conversion of these areas into fishponds, indiscriminate cutting ofmangrove trees for firewood and construction purposes, and reclamation ofmangrove areas for other land uses. It is estimated that 95% of fishponds wereonce mangrove areas. According to the Department of Agriculture, one hectare ofmangrove could support more than 600 kilograms of natural fish production in nearshore waters per year. Mangrove swamps are vital to marine environment. Theyserve as sanctuaries and nurseries to different species of aquatic animals and actas buffer zones and prevent siltation or the erosion and transfer of certain soilnutrients from the shorelines to the different bodies of water.
63 “The price of deforestation,” Philippine Daily Inquirer, January 16, 200064 “RP Environment: Experts warn of ecological disaster, “Philippine Daily Inquirer, June 27, 199965 “Rhetoric and Reality: First Year of Estrada Administration,” Philippine Human Rights Update, Vol 13,No. 3-4, 1999, p 16
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85 Further, the Philippines coral reef areas (about 44,000 sq. km., of which 27,000 sq.km. are within 10-20 fathoms deep) are extensively damaged. Only 6% remain inexcellent condition. The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR)reported that up to 70% of coral reefs are partly or fully damaged. The destruction ofthe coral reefs is caused by destructive fishing practices such as the use ofdynamite and cyanide, the use of trawling nets (that are dragged along the seabed),muro ami fishing (herding of fish into giant nets while banging numerous rocks oncoral reefs).
86 The country is already experiencing a shortfall in fish supply as many fishinggrounds such as the Sulu Sea, Moro Gulf, Batangas, Bay, and Lingayen Gulf arealready fished to the limit. Many municipal fisherfolk are complaining that their catchis dwindling because many large-scale fishing vessels (150 gross tons or more) areencroaching on fishing grounds reserved for municipal fishing.
87 The Task Force detainees of the Philippines (TFDP) office in Dipolog City, citing astudy by the Environment Management Bureau of the DENR, reported that tracesof cyanide and mercury have been noted in Murceillagos Bay in Sibutad,Zamboanga del Norte in 1999. The affected residents attributed the fish kills and thedecreasing number of fish in the bay to the chemical poisoning of the watersresulting from the operations of small-scale mines and of Philex Mining, with thelatter touted as the model mining company in the Philippines.
88 Degradation of Freshwater Resource: The Philippines has 570,000 hectares offreshwater resources (swamplands, rivers, lakes). The most productive area(marine shelf within the 200-meter isobath) in the country’s marine resources arefound in the municipal waters. Approximately 75% of the coastal shelf area is in the0-100 m depth range, where coral reefs, mangroves and fish stocks abound. Themunicipal waters are the richest fishing grounds. But massive deforestation,industrial pollution and the use of chemical inputs are destroying (or havedestroyed) freshwater sources.
89 Municipal Fisheries Sector: As backbone of the fishing Industry, there aresalient aspects of artisanal (municipal) and small-scale fisheries 66 that needattention. The current threats to municipal fisheries sector include:a. development policies promoting active, capital-intensive fishing techniques,b. emergence of a new regime of joint ventures and fisheries access agreements,c. degradation of coastal resources.
90 Local spatial food fish insecurity: Fish food security or insecurity is not uniformin the country. Spatial distribution of food fish supply varies depending mainly onthe marketing and distribution channels. It is ironic that food fish supply is morelimited in local coastal communities that produce it because they sell the fish catchto have income for other needs. Conversely, food fish supply is higher in urbanareas and regional centers in rural areas.
66 Caravan Newsletter, Bol 4, October 1999
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91 International trade: Although fishery products do not fall under the jurisdiction ofthe Agreement on Agriculture, it is still covered under other agreements of the WTO:
a. General rules of the General Agreement on Tariff and Trade (GATT),b. Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures,c. Agreement on Import Licensing Procedures,d. Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade,e. Agreement on Safeguards, andf. Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures.
92 Under the Fisheries Code (RA 8550), regulation of fisheries export is expedientwhen it affects food security and production. Importation, on the other hand, is onlyallowed for processing and canning. However, importation for the wet market will beallowed subject to the issuance of a certificate of necessity from the Department ofAgriculture Secretary with consultation from the Fisheries and Aquatic ResourcesManagement Council (FARMC).
93 In summary, the Philippine state has not been able to ensure sufficient food tothe peoples in the country by poorly allocating funds for agriculture, even as itspends 28.43% of the national budget for debt servicing. Agriculture has notbeen able to grow at a rate equal to the needs of feeding a growingpopulation. The rice production and productivity declined. This can beattributed to limited public expenditure to enhance productivity andproduction and the ability of the producer to raise the necessary capital tomeet production costs.
94 The government resorted to importation to counterbalance the situation ofneeded commodities and rising prices. However, this eroded further theability of the farmers in the Philippines to compete, as well as their motivationto continue in agricultural production. Increased dependency on food importscould render a country vulnerable to sudden rise and fall of food prices or topolitical decisions by foreign governments to sell or not to sell food.
SUSTAINABLE ACCESS TO FOOD
95 The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights pointed out in its GeneralComments on the Right to Food that accessibility encompasses both economic andphysical accessibility. Economic accessibility implies that personal or householdfinancial costs associated with the acquisition of food for an adequate diet should beat a level such that the attainment and satisfaction of other basic needs are notthreatened or compromised. Physical accessibility implies that adequate food mustbe accessible to everyone.
96 A key problem in the fulfillment of the right to adequate food of peoples in thePhilippines is access to food that is still available but steadily declining. One’saccess to food depends on a host of factors relating to access to production
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resources, markets and institutions. Amartya K. Sen, the 1998 Nobel Laureate inEconomics, stressed that food availability in the market does not automatically givepeople access to consume this food. He argued that an individual or household(entity) can “have legitimate command over food and other commodities given itsendowment of resources and its opportunities to produce and trade.”
97 This implies that in looking at the problem of food access, it is important to considerthe non-market determinants of the ability to command goods on the market:ownership of resources and the terms on which people come to the market andwhich influence their ability to trade. In the final analysis, as Gershman pointed out,there is the need to change the inequitable ownership of resources or entitlements(economic and political) in favor of the vulnerable and powerless 67.
98 Control of Land Resources. Central to the issue of ensuring access to adequateand nutritious food is access to and control of land resources. In the case of thePhilippines, the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) was meant toredress the century’s old question of societal injustice and inequity and to empowerand make more productive farmers in the Philippines through the redistribution oflands. As of December 1998, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) claimed tohave distributed 59% of the 8.1 million hectares targeted for distribution in ten years.The period of implementation (ten years) is over but large tracts of privateagricultural lands particularly sugar and coconut lands have yet to be distributed. AMODE survey (1996) among potential agrarian reform beneficiaries shows that a bignumber of farmers are still without access to land and that tenancy relations persistdespite its legal abolition 68.
99 Aside from the slow implementation of the CARP, the Philippine governmentdiscriminated against women in its implementation. The same survey found outthat the land titles and other forms of ownership certificates are usually issued tomale farmers despite the fact that the CARP declares that Certificate of LandOwnership Agreements (CLOAs) should be issued in the names of both spouses.Government data show that only 5,145 women are holders of CLOAs compared to23,310 men farmers.69 Available data also show limited representation of women inofficially recognized organizations and bodies related to agrarian reform. In 1996,the DAR reported that membership in Agrarian reform Community Organizationswas predominantly composed of 72% males and 28% females 70.
67 John Gershman, “Beyond Markets and Protectionism: Politically Incorrect Reflections on entitlements,Empowerment and Food Security,” Paper Presented at the Conference-Consultation on Food Security, 30-31 March 1998, Silang, Cavite, Philippines.68 About 51% of the respondents says that they do not own the lands they till, 35.6% said they do and 11%said they are amortizing the land (beneficiaries of land reform). Ricardo Reyes, “CARP Past the Deadline:Where’s the Beef?” MODE Papers on Agrarian Reform, April 1999, PP.5 & 31.69 NSCB, Statistical Series on Women and Men in the Philippines, 15 April 1999 (source: 1990/NSO).70 Formanes, Belinda L. Narrative on Agrarian Reforma nd Right to Adequate Food, unpublished paper ofPhilNet-RDI, Inc., October 9, 2002, p. 6.
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100 In the last fifteen years, CARP has been implemented slowly. Government hasbeen proudly heralding their accomplishment in agrarian reform implementation andpoints that CARP only needs to distribute the remaining 2.62 million hectares tocomplete its mandate. What the government statistics failed to point out however isthe fact that this accomplishment has been questioned for its veracity. No less thanthe Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC), the highest policy making bodyfor agrarian reform, which has been conducting yearly audits of CARP’saccomplishments has raised this issue. Former Agrarian Reform Secretary ErnestoGarilao 71 has noted the significant deceleration in the land distribution pace. Fromthe recorded average of 315,000 hectares annually during President Ramos’ time(this accomplishment is also being questioned and criticized for its failure to take onthe more contentious distribution of private agricultural lands), only an average ofabout 133,000 hectares per year has been achieved during Estrada’sadministration.
Table 12. CARP Targets and Status of Distribution (as of December 31, 2000)OriginalScope
1988-1994
RevisedScope1996
RevalidatedScope
Accomplish-ment
Percentage Balance
No. ofFBs
DAR 3.8 M 4.3 M 4.29 M 3.102 M 72 % 1.19 M 1.735DENR 6.5 M 3.8 M 3.77 M 2.341 M 62 % 1.43 M 1.46CARP 10.3 M 8.1 M 8.06 M 5.44 M 67 % 2.62 M
Source: Philippine Peasant Institute: “Philippine Concerns on the Right to Food”, 2001, p.3
101 The declaration of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo that they will only be targeting200,000 hectares in the next six years, 100,000 hectares each for the DAR and theDENR, only serves as a further proof of the further deceleration of land distributionin the next years.
Table 13. Accomplishment per AdministrationAdministration Inclusive Date Accomplishment Percentage from Target
Marcos 1972-1986 338,497 4 %Aquino 1986-1992 1.69 M 21 %Ramos 1992-1998 2.748 M 34 %Estrada 1998-2000 666,789 8 %Arroyo Jan 2001-May 2001 17,796 (DAR)
Source: Philippine Peasant Institute. “Philippine Concerns on the Right to Food”, 2001. p.3
102 The slow pace of land distribution has been outpaced by land conversions, bothlegal and illegal. While DAR only admits to a legal conversion of only 31,947.05hectares as of December 1999, it has stopped releasing the number of landsdeemed effectively converted by virtue of the Department of Justice Opinion No. 44
71 Garilao and Grageda, 2001
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(DOJ 44). Illegal conversions have been increasing steadily as evidenced by themushrooming of subdivisions, golf courses and cemeteries along highways onformer rice fields. As early as 1991, the Bureau of Soils and Water Management(BSWM) has initial estimates of at least 118,000 hectares of irrigated lands lost tonon-agricultural uses in an aerial spot mapping they conducted 72. Only recently,the University of the Philippines Los Banes released a report estimating illegalconversion in Luzon to be around 200,000 hectares. This is one reason why ourproduction has also been declining in the last decade. Productive fields are beingconverted to other uses to the detriment of the peoples of the PhilippineArchipelago.
Table 14: Comparison of Legal Land Conversion Cases, 1991 - 19971991 1994 As of June 1997 Growth 91/97
No. of ApplicationsProcessed
468 1,688 2,419 503.21
DAR-approvedConversions
3,089 12,933 16,920.38 609.05
DOJ Opinion 44covered lands
1,665 17,349 30,009.11 2005.9
Total 4,754 30,283 46,929.49 1098.27Source: Philippine Peasant Institute. “Philippine Concerns on the Right to Food”, 2001. p.4103 The following cases illustrate the violations of the right to adequate food and failures of
the Philippine state to progressively fulfill the right related to access and control ofland resources.
104 Hacienda Maria Case 73
Location : Hacienda Maria, Brgy. Angus, Sta. Josef, Agusan del Sur No. of Hectares : 256 No. of Affected Beneficiaries: 94 Landowner: Hacienda Maria, Inc.
105 This case involves the cancellation of Emancipation Patents (EPs) awarded to 94 farmers after
more than ten years from their issuance. The subject land is part of 527.8303 has. which wasformerly owned by Hacienda Maria, Inc. (HMI). The cancellation of the EmancipationPatents is a violation of the farmers' right to food, through deprivation of landresources.
106 Hacienda Aldamiz 74
Location: Barangays Bayanan, Batuhan, Tiguihan, and Pola, Or. Mindoro No. of Hectares : 377.4150 No. of Affected Beneficiaries: 121 registered families Landowner(s): Heirs of Nieves and Luis Aldamiz
107 While the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARL) was to be implemented in 1988, it was
only in 1992 that portions of Hacienda Aldamiz were put under the Agrarian Reform Program.Only 241.6972 out of the 377.4150 were distributed. The delay of implementation hasenabled the heirs of the Hacienda to use their influence to even sell the lands meant fordistribution, even after the former had already received the stipulated 30 hectares. Sadderwas the fact that those who were to receive land have not yet been given the required
72 PPI, 1994 73 Case Source: PPI Paper, Philippine Concerns on the Right to Food, 2001, pp.4-5 74 Case Source: TFDP Research on Focus Area: Hacienda Aldamiz, Pola, Oriental Mindoro, 2001
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Certificate of Ownership Award (CLOA) to establish their ownership. There is failure to takesteps to progressively fulfill their rights to adequate food, through access to land.
108 The Hacienda heirs even converted into residential lots some 10 hectares planted to citrus and
coconut that have been tilled by Carmelito Capillo and his family. This act was in directcontravention of the rules and guidelines set in the Administrative Order No. 1, series of 1990of Republic Act (RA) 6657.
109 The delay of awarding the lands to the legitimate tenants has enabled the landowner to place
his subalterns in lands that were to belong to bona fide tenants. The municipal officers of theDepartment of Agrarian Reform who had the obligations to look into the farmers’ complaintsacted more favorably on the landowner’s fabricated accusations.
110 Mapalad Multi-Purpose Cooperative 75
Location :San Vicente, Sumilao, BukidnonNo. of Hectares: 144No. of Beneficiaries: 137Landowner: Norberto Quisumbing Sr. Management and DevelopmentCorporation (NQSRMDC)
111 The farmers belonging to the Higaonon tribe are claiming a 144-hectare property that is prime
agricultural land with an irrigation facility constructed by the national Irrigation Authoritycutting across it. The contested 144 hectares of land in San Vicente, Sumilao, Bukidnon, isowned by the estate of Norberto Quisumbing Sr. Management and Development Corporation(NQSRMDC) and leased to Del Monte Philippines, Inc. in 1984 for 10 years. As early as 1990,the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) issued a notice of compulsory acquisition to coverthe property. The coverage, however, was temporarily suspended by the DAR AdjudicationBoard (DARAB) until April 1994, as the lease contract of Del Monte Philippines was still ineffect. Before the expiry date, the contested land was converted into an agro-industrial estate.The Bukidnon Provincial Development Council and the Sangguniang Bayan of Sumilao throughresolutions made in their respective bodies were responsible for these actions.
112 The decision to either distribute the land or to convert it into an industrial/ institutional siteswung from one to the other from 1993 to 1995. On March 26, 1996, the Executive SecretaryRuben Torres, influenced by an appeal from Governor Carlos Fortich of Bukidnon, reversed theDAR decision, allowing the conversion of the said 144-hectare land. Despite the protests of thefarmers through hunger strikes and the intervention of President Fidel Ramos, the NQSRMDCobtained a Supreme Court ruling that the Torres decision was the final decision andmaintained it as such to this day. The Philippine government adopted retrogressivemeasures when it approved the conversion of the land into an agro-industrialestate even as the Higaonon farmers have already applied for claim and theDepartment of agrarian Reform has already issued a notice for compulsoryacquisition for land reform.
113 In asserting their right to land, farmers have been injured and killed. Such a casewas the one in Negros Oriental in the Visayas Islands. Farm workers under the SanFrancisco Agricultural Workers’ Multi-Purpose Cooperative (SFWMULCO)processed their claim folders involving 208 hectares sugar estate owned by Atty.Isidro Lacson of Bacolod City. Along the course of their contestation of the land, theChairperson of their Board of Directors, Mr. Neonito Ordaniel, was murdered.Nearly four years have passed since Ordaniel’s slaying, but the identities of theperpetrators still remain unknown.76
75 Case Sources: Tomasito S. Villarin, KAISAHAN Occasional Paper No.98-01, February 1998; Teresita G.Camacho, “The Unending Saga of the Mapalad Farmers,” in Human Rights Forum, Vol.IX, No.1, July-December 1999; Maria Socorro I. Diokno, “Reference Sheet No. 4. Mapalad in Retrospect and Beyond:Assessing the Agrarian Reform Struggle”, 2002.76 Formanes, Belinda. Op. Cit., p.10
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114 As seen in the aforementioned statistics and cases, the Philippinegovernment, through the years, has caused delay of implementation, non-implementation and the reversion of implementation of the ComprehensiveAgrarian Reform Program which is key to access to food, especially offarmers and their families.
115 In severing people from land resources, the Philippines has also failed in itsobligation to respect the existent capabilities of the farmers to achieve andenjoy their right to adequate food. As stated in the General Comment: “Theobligation to respect existing access to adequate food requires States partiesnot to take any measures that result in preventing such access” 77. There isalso need to emphasize the role of non-state actors who should pursue itsactivities within a framework of a code of conduct that respects the right tofood, as in the case of farmers in Barangay Talomo, Sto. Tomas, Davao delNorte 78.
116 Access to Boats and Fishing Grounds: For fisherfolks, boats and fishing groundsare vital resources that affect their capacity to access food. Many of the fisherfolksonly have small, non-motorized fishing boats. Some do not even have boats.PAMALAKAYA claimed that the 1.2 million small fisherfolks only have 464,000 smallfishing boats 79.
117 Fishing households do not necessarily have a regular supply of fish because theyopt to sell their fish to the market, and then buy cheaper fish or dried fish or cannedsardines to serve during their meals. They need to sell their catch in order to havecash necessary to procure rice and other needs of the family, including fish. In theexisting marketing system (privatized) for fish, producers are always at the losingend, because they do not have control of the price of fish. First, they have to selltheir products to the local traders so they will have cash, and not run the risk of notselling the fish, and thus, no income. Second, they are usually in debt to the fishtraders in order for them to have the capital for operations. Lack of post-harvestfacilities for fish limit the potential value-added for fish products thus limiting thepotential income of fishing households (as raw producers).
118 Some 320 hectares of fishponds in Pangasinan and La Union were converted intohousing and business centers resulting in the loss of 2.14 metric tons of fish supplyannually. Aside from the loss of fish supply, the conversion resulted in job lossesamong caretakers and seasonal laborers 80.
119 Limited access to land and other productive resources affects the capacity ofwomen and men farmers, fisherfolk and indigenous people to command a decentincome or adequate purchasing power. In terms of household income, majority of
77 GC, No.12, par.1578 TFDP Mindanao Case File: Brgy. Talomo, Sto. Tomas, Davao del Norte79 “Fisherfolk complain of dwindling catch,” IBON Perspectives, March 1, 1999, p.23.80 Philippine Daily Inquirer, December 9, 1999
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rural respondents (71.7%) earned P50,000 or less 81. There is also great disparityamong incomes of different fishers. In 1996, municipal and subsistence fishersearned an average annual income of P37,552.23 compared to earnings of those inaquaculture at P128,490.94 and P432,960.24 in commercial fishing 82.
120 Indigenous peoples: The passage of the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA)was a positive step for the indigenous peoples' struggle for their ancestral domainand means of subsistence, which is essential for the fulfillment of their right toadequate food. The National Commission for Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) wasestablished to facilitate processing of ancestral domain claims as well as to assistindigenous peoples on other concerns.
121 However, in September 1998, Executive Secretary Ronaldo Zamora issuedMemorandum Order (MO) No. 21, which withheld the release of the funds forprojects of the National Commission for Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) except for thesalaries of their personnel. The reasons cited for the issuance of MO No. 21 werethe graft charges filed against some officials of the agency, and the petition of aformer justice that questioned the constitutionality of the Indigenous Peoples RightsAct (IPRA). In short, MO No. 21 halted the operations of the NCIP and frustratedthe indigenous community, who await the needs and services that they have beendeprived of.
122 Through Administrative Order No. 108, the Estrada Administration created anotheragency to supposedly assist the NCIP in dealing with the concerns of the indigenouscommunity, the Presidential Task Force on Indigenous People (PTFIP). After thePTFIP’s creation, the appointment of new commissioners and regional directorscaused confusion. When Mrs. Macapagal-Arroyo took over as President of theRepublic of the Philippines in late January 2001, militant groups were calling for theabolition of the PTFIP so that the NCIP can do its job. Instead, another agency wascreated to handle the problems concerning indigenous communities, which is knownas the Office of the Presidential Advisor on Indigenous Peoples Affairs (OPAIPA). Sonow, there are three agencies with similar functions, further aggravating confusion asto which agency is the primary one to deal with the needs of the indigenouscommunity.
123 The fact that neither the indigenous peoples nor their ancestral lands and/ordomains are acknowledged in the Municipal Comprehensive DevelopmentPlan (MCDP), in most parts of Mindanao, is in effect discrimination againstindigenous peoples by government institutions.
124 Thousands of indigenous people are deprived of their ancestral lands with theenactment of the Mining Act of 1995 that grants mining exploration and operationsin vast tracts of lands, many of which are ancestral domains, through the Financial
81 MODE, The Impact of Agrarian Reform and Market Changes on Philippine Rural Households: SurveyResults - Key Indicators, Quezon City, January 27, 1998, p.25.82 Bureau of Agricultural Statistics and the Asian Development Bank as cited by Allan Vera, FisheriesModernization and Liberalization, SIKAT, NFR, 1999
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and Technical Assistance Agreements. Barely two months in power, the Estradagovernment granted 47 mining permits (17 to foreign companies) that affected369,300 hectares of ancestral lands. Mining applications awaiting approval mayencroach on ancestral lands of indigenous peoples in Northern Luzon, Palawan,Mindoro and Mindanao 83.
Urban poor and workers: For contractual and minimum wage earners, theiraccess to food is even more difficult because they have to buy everything. A casestudy on food security among the urban poor show that the annual income of thesehouseholds amount to only P53,249 (Sitio Bagong Tanyag, Tagig) 84. A big numberof Filipinos have difficulties accessing food given that the minimum wage has beenconsistently lower compared to the rising cost of living. By pegging minimum wageslower than what is necessary for an adequate standard of living, government hasdeprived many of its citizens the right to access adequate nutritious food. Inaddition, while the minimum wage is low, many workers do not receive the correctpay.
125 Another constraint among vulnerable groups is their limited marketable skills andaccess to education. The 1996 MODE Survey among heads of rural familiesshowed the same trend: the majority of respondents finished some elementaryeducation. Only a small percentage reached the college level or finished theircollege education 85. These farming families are sorely lacking in terms of materialassets, which they could use as collateral for loans or which can be easilyconvertible to cash for investments. A scan of their household assets also indicatesthe paucity of their income. Majority own radios (64%) and cabinets (58%) whileonly 5 percent have motorized vehicles.
126 The impoverishment of the above mentioned agriculture-based households affectednot only their right to adequate food, but also impaired their enjoyment of otherhuman rights, such as housing, health and education. The indivisibility andinterrelatedness of human rights are concretely experienced in the struggle to obtainadequate food. In failing to do so, the rights to health, education and adequatehousing of family members move farther out of reach and worsens in turn theircapability to obtain adequate food.
127 Displacements: Displacements of people caused by militarization in CentralMindanao 86 severed them from their means of subsistence, particularly theirsources of food, and disrupted production. Access to their sources of foodbecomes not only very difficulty, but risky as well. Such situations could either befor short or long periods of time.
83 TFDP, Large Scale Mining Operations, Environmental Destruction and Indigenous Peoples, p. 1, no date84 Eddie Quitoriano, Vulnerable Sectors and Complex Communities: Four Case Studies on Food Security,MODE, 1999.85 MODE, Rural Household Dynamics in the Philippines: Measuring the impact of Agrarian Reform andChanging Market Forces, 1996.86 Central Mindanao is politically known as Region XII. It is composed of the following provinces -Cotabato, Lanao del Norte and Sultan Kudarat - and the cities of Iligan, Marawi and Kidapawan.
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128 At the height of the “all-out war” policy of the ousted President Estrada in 2000, theDepartment of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) of Region XII reported thatabout 133,299 families or 714,537 persons in Region XII and the AutonomousRegion of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) were internally displaced. It was only inSeptember 2002 that the government declared that all of the internally displacedpersons (IDPs) have already returned to their places of origin. This governmentannouncement was disputed by non-government organizations, like the TabangMindanao (Help Mindanao), which maintained there were still thousands ofevacuees in evacuation centers and in houses of relatives. The remaining IDPsrefused to return either due to fear of renewed fighting or due to the total loss oftheir possessions 87.
129 During the war situation, the access of children of the already impoverished IDPs toadequate and nutritious food became worse. Their families were only able to eatonce or twice a day with very limited viand and rice. Usually, they have only driedfish for five days in a week and some vegetables planted within the evacuationcenter. The National Nutrition Council (NNC) in Region XII reported at that time38.01% or 154,118 of 405,491 children in the various evacuation centers wereseverely to mildly underweight, as those in the Dawah Evacuation Center 88. TheBuliok offensive of the Philippine government in the first half of 1993 again displacedthe same people who have been suffering from internal displacement for severaldecades now.
130 Small Farmers and WTO Agreement on Agriculture: Food production of smallfarmers, including most indigenous peoples, who are living at or below the povertythreshold, is a matter of life and death. What they harvest usually generates thebulk of household income, providing families with the means to purchase food,clothes and other basic necessities, and pay for health needs and education. Foodproduction is their future. That future is under threat. “The threat comes not from thefamiliar danger of a failed harvest, from family sickness, but from a trade agreementwhich they are unaware of, and from a remote international organization which theyhave never heard of.” 89
131 Upon joining GATT-WTO, the Philippine government had to work for the fulfillmentof its various commitments to the global trade body, including the Agreement onAgriculture. This meant that the government had to amend and/or revise existinglaws and policy measures that were not in congruence with the rules of the WTO.Such was the case when Republic Act 8178, known as “An Act ReplacingQuantitative import Restrictions on Agricultural Products, Except Rice, with TariffsCreating the Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund, and for OtherPurposes”, was enacted under the administration of President Fidel Ramos. This
87 Layson, Roberto C.,OMI. “Poverty and the Absence of Peace: Two Faces of Human Rights Violations inthe Era of Globalization”. Balitang Balay, Jan.-June 200288 TFDP Research on War Situation in Central Mindanao, 200189 Briefing Paper for Oxfam and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), 1996
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repealed the Magna Carta of Small Farmers of 1991, which protected products ofsmall farmers and replaced all quantitative restrictions on agricultural imports withtariffs. Under its tariffication program, tariff rates are substantially reduced over tenyears without regard to its effects on local agricultural producers. The tariff ratesimposed on agricultural products which were previously protected under the MagnaCarta Law, are virtually minimal, ranging from 30%-50% considering that these arethe country’s major produce and provide livelihood to majority of the Filipino farmers(Table 21). In other developing countries, 300% tariff rates were imposed on highlysensitive products 90. The repeal of the Magna Carta for Small Farmers was aretrogressive action of government violating the rights of small farmers in thecountry.
Table 15: In-Quota Tariff Rates for Sensitive Agricultural Products: Average byProduct Group, 1995 to 2000, in Percentage
Source: Section 1_B. Phil. Schedule LXXV, GATT-UR; EO No. 313, 29 March 1996; EO No. 465, Jan.1998; and TCCP November 1998 & April 1999. Prepared by DA-AGILE, 30 June 1999. Aspresented by Pascual and Glipo, p.5
136 After the WTO agreements, there were increases in the volume of importedagricultural products and liberalization of previously banned products. Under theWTO-AOA,importation of agricultural products should be fully liberalized, withmarkets for sensitive products opened through the minimum access provision. Thiscaused heavy surges of imported products like rice, corn, wheat, poultry, livestockand vegetables.
137 The postponement of the liberalization of rice to 2004 under the Special TreatmentClause of the WTO-AOA did not deter its heavy importation. In 1998, rice becamethe top imported agricultural product with a value of $585 M that comprises 35% ofthe total value of agricultural imports 91. The high volumes of imported rice in thepost-GATT period exceeded the committed quantities of minimum access of thegovernment, which is 29,900 mt for 1995, increasing to 224,000 mt by 2004. This
90 Pascual and Glipo, “WTO and Philippine Agriculture: Seven Years of Unbridled Trade Liberalization andMisery for Small Farmers”, p.6. Paper presented during the NGO-PO-Legislators Forum held at the SuloHotel, Quezon City, December 12, 200191 IBON, 2000
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trend poses serious threats to the country’s ability to produce rice for its population’sconsumption (Table 16).
Table 16. Rice Importation 1992 - 2000 (in million metric tons)Year Production Consumption Importation Ratio: Importation to
Source: Bureau of Agricultural Statistics as presented by Pascual and Glipo, p. 11
138 Rice and maize importation is virtually on the rise. As to the consequence of suchincreasing commodity flow into the country, Oxfam and WWF give the followingcommentary in regards to the corn sector:
139 “Regional data provides an insight into the intensity of poverty suffered bycorn-producing households. According to the World Bank, Mindanao, themost important corn-producing area, is the most populous of six regions(the other two being Bicol and Central Visayas) that between them accountfor one half of all the rural poor in the Philippines. The disproportionateincidence of poverty in these regions is underlined by the fact that theycollectively account for only one-third of the country’s rural population.Over half the population in Mindanao live on or below the poverty line,which is significantly higher than the national average. Around half of thisnumber is unable to grow or buy sufficient food to meet minimum nutritionalneeds. In the Cagayan valley of North Luzon, the second most importantcorn-producing area, over one million households live below the povertyline.”
140 Distributional factors contribute to poverty in corn producing areas, just as they dothroughout the rural areas of the Philippines. Southern Mindanao, the island’s mostimportant corn-producing area, has a relatively high average income level, allied toa higher than average incidence of poverty. As the United Nations DevelopmentProgram’s Human Development Report for the Philippines puts it: “this points tosituation where the fruits of production ... fail to rebound to the benefits of theirinhabitants”. More specifically, it points to a situation in which unequal control overland and other access to productive assets distorts the distribution of benefitstowards large-scale commercial agriculture, and away from smallholder producers.
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141 With such a large proportion of the population existing on the margins of survival,relatively small changes in the markets upon which poor people depend can havedisproportionately large human welfare effects. For the poorest households, even asmall decline in income from the sale of corn can translate into fewer meals, a lessnutritious diet, and increased exposure to sickness.
142 Thus, the influx of imported sensitive products endangers the small farmers andtheir families. Table 18 below shows the minimum access volume (MAV) for riceimports placed at 1% of total consumption (base year 1986-1988) in 1995increasing to 4% of consumption in the year 2005. Knowing that there would bedislocation in the livelihood of farmers and that there would also be difficulty incompeting in the global market, the government came out with a safety net plancalled the Department of Agriculture Action Plan in 1994. (Incidentally, thiscoincided with scope covered by the previous Philippine Report.) Proponents of thisplan optimistically allocated 35 B pesos and 825 M pesos. Seven years after,according to the Department of Agriculture, only 50% of the budgetary requirementwas met. At this point, in fulfilling the peoples’ right to food, the government is atbest half-hearted.
Table 17: Minimum Access Volumes Committed to the WTO 1995 to 2005Product 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005Beef fresh/ chilled(000 mt)
Source: Annex 1, AO 1, 1998, MAV Management Committee, DA. Prepared by DA-AGILE: June 99 aspresented by Pascual, Francisco G. and Glipo, Arze G. “WTO and Philippine Agriculture: SevenYears of Unbridled Trade Liberalization and Misery for Small Farmers”. Integrated RuralDevelopment Foundation of the Philippines. December 12, 2001
143 Rice production increased in the early years of the Agreement on Agriculture (AOA)but soon suffered significant declines in recent years (through 1994 to 1998),dipping to a negative 24.1% in 1998. The same is true for corn production thatposted negative growth rates in the years 1995, 1998, and 2000 (Table 18).
Table 18. Growth Rate of Real Gross Value Added of Agriculture and SpecificCrops
Source: National Statistics and Census Board. NSO as presented by Pascual and Glipo, p. 8
144 The high value crops production started during Marcos rule and this gave rise to theflourishing of the banana and pineapple industries in Mindanao under the controland ownership of transnational corporations. The production of HVCs took centerstage during the Ramos administration and under the Estrada government where"areas planted to pineapple have doubled in less than ten years, from 61,000hectares in 1989 to 102,000 hectares in 1996. Banana plantations expanded by40,000 hectares in the last seven years.” 92 This was to the disadvantage anddispossession of peasants of their farmlands and of indigenous peoples of theirancestral domain. Under the IMF-World Bank Structural Adjustment Program, theexport-oriented agricultural production policy continued while the country’s economywas further integrated into the global market, agriculture deregulated and tradeliberalized. Land used for cut flower production increased from 1,008 hectares in1990 to 1,427 hectares in 1996 while rice and corn lands in Mindanao were reducedby 63.56% and 46.67%, respectively, to give way to high value crops. 93
145 The Oxfam and WWF Briefing Paper made this blunt observation regarding theUruguay Round agricultural agreement:
146 “Legal niceties aside, the Uruguay Round agreement bears all thehallmarks of an elaborate act of fraud. It requires developing countries toopen their food markets in the name of free market principles, whileallowing the US and the EU to protect their farm systems and subsidiesexports. Unfortunately, like most acts of fraud, the Uruguay Roundagricultural agreement is better understood by its architects, for whom itwill translate into lucrative export opportunities, than by its victims - thesmall holder farmers whose livelihoods it will destroy.”
147 The Philippines as State Party, by entering into an agreement on agricultureunder the World Trade Organization, has violated the rights of small farmersin the Philippines.
148 In summary, accessibility encompasses both physical and economicaccessibility. Food availability in the market does not automatically givepeople access to adequate and nutritious food. In looking at the problem offood access, it is important to consider the non-market determinants of theability to command goods on the market: ownership of resources and theterms on which people come to the market and which influence their ability totrade.
92 Cainglet, Jayson. “Of Exotic Orchids, Sumptuous Asparagus, Empty Pots and Bare Plates,” A paperdelivered to the Poorest 7 Summit European Parliament, Brussels, December 3-5, 200193 Aquino, Carlos Jr. “Changing the Rules of the Game: The 1999 Review of the GATT-UR Agreement onAgriculture and the Future of Filipino Farmers,” PPI Briefing Paper, Vol. VI No. 4, December 1998.
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149 The snail-paced implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian ReformProgram (CARP) by the Philippine government deprived farmers, especiallythose without land of the enjoyment of their right to adequate food. Despitethe legal abolition of tenancy relations, a big number of farmers are stillwithout access to land and tenancy relations persist.. Land distribution hasbeen outpaced by land conversions, both legal and illegal. The governmentdiscriminated against women farmers when they issued land titles and otherforms of ownership certificates to male farmers despite the fact that suchtitles under the provisions of the CARP should be issued in the names of bothspouses. Only 5,145 women are holders of CLOAs compared to 23,310 menfarmers.
150 The influx of imported sensitive products like rice and vegetables due to theWTO Agreement on Agriculture (AOA) resulted to the decline of income ofsmall farmers and thus endangered them and their families. The Philippinesas a state party to the ICESCR violated the rights of small farmers to accessadequate food, through retrogressive action such as the repeal of the MagnaCarta of Small Farmers without adequate safety nets for the small farmers.
151 The failure of government to allocate sufficient budget for the implementationof IPRA has deprived indigenous peoples of their ancestral domain which ineffect deprived them also of access to adequate food.
152 For contractual and minimum wage earners, their food security situation iseven more difficult because they have to buy everything. The rights ofminimum wage earners to decent living including the access to adequate foodwas violated when the Philippine government pegged the minimum wagebelow the cost of living. Further, the Philippine government failed to protectits citizens from companies which do not pay the minimum wage and whichresorted to unfair labor arrangements.
153 The war in Mindanao has a negative effect on peoples’ physical and economicaccess to food. Peoples are recurrently displaced, thus severing them fromtheir means of subsistence, particularly their sources of food, and thusdisrupting production. The children of the displaced persons were not fullyprovided by the Philippine government of the necessary food and servicesduring the war.
154 As shown by aforementioned data, there is failure of the Philippines as stateparty, through the various mechanisms at its disposal, in respecting,protecting and progressively realizing the peoples’ right to adequate food.
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THE RIGHT TO ADEQUATE HOUSING
HABITABILITY
155 Habitability means that housing must provide inhabitants with physical safety, adequate spaceand protection from threats to health, structural hazards and disease vectors.
Living in Danger Areas
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155 In the streets of Metro Manila and Cebu, homeless people continue to be seen sleeping andresting in various roads and alleys, usually near unused buildings and under bridges.Sometimes they have their pushcarts, which serve as a house, along with them. It has alsobeen noted that public cemeteries in Metro Manila serve are resting places for the living,including children. There are no statistics regarding this.
156 In 2000, the Department of Interior and Local Government stated that in MetroManila, there is an estimated 405,843 families considered as informal settlerswhose dwellings are made of light combustible materials like pieces of scrap wood,cartons and cloth with rusty galvanized iron maintained in place by old tires or bigstones. The slum areas are characterized by lack of space as houses are crampedbeside each other leaving only small pathways (usually less than one meter) inbetween several houses.
157 A survey conducted in Metro Manila by the Department of Interior and LocalGovernment (DILG) in early 2000 showed that 10.95% of informal settlers or 44,437of 405,843 informal settlers live in extremely dangerous areas --along the railroadtracks, under bridges, along river banks and canals near dark stagnant pollutedwaters. Ironically, the DILG did not include dumpsites and landfills as danger areasbecause they are classified as government-owned lands.
158 In the survey, of the 15 Metro Manila cities and municipalities, Navotas has 10,450households living in danger zones which is 54.91% of the town’s total informalsettlers. Caloocan City has 7,185 households living in danger areas with 4,200located near Estero de Maypajo in Barangay 24. In Quezon City, which used to bethe capital city of the Philippines and a first class city, some 3,836 households arereported by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) to be livingalong the Pasig River. The DILG survey also showed the following as number ofhouseholds living in danger areas in the other Metro Manila cities and municipalities:Las Piñas City, 5,401 households; Pasig City, 2,891; Pasay City, 2,409;Valenzuela, 3,364; Taguig, 2,346; Muntinlupa City, 1,994; Makati City, 1,828;pateros,969; Marikina City, 889; San Juan, 676; Malabon, 611 households; andMandaluyong City, 588 households.
159 An avalanche of garbage killed about 200 and destroyed houses in BarangayPayatas in Quezon City in July 2000, Yet 5,217 households continue to live in thedumpsite in Payatas. Another source estimates that there are more than 80,000people living in Payatas in March 200294, including the three children whomPresident Arroyo promised to help in July 2001 during her State of the NationAddress. For 80% of the Payatas residents, the dumpsites and landfills also serveas their source of livelihood. Malnutrition, skin infections, respiratory andgastrointestinal problems are very common among the people, especially amongchildren in Payatas.
160 The Philippine Volcanologists reported that 60 houses are located on the WesternMarikina earthquake fault. The said people in the area are in danger.
94 Rhea Hermoso, “Land of Hell, Land of Promise”, Newsbreak, March 18, 2002, p. 18
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161 Unequal supply and demand is one of the reasons why despite hazards to life andhealth, thousands of peoples in the Philippines continue to live in informalsettlements. In 2001 , President Arroyo announced that it will provide 450 thousandhousing units to urban poor. On the other hand, there are at the least four millionurban poor peoples in National Capital Region alone, thus immediately more than 3million cannot avail of housing programs.
162 A big number of peoples in the danger areas have difficulties getting out of thehazardous places of abode because of the high cost of living compared to very lowwages. In 1998, the estimated cost of living for a family of six is PP421.75 in theNational Capital Region while the minimum wage was P198.00 with a purchasingpower of 0.70 or a real wage of P138.60.95 Casualization of labor and highunemployment rates further make the situation more difficult. Instead of payingamortization or rent, the poor prioritize the use of their low income for food, which onmany occasions is also inadequate and nutritionally deficient.
163 In summary, the Philippine state has not been able to take decisive steps toeradicate the use of substandard dwellings especially those in danger areas.In Metro Manila alone, there are 405,843 families considered as informalsettlers whose dwellings are made of light combustible materials like piecesof scrap wood, cartons and cloth with rusty galvanized iron maintained inplace by old tires or big stones. 10.95% or 44,437 of these informal settlerslive in extremely dangerous areas in Metro Manila.
164 A big number of peoples in the danger areas have difficulties getting out ofthe hazardous places of abode due to the high cost of living compared to verylow wages which has been pegged to a minimum wage inadequate for decentliving. Malnutrition, skin infections, respiratory and gastrointestinal problemsare very common among those living in danger areas, especially among thechildren.
LEGAL SECURITY OF TENURE
165 Everyone should possess a degree of security of tenure with guarantees againstforced eviction, harassment and other threats. Legal security of tenure hascontinued to be a problem for the urban poor and slum dwellers. For the year 2001-2004, the Arroyo government targeted a total of 620,000 houses to be demolishedbecause they are located in danger areas, areas for priority development, and areasfor infrastructure projects.
166 Demolition and Forced Eviction: The Urban Development and Housing Act(UDHA) of 1992 is a positive step for the right to housing. UDHA made specificprovisions when eviction or demolition is allowed. The UDHA or Republic Act No.
95 IBON, Facts and Figures, 30 April 1998.
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7279, aside from requiring court order and peaceful conduct of demolition, alsostates that demolition may only be allowed under the following situations: 30-daysnotice, adequate consultation with the people, proper identification of all personsinvolved in demolition, presence of local government officials during the demolition,execution of demolition only during regular office hours and during good weather, nouse of heavy equipments, and adequate relocation.
167 The Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP) documented cases ofdemolitions from January 1995- March 2002 where mandatory requirements asprovided in the UDHA were violated: 34 cases in 1995, 32 cases in 1996, 61 casesin 1997, 23 cases in 1998, 27 cases in 1999, 10 in 2000, 16 cases in 2001 and 2cases in the first quarter of 2002 (Table 19).
Table 19. Demolition Cases with Violations of UDHA, January 1995-March 2002Year No. of
Source: Documented by Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP)
168 The Urban Poor Associates monitored several cases of violent demolitions from1998-2001. In 1998, it documented 7 violent demolitions affecting 1,743 families.In 1999, there were six violent demolitions affecting 3, 722 families and in 2000, 11violent demolitions affecting 2,850 families 96 (Table 20). From July-November inthe year 2001, it monitored 8 demolitions affecting 1,661 families. Five cases wereviolent demolitions and UDHA requirements were also not fulfilled.
Table 20. Violent Demolition Cases in Metro Manila During the EstradaAdministration, 1998-2000
Year No. of Violent Incidents Documented Total No. of Families Affected1998 7 1,7431999 6 3,7222000 11 2,850
Documented by Urban Poor Associates
169 In the same report, Urban Poor Associates documented the number of demolitioncases and the affected families as well as the number of relocated families. UPAnoted that there is a low percentage of relocation of families evicted from theirhomes. Most of those relocated in the year 2000 went to Kasiglahan I which is in
170 While 58% of Filipino households own the land on which their house stands, 78% ofhouseholds own the house, but the land is either rented or used for free (with orwithout the consent of the owner).97 The security of tenure for housing amongfarmers is directly related to security of land tenure because they usually build theirhouses in the same land they till. In the rural areas, this means the imperative ofrealizing the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program to progressively realize inturn the peasants’ right to adequate housing. As earlier mentioned, theimplementation of the CARP has been delayed. The Philippine Peasant Institute in2001 stated that of the targeted 20.6 million hectares for distribution from 1988-1994, only 10.883 million hectares were distributed.98 Thus agrarian reformbeneficiaries who still do not own the lands they till usually have no security ofhousing tenure.
171 The slow processing of ancestral domain claims, due to failure of government toallocate funds for the implementation of the IPRA during the period under review,did not help the indigenous peoples to achieve security of tenure in housing. ThePhilippine government's approval of mining explorations and operations by bigmining companies in ancestral domains deprived the indigenous peoples of theirmeans of subsistence, which is a violation of their right to adequate housing,particularly the aspect of security of tenure.
172 The U.N. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (UNCESCR) noted“the highly detrimental consequences of the persisting civil conflict in the south ofthe country for the effective implementation of economic, social and cultural rights.99
In the earlier part of this report, it was already shown that such a coerciveenvironment has an adverse impact on a number of human rights, including the rightto adequate food. The Philippine NGOs, likewise, state that the continuingmilitarization of the country especially in Mindanao and in the light of the war againstterror, many peoples' right to adequate housing, particularly security of tenure areviolated by the government recurrently during military operations.
97 1998 Annual Poverty Indicators Survey, National Statistics Office, Republic of the Philippines.98 Philippine peasant Institute, “Philippine Concerns on the Right to Food”, 2001.99 Committee comments from CESCR consideration of report of the Philippines on articles 10 to 12 of theICESCR (E/1986/3/Add.17): Concluding observations of the Committee on ESCR: Philippines. 07/06/95.E/C12/1995/7 Concluding Observations/Comments
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173 In summary, the Urban and Development Housing Act (UDHA) of 1992 is apositive step for the right to housing. It has provided a number of conditionswhen eviction or demolition is allowed. Absence of the conditions providedfor would make the acts of evicting or demolishing illegal. However, despitethe UDHA, there have been a number of cases of illegal and violentdemolitions and forced evictions documented by Task Force Detainees of thePhilippines and Urban Poor Associates. Philippine state agents have violatedprovisions of the UDHA and they have not been penalized.
174 The Philippine government, despite the legislation of the ComprehensiveAgrarian Reform Law and the Indigenous Peoples' Rights Act, have failed totake decisive steps for the progressive realization of the right to adequatehousing of farmers and indigenous peoples, particularly their security oftenure.
175 For a good legislation to be of benefit to the right-holders, goodimplementation is necessary and this is where Philippine governments since1992 have failed either by violating specific provisions of UDHA or failing totake steps within its maximum of available resources for the realization of theright to adequate housing.
176 One that is notably lacking is legislation that addresses the rural poor whohave inadequate housing considering the aspects as stated in the GeneralComments and the Philippine Constitution. The many ejections anddislocations of people in the rural area are usually connected with the landissue. Frequently, the main issue is the recovery or the return of the land infavor of the farmer, particularly within the context of the ComprehensiveAgrarian Reform Program (CARP). The right to housing become more of aside issue, rather than a right that asserts the dignity of persons and people.
LOCATION AND AVAILABILITY OF SERVICES, FACILITIES AND INFRASTRUCTURE
177 An adequate house must have facilities necessary for health and comfort. Locationof house should allow “access to employment options, health-care services,schools, child-care centers and other social facilities.” Despite apparent wealth ofcities, utilities and sanitary facilities in the urban poor communities remaininaccessible and inadequate. Of the total urban poor population, more than 74.5%has no potable water facilities. Further, there are even communities in Metro Manilawithout electricity. Residents interviewed in Marikina complained about inadequatebasic and school facilities. As many as 70 to 80 students crowd in 20 to 56 squaremeter makeshift classrooms.
178 The Estrada government developed the Kasiglahan resettlement sites. According torelocated families, Kasiglahan I does not have adequate basic services. Publictransportation from the area is difficult and expensive. An Asian development Bank
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(ADB) team that visited the Kasiglahan settlement areas also stated that they didnot meet ADB standards.100
179 In the rural areas, houses are usually within or near the perimeter of food sources ortheir farms. When suburbanization expands, the poor and the landless are forced torelocate further into the interior areas where accessibility to basic services becomemore difficult. When indigenous peoples are dislocated or relocated, most of thefamilies become more isolated to development as persons and as a people. Courtrulings on indigenous peoples’ (IPs) ancestral lands or ancestral domains in favor ofgovernment projects or commercial enterprises do not take into consideration theimpoverished state of the IPs in relation to their housing. An extreme case would bethat of the Badjaos, a people who lived along some of the coastal areas ofMindanao. Their dislocation had made the lives of not a few into mendicants in thenearby urban areas. Potable water for drinking and washing needs is only availableseveral kilometers away from the houses of the rural poor and indigenous peoples.
180 In 1998, the National Statistics Office (NSO) reported 18.4% of households in thecountry have doubtful sources of drinking water. As of June 30, 2001, thePhilippines has 79 provinces, 115 cities, 1,496 municipalities and 41,943 barangayswhile the National Statistical Coordination Board reported on the number of healthfacilities nationwide as follows: 1,712 hospitals (as of 2000), 2,405 rural health unitsor RHUs (as of 1997) and 14,416 barangay health stations (as of 1999). Thehospitals are concentrated in the cities and town centers, the RHUs are in the townsthus two-thirds of the barangays do not have a health station nearby.
181 In summary, the Philippine government has not taken decisive steps to ensureavailability of services, utilities and infrastructure in barangays andresettlements sites, both in urban and rural areas. Utilities and sanitaryfacilities in the urban poor communities remain inaccessible and inadequate.A great percentage of the urban poor population remains to be withoutpotable water facilities and the privatization of basic services such asprovision of water has worsened the situation. There are even somecommunities in Metro Manila without electricity.
182 The government has failed to give more attention to rural areas. Whenindigenous peoples are dislocated or relocated, most of the families becomemore isolated to development as persons and as a people. The governmentusually use their ancestral domains for government projects or commercialenterprises.
183 The location of resettlement sites often cut residents off from their previouslivelihood and limits their employment opportunities.
184 Affordable Housing: Lack of affordable housing in the Philippines, particularly inurban areas, is a serious problem that continues to worsen. In 1999 approximately1.7 million urban poor households are scattered across the country’s urbanmunicipalities. Rural-urban migration brought about by smaller farms andconversion of agricultural lands cause the number of urban poor to increase by 10percent each year, combined with the increase in population of 2.5 percent eachyear.
185 The high cost of land and dearth of affordable housing has driven evenprofessionals and workers with regular employment to live in slums and dangerareas. In Metro Manila alone, approximately 30 percent of the population lives ininformal settlement areas. As stated in the Medium Term Philippine DevelopmentPlan, the government estimated that from 1993 to 1998, there was a housingdeficiency of 3,720,000 units, of which 873,000 and 2,853,000 comprised backlogand future housing needs, respectively.
186 Government Housing Assistance: Over the years the government’s housing forthe poor has been delivered through different approaches – from a direct provider ofhouses, to one relegated to financing for housing as it increasingly relies on theprivate sector to provide low-cost housing. Currently, the socialized housingprograms are under the National Shelter Program which include mortgage financingand developmental loan by the National Home Mortgage Program FinanceCorporation (NHMFC), Pag-IBIG, SSS, and GSIS; community development projectsunder the CMP; and mass housing production by NHA and guarantees andinsurance through the Home Insurance Guaranty Corporation (HIGC).
187 The Resettlement Program is undertaken by the NHA which develops sites for thefamilies living along danger areas, and those displaced by government projects andother disaster related destruction. It is on full subsidy by the government. Based onPD2015, the family will pay only a minimum of P30 a month for 25 years for a 60-square meter lot. The Community Mortgage Program (CMP) is the more relevantsocialized housing since it allows slum dwellers organized into communityassociations to own the lots they occupy. They can also reblock their structures andintroduce infrastructure facilities and utilities through a community mortgage. Themortgage is payable for 25 years at 9% interest rate. Families earning below P4,000can also get amortization support from the Abot-Kaya Pabahay Fund during the firstfive years. The CMP is administered by NHMFC. Likewise the NHA is in charge ofproduction.
188 Direct housing provisions are done primarily by the private sector and the LGUsthrough joint-venture arrangement with the NHA. The NHA provides complete houseand lot package and medium-rise building affordable to the lowest 50% of urbanpopulation. Mortgage financing is sourced from the Unified Home Lending Program(UHLP), administered by the NHFMC and funded by SSS, GSIS and HomeDevelopment Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG).
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189 Under the National Shelter Program (NSP), the government’s housing assistance isdivided into two categories: socialized housing and non-socialized housing oreconomic housing. Socialized housing refers to housing united priced at P180,000and below while economic housing refers to housing units priced above P180,000.The three largest components of the government’s socialized housing program areResettlement, the Community Mortgage Program (CMP) and the Rental HomeLending Program of Pag-ibig (or the Home Development Mutual Fund).
190 While the government claims that the socialized housing assistanceprioritizes the poorest 30 percent of the population, their performance tellsotherwise. From 1993 – 1998, only 281,443 households, or 45.2 percent, wereclassified under the socialized housing programs. In short, of the P139 billionspent by the NSP, only P26 billion, or 18.9 percent, actually reached thepoorest 30 percent of the population.
191 The government’s main response to the housing problem has been socializedhousing production and resettlement. These efforts however, have not led toincreased access to affordable housing for the poorest 30 percent of the population.Most families can hardly cope with the monthly initial amortization of P400 permonth, or the increase of P200 per month every year for five years. From the sixthyear until the thirtieth, relocates would be responsible for P1,200 each month. Thistype of socialized housing is simply unaffordable and inaccessible to the people whoneed it most. In 1998, the poorest 30 percent of the population earned an averageof P3,057 per month; the poorest 20 percent earned an average of P2,238 permonth; and the poorest 10 percent earned only an average of P1220 per month101.For the poorest 10 percent, a monthly amortization of P400 would beburdensome, and an amortization of P1,200 impossible. Even for the poorest30 percent of the population a monthly amortization of P1,200 would take up a largeproportion of their income. In addition to their monthly amortization, relocatees areburdened with additional expenses for basic services, such as water and schools, ifavailable, and transportation. To make matters worse, the location of relocation sitesoften cut residents off from their previous livelihood and limits their employmentopportunities. These issues are crucial: housing for the poor entails not only decentshelter, but also an improvement in standards of living.
192 The National Housing Authority’s Resettlement Program performed poorlyand inefficiently during 1993 through 1998: it accomplished only 35.2 percentof its target to assist 174,581 households, while utilizing 94.7 percent of theP3.7 billion allotted for the program102. There was failure of government tomaximize its resources for the progressive realization of the peoples' right toadequate housing.
193 The Community Mortgage Program (CMP) is the government’s most efficientprogram to address the needs of the poor because it enables communities to
101 “Update on the Housing Situation in the Philippines”102 Medium Term Development Plan (MTDP)
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acquire land they reside on at affordable prices. Through the CMP, the poor gainsecurity of tenure, improve their dwellings, and maintain the social capital they havebuilt over the years. The average monthly amortization under the CMP is P159, andthe average loan about is only P28,000 per family, a low 10 percent of the averageloan amounts under the government’s other housing programs.
194 However, the CMP suffers from at least two limitations. First, the CMP is still veryconcentrated in Metro Manila. This means that even the CMP is not well-equippedto service adequately the urban poor outside Metro Manila. Its operations arelimited to urban centers, thereby excluding rural households. It only accomplished47.6 percent of its overall target to assist 140,807 households during the period of1993 to 1998, utilizing 61.3 percent of funds planned for the period. Only 52.5percent of the expected funds for CMP were actually released. It was even worse in1999 when the government accomplished only 44 percent of its targets.103 298 Itseffectiveness is also hampered by rising land costs in highly urbanized centers.Programs like the CMP seem to be appropriate in provincial cities and secondarytown where land costs are not so high and which will qualify for the CMP.
195 The disparity between the CMP’s targets and actual accomplishment rate can beattributed to several factors. One cause is the slow processing of loan applicationsby the National Home Mortgage and Finance Corporation (NHMFC), the agency incharge of the CMP. Approval of loan applications usually takes so long that therehave been instances when landowners have raised their asking price after waitingseveral years. Land prices, especially in urban areas, are increasing so rapidly thatthe loan amounts offered by CMP and the poor’s affordability levels are unable tocope with the increase in price. In addition, socialized lending programs areinaccessible to many poor people because of restrictive loan requirements.although the NHMFC as improved its guidelines, access has not improved. In fact,additional loan requirements were incorporated. Incidentally, the collection rate ofCMP, which caters to lower income groups, has a consistently higher collectionefficiency rate than UHLP: from 1993 through 1998 CMP’s collection rate averagedat 76.9 percent, while UHLP averaged only 63 percent104.
196 The Socialized Housing Debacle: Community programs have consistentlyexperienced a substantial reduction in units of assistance. Individual mortgagescornered the bulk of program while the community programs only got four percent.
Table 22: National Shelter Program Performance, 1993-1995Program / Agency Target Actual Percent
AccomplishmentFunding
(million pesos)
By Major Program (in number of households)Resettlement 63,560 24,278 38.20 1,415.00Community MortgageProgram
By Program Component (in units assistance)Production 125,171 74,285 59.35 2,769.61Individual Mortgages 251,521 344,590 137.00 52,455.69Development Financing 145,236 138,852 95.60 7,363.45Community Programs 98,570 58,516 59.36 2,418.77TOTAL 620,498 616,243 99.10 2,418.77
By Agency (in units of assistance)NHA 132,559 75,393 56.88 2,959.26NHMFC 239,006 226,776 94.88 30,924.64HIGC 119,003 141,557 118.95 21,892.00HDMF 129,930 172,517 132.78 9,231.62TOTAL 620,498 616,243 99.31 65,007.52
Source: HUDCC
197 By, agency, it can be gleaned that the NHA, the one in charge of the production ofthe socialized and low-cost housing achieved the lowest while the financiersdelivered the highest. In terms of funding, the NHA got the lowest while the NHMFCwas the most heavily funded.
198 Overall, the government cannot deny the failure of socialized housing. Neither can itexpect the private sector to pool their resources together to deliver the service. Afterall, socialized housing does not pay off as lucratively as extracting profits from highvalue mortgages. It just goes to show that its target beneficiaries are not the urbanpoor. In this sense, the NSP for the past years has failed in its main objective.
199 A World Bank Study summarized who are the beneficiaries of governmenthousing assistance. It showed that 95% have been urban households, themajority came from the National Capital Region (NCR). Most of the assistancehas been captured by high and the middle-income households, with only 21%from the poor.
200 The Philippine Poverty Assessment also noted that while one of thegovernment’s more important “targeted” programs was housing, publichousing is highly regressive, benefiting mainly non-poor households in urbanareas.105
201 ERAP City: Housing for the Poor?: Former President Estrada boasted of a P2.8Bhousing project in the mountains of Rodriguez (Montalban) in Rizal provincepurportedly to house as many as 1.2M residents in Metro Manila. The project wasthe centerpiece of Estrada administration’s housing program. The project whichwas conceptualized during former President Ramos administration would cover 600hectares during its first phase: 400 hectare at Suburban area and 200 hectare at
105 Cited in the Filipino Report Card on Pro-Poor Services in the World Bank report for the East Asia andPacific Region, 2000
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San Jose Plains in Rizal based on the master plan drawn by Palafox Associates.The entire span of the project would cover 2,500 hectares and would enclose fivebarangays. Thus, it was aptly dubbed ERAP City.
202 The cheapest housing units at Erap City measure 20 square meters and costP180,000. Those who move into them must pay a monthly amortization ofP1,437.54. In addition, according to the brief prepared by the Home GuarantyCorporation, a P3,000 reservation fee and P16,500 miscellaneous fee will berequired of residents. At a Senate Urban Planning, Housing and ResettlementCommittee hearing on May 16, 2000, housing officials said only members of Pag-Ibig, SSS, or the GSIS can avail themselves of Erap City houses. The sameofficials said they have yet to draw up a socialized housing fund that the urban poorcan tap to buy houses with special lending terms. This prompted socialized housingadvocates from the Institute of Church and Social Issues to point out during theSenate hearings that Erap City is “not for the poor” but for the “upper income group”.
203 Decreasing National Budget for Housing: The government had beenappropriating only about one-half percent of the national budget to housing from1993-1999. It only increased to 1.4% in the year 2000 but again went down to lessthan 1% (only .82%) of the national budget in the year 2001. For 2002, the nationalallocation for socialized housing for the poorest of the poor is only P1.5 billion, whichgovernment explains as because of the huge national debt which has to be servicedand to keep the budget deficit within P130 billion for the year. By automaticallyallocating 28.43% of national budget for debt servicing in the year 2003, thePhilippines is depriving its citizens progressive realization of their right tohousing. The housing budget is very minimal compared to the budgetallocated for the military.
Table 23. Government Appropriation to Housing 1993-2001
Source: Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council,
204 President Gloria Arroyo in her State of the Nation Address (SONA) in July 2001made targets and declared that P20 billion would be earmarked for mass housing.But the source of the P20 billion was not assured since they were expected to come
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from government financial institutions like the Social Security System (SSS),Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and the Pag-ibig Fund. The first twodo not have funds for the housing program, while the latter is said to be recoveringfrom financial problems.
205 The Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council in its 2001 Reportcovering January-September 2001 declared that despite funding problems, many ofits targets have been accomplished as in the following table:
Table 24. Targets vs. Accomplishments January-September 2001
Pledges / Commitments Accomplishment300,000 shelter security units 166,266 households provided shelter security, or 55.42% of
the targetProvision of security of land tenure/houses to 150,000 urban poor families
118,161 households provided shelter security, or 78.77% ofthe target
Provision of land tenure/houses for the50,000 higit sa maralita”*
18,506 households provided land tenure, houses and slumupgrading, or 37.01% of target
Allocation of P20 billion by the GFIs** tofinance 100,000 houses for workers / poor
29,599 households provided house and lot packages valuesat P7,371 billion, or 29.60% of target
Implement measures to reduce to 45(from 188) the number of signatoriesrequired for issuing housing permits
On October 25, 2001, President Arroyo signed ExecutiveOrder No. 45 on Prescribing Time Periods for Issuance ofHousing related Certifications, Clearances and Permits andImposing Sanctions for failure to Observe the Same
* higit sa maralita means poorest of the poor** GFIs: Government Financing Institutions
206 The Housing Business: The government is privatizing the social services that aresupposed to be delivering. The private sector, on the other hand, cannot hide itsinherent bias for middle class housing which assures them of higher profits. Ineffect, the government has commercialized the housing service, raised prices ofsocial services, and further marginalized the workers and the unemployed whocannot afford or not covered by privatized services. Even socialized housing ratesare economically feasible for the unemployed.
207 The government attempts to allocate land for housing. But with its lack ofregulations, land has already been monopolized by private business developers,and real estate speculators. Not even LGUs would want to part with governmentlands for socialized housing. Thus, we expect demolitions and evictions, and theperennial confrontation with the urban poor.
208 The government has the funds for socialized housing but it is not on its economicagenda right now. Any good intention to solve the issue requires gaining the accessto land and resources. In the end, it must be anchored on the framework of nationaldevelopment that is pro- people.
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209 Besides financing, urban poor and socialized housing advocates have pointed outenvironmental and land use problems. Many housing development projects beganwithout an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC).
210 A notice of violation was issued by the Environmental Management Bureau onFebruary 24, 2000, two days after development of a Suburban area began. Thefirm paid a P50,000 fine on June 2,2000, applied for an ECC, and got one on June8, 2000 106.
211 In summary, there remains to be lack of affordable housing in the Philippines.It has been estimated that from 1993 to 1998, there was a housing deficiencyof 3,720,000 units, of which 873,000 and 2,853,000 comprised backlog andfuture housing needs, respectively. The high cost of land and dearth ofaffordable housing has driven even professionals and workers with regularemployment to live in slums and danger areas.
212 The government’s main response to the housing problem has been socializedhousing production and resettlement. However, this has remained to beinaccessible to most families who cannot afford the monthly amortization,especially since the minimum wage is lower than that necessary for the highcost of living.
213 The government has been appropriating only about one-half percent of thenational budget to housing from 1993-1999. It only increased in the year 2000but again went down to less than 1% (only .82%) of the national budget in2001. For 2002, the national allocation for socialized housing for the poorestof the poor is only P1.5 billion, which government explains by the hugenational debt and huge budget deficit. By automatically allocating 28.43% ofnational budget for debt servicing in the year 2003, the Philippines isdepriving its citizens progressive realization of their right to housing.
214 The Community Mortgage Program (CMP) is the government’s most efficientprogram to address the needs of the poor because it enables communities toacquire land they reside in at affordable prices. The CMP has limitations: it isstill very concentrated in Metro Manila and only 52.5% of the expected fundsfor CMP were actually released.
215 Former President Estrada boasted of a P2.8 billion housing project in themountains of Rodriguez (Montalban) in Rizal to house as many as 1.2 millionresidents in Metro Manila. The cheapest housing units at Erap City measure20 square meters and cost P180,000. Thus, socialized housing advocatespointed out that Erap City is not for the poor but for the upper income group.
106 Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism
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216 Oftentimes, there are loopholes in the government’s programs and laws.Therefore, measures from the government are problems rather than solutions.
Recommendations
250 The Philippine state, as duty holder under human rights law, has the obligation torespect, protect and fulfill the right to adequate food and the right to adequatehousing.
259 The Philippine NGOs which made this report conclude that the Philippines as StateParty to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights(ICESCR) has violated persons' and peoples' rights to adequate food and toadequate housing, not because of its inability to avoid such violations, but in itsunwillingness to take steps that would contravene the violations of the said rights intheir different key elements. On the contrary, the Philippine state has acted andcontinues to take actions that have adverse consequences on the broad numbers ofthe people especially the poor and the vulnerable.
260 In sum, the Philippines failed in its obligations to respect, protect and fulfill the rightsof its citizens and other peoples living within its territory regarding adequate foodand housing.
261 The Philippine NGOs responsible for this report have the followingrecommendations:
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1. Enact an enabling law that integrates human rights education, especially ofeconomic, social and cultural rights, compulsory at all levels.
Something basic has to be done. There is urgent need for people to know not only their rights to adequate food and to adequate housing, but all their human rights. ThePhilippine State must conduct a massive human rights education among its constituency. It could start by making an enabling law to set on process the Executive Order stating that human rights education should be taught at all levels.
Formation of a human rights consciousness gives guidance to those who are and those who would be in government service to ensure responsible and accountable governance within a human rights framework. Further, we would have a citizenry who are aware that human rights obligations, while not asking the State to do the impossible, “require that states are monitored and checked against the human rights criteria found in the international covenants.” A happy consequence would be the laying of the foundation for a culture of human rights and of peace.
2. Fast track implementation and immediately stop discrimination againstwomen in the implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian ReformProgram (CARP). Allocate more funds for the implementation of theIndigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA).
Agrarian reform and the redistribution of other productive assets are crucial policy instruments not only in ensuring the rights to adequate food and to adequate housing, but more importantly, in the reduction of rural poverty and in addressing social justice. The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) should fast track the completion of CARP, particularly the redistribution of privately owned lands, whether 24 hectares and below or 24 hectares and above. Recent surveys and studies have shown that many potential agrarian reform beneficiaries can be found in lands that are 24 hectares and below. Targeting redistribution in lands of 24 hectares and above only might exclude a significant number of landless farmers and farm workers from the benefit of land redistribution. Special focus should be given on land redistribution in sugar and coconut areas (e.g., in Bicol and Western Visayas) where poverty and income inequalities are quite significant.
Allocate adequate funds for the implementation of the Indigenous Peoples Rights Actand provide support services to the indigenous peoples. The Mining act of 1995 mustbe reviewed and ensure that any mining applications should not encroach on theindigenous peoples ancestral domains. The indigenous peoples and their ancestraldomains must be reflected in development plans from the barangay to the nationallevels.
3. The Philippines should adopt a human rights approach to development andin poverty eradication programs. The Philippines should set benchmarkson poverty eradication and the rights to food (including water) and housingand use the General Comments 4,7,12 and 15 as guidelines.
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It is recommended that the Philippine State uses the General Comments in settingconcrete targets for the progressive realization of the above reported rights. In thismanner, it helps ensure a human rights approach to development and in itscampaign for the eradication of poverty. Appropriate monitoring mechanisms must beput in place to ensure progressive realization of the rights and prevent retrogression.
4. Review Philippine membership and obligations in the World Trade Organization(WTO), especially the Agreements on Agriculture (AOA), and immediatelyprovide safety nets for the small farmers.
The review of our membership and obligations in the World Trade Organization inrelation to human rights must be done immediately, given the adverse effects on smallfarmers. While the review is on-going, safety nets must be put in place to assist thesmall farmers already suffering from the AOA.
5. Adopt the ‘precautionary principle’ with regards GMOs and require labeling of Genetically engineered/ genetically modified food and seed imports.
People have the right to be informed of the components of the food they purchaseAnd eat. Having liberal access to Philippine markets and consumers should never besynonymous with complete disregard of safety in peoples’ food.
6.Enact immediately appropriate executive and legislative measures, up to thelocal government level, that ensure displaced families' rights to adequate food andhousing.
Peoples, in conflict areas, displaced from their homes and severed from their sourcesof subsistence made them very vulnerable to sickness. There is also need todisengage food relief services as primarily programmed for military operations.
More often than not, as in many cases presented in the report, ejected farmers, indigenous peoples and urban poor have difficulty in obtaining immediate food and shelter needs for their families. Harvests and other food sources planted and nurtured by them should not be denied them in proper security conditions. Those who have none should be provided and assisted. Daily nutritious meals should beensured and extended to all women, with special attention to pregnant and lactatingwomen, as well as to infants, children, the sick and the aged. Infant deaths due tohunger in resettlement areas are violations due to state omission of obligation toprovide
7.Enforce immediate moratorium in evictions and demolitions and ensure adequate resettlement or relocation sites, especially among the urban poor,farmers and indigenous peoples.
The provisions of the Urban Development Housing Act, which have been
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repeatedly violated by government agents, must be implemented strictly. Perpetrators of forced eviction must be punished.
There should be a moratorium of evictions in the urban and rural areas particularlyinvolving urban poor, farmers and indigenous peoples where requirements forrelocation and alternative livelihoods have not been adequately addressed. Actionsthat may lead to depriving people of access to adequate food should strictly beprohibited.
8.A review of the Philippine national budget must be done and ensure allocation offunds to fulfill the peoples' rights to food and housing and other human rights. The Automatic debt Appropriation Act must be repealed immediately.
The long years of automatic debt appropriation has been taking a toll on thepeoples in the country because of inadequate funds allocation for povertyeradication, food and housing programs. Appropriate budget is necessary forbenchmarking towards the progressive realization of the rights to food and housing.
9. Immediately review wages and adjust minimum wage to ensure decent living.
Minimum wage pegged at lower levels to that necessary for an adequatestandard of living is a violation of the rights of people to just wages, thus this shouldbe stopped immediately. The workers' wage is key to the fulfillment of the rights tofood and housing.
10.Adopt an Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Socialand Cultural Rights.
This would enhance the position of the Philippine as State Party in its seriousness to respect, protect and fulfill the ESC rights of its constituencies, particularly the vulnerable and the impoverished. Such an act would be a fitting legacy of an administration determined to empower the peoples of the Philippines. It would be an unmistakable statement that economic, social and cultural rights are binding international human rights, not just programmatic aspirations.
At the same time, the Philippine NGOs caution the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government, among others, against retrogression and non-fulfillment of state obligations in either political compromises or economic trade-offs. Positively, the signing and ratification of the Optional Protocol would spur the enactment and passage of laws and policies to make the ESC rights justiciable at the national and local levels of governance.
Finally, the participants and endorsers of this report would like to reiterate theircommitment with the peoples’ of the Philippine Archipelago the progressiverealization of their human rights as integral to the determined pursuit of “all humanrights for all”.
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References
1. Alternative Forum for Research in Mindanao, Inc. (AFRIM) Food Basket Daw AngMindanao? (Mindanao Focus). Philippines, 2001
2. _______. Mindanao 21: A Mindanao Peoples’ Agenda for Just Peace, Equity, andSustainable Development. Philippines, 1998
3. Diokno, Maria Socorro I. “Reference Sheet No. 3: Normative Content of the Rights to Food,Health, Education and Housing; Right of Reparation. Philippines. April, 2002
4. Florencio, C.A. “Rights-based food and nutrition perspective: 21st century challenge fordietetics*”. The British Dietetic Association Ltd 2001 / Hum Nutr Dietet, 14, pp. 169-183
5. Food First Information and Action Network (FIAN): Introduction and Commentary to the DraftCode of Conduct on the Right to Adequate Food
6. Formanes, Belinda. “Narrative on Agrarian Reform & the Right to Adequate Food”. PhilippineNetwork of Rural Development Institutes, Inc., October 2002
7. Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC). “FDC at the Waterfront,” PAID, November 2001, Vol 11,Nos. 1-2
8. Greenpeace Southeast Asia. “The True Food Consumer Guide: A Greenpeace Guide toGenetically Engineered Food”. Genetic Engineering Campaign, 30 October 2001
9. Management and Organizational Development for Empowerment (MODE). “Fact Sheet onPhilippine Water Resources”. Philippines, 2001
10. Novib. “Towards Food Security: Novib’s Position Paper on Food Security and LessonsLearned”. The Netherlands: Novib, 2001
11. Oxfam and World Wide Fund. “Trade Liberalization as a Threat to Livelihoods: The CornSector in the Philippines”. A Briefing carried out in the Philippines by Management and
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Organizational Development for Empowerment (MODE). December 199612. Pascual, Francisco G. and Glipo, Arze G. “WTO and Philippine Agriculture: Seven Years of
Unbridled Trade Liberalization and Misery for Small Farmers”. Paper Presented during theNGO-PO-Legislators Forum held at the Sulo Hotel, Quezon City, Philippines, December 12,2001.
13. Regalado, Aurora A. and Philippine Group. “State’s Failure to Fulfill and Defend Its Citizens’Right to Food: The Philippine Experience. Paper prepared for the Asian Consultation onEconomic, Social and Cultural Rights, Quezon City, Philippines. January 2000.
14. SEARICE. “Food Safety”. Philippines, 200115. Sunio, Rose T., M.D. “Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices of Small-scale Miners in Lalab,
Sibutal [sic], Zamboanga del Norte on Mercury Poisoning”. The Filipino Family Physician,Vol. 39 January-March 2001 No.1, pp. 9-18
16. Tambuyog. “Asserting the Right to Food (Fish)”, Philippines, 2001.17. TFDP Critique and Positions on Philippine Laws and Policies Related to the Right to
Adequate Food. 200118. TFDP Philippine Human Rights Update. “Human Rights Amidst War” December 2000.19. TFDP Report File on Itogon, Benguet, 200120. TFDP Research 2001, “ESCR in Central Mindanao”21. TFDP Research, 2001, Northern-Southern Mindanao : “The Salo-anon and the Cornelio
Ombo Clan Struggle. Central Mindanao University, Maramag, Bukidnon”.22. TFDP Research, 2001, Northern-Southern Mindanao: “The Suhitra and Quemtras Struggle”.23. TFDP Research, 2001, Southern Luzon: “The Farmers’ Struggle for the Right to Food in
Hacienda Aldamiz. Pola, Oriental Mindoro”.24. Ziegler, Jean. “Report by the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Mr. Jean Ziegler,
submitted in accordance with Commission on Human Rights resolution 2000/10”.Commission on Human Rights, Fifty-seventh session, Item 10 of the provisional agenda
THE PHILIPPINE STATE’S OBLIGATIONS TO ITSCITIZENS’ RIGHT TO ADEQUATE FOODAND RIGHT TO ADEQUATE HOUSING
An NGO Report for Submissionto the United Nations Committee on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
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November 2003
ORGANIZATIONS THAT PARTICIPATED IN AND CONTRIBUTED TO THIS NGO REPORT
11.11.11, Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP), Philippine Alliance of Human RightsAdvocates (PAHRA), Food First Information and Action Network (FIAN), KAISAMPALAD,Management and Organizational Development for Empowerment (MODE), Philippine Network ofRural Development Institutes (PhilNet-RDI), Philippine Human Rights Information Center(PhilRights), Philippine Peasant Institute (PPI), Southeast Asian Regional Institute for CommunityEducation (SEARICE), Tambuyog Development Center, Alternative Forum for Research inMindanao, Inc. (AFRIM), Integrated Rural Development Foundation of the Philippines (IRDFP),APL, Volunteers for Urban Renewal, Inc. (VUR,Inc.), KASAMAKA, Kasama-Ka.
INTRODUCTION
Desiring with the peoples of the Philippine Archipelago the respect, protection andprogressive realization of their human and peoples’ rights, this non-governmentorganization (NGO) report is presented to the United Nations Committee on Economic,Social and Cultural Rights (Committee). The Philippine NGOs note with deep concernthat the Philippines as a State Party to the International Covenant on Economic, Socialand Cultural Rights (ICESCR) has failed to comply with its reporting obligation in a timelymanner, having had its last report to the Committee in 1994.
The report focuses on article 11: on the right to an adequate standard of living,particularly on the right to adequate food and the right to adequate housing. The TaskForce Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP), together with many organizations andinstitutions in the Philippines, collated data and information for the period 1995-2003 tomake this NGO report.
This report makes use as framework the state obligations to respect, protect and fulfillhuman rights and the normative content or key elements of the right to adequate food aselaborated in General Comments (GC) 12 and 15 and the right to adequate housing asdiscussed in GC 4 and 7 by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
This report recognizes the indivisibility of human rights. Civil and political rights can in noway be disunited from economic, social and cultural rights. So is the indivisibility of thekey elements of each right.
This report presents the direct actions of the Philippine government through its variousinstitutions and/or bodies, as well as other entities, like multinational corporations,
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insufficiently regulated by the government, that have violated persons’ and/or peoples’right to adequate food and right to adequate housing.
The Philippine NGOs note that the Philippine government report of 1994 contained majorflaws and thus described a very inaccurate picture of the economic, social and culturalrights of peoples in the country. The Philippine Report 1994 glossed over and coveredup the widespread violations of economic, social and cultural rights, especially of themost vulnerable sectors in the Philippines.
There was an omission of the impact of more than a decade of martial lawand the dictatorial rule of President Ferdinand E. Marcos on economic, social andcultural rights. The Philippine report 1994 failed to include that the Green Revolutionimposed upon the farmers during the martial law period left the farmers to deal with poorsoil, lost seeds and declining diversity in the field, and dependency on pesticides andfertilizers. A law during the authoritarian period, Presidential Decree (P.D.) 1177 whichautomatically appropriates debt payment remains in place and is a big obstacle to theprogressive realization of economic, social and cultural rights of the majority of thepeoples. It is important to note that as of July 2003, 28.43 percent of the Philippinenational budget is used for debt servicing.While Philippine NGOs agree that the State Party has “a margin of discretion in choosingits own approaches ... to ensure that everyone is free from hunger and as soon aspossible can enjoy the right to adequate food”107 data gathered show that certain stepstaken by government, as in the implementation of its obligations as member of the WorldTrade Organization (WTO), exacerbate the lives of those already below the poverty lineand deprive indigenous peoples’ access to their own means of subsistence, includingtheir right to adequate food and right to adequate housing. The Philippines ratified theGeneral Agreement on Tariff and Trade-Uruguay Round (GATT-UR) in December 1994and later became member of the World Trade Organization.
.THE RIGHT TO ADEQUATE FOOD
NUTRITIONAL ADEQUACY.
The Philippine state failed to take concrete steps to progressively realize nutritionallyadequate food for many of its citizens specially children and women. Malnutrition hasremained to be a problem in the Philippines, the most prevalent being protein-energymalnutrition, vitamin A deficiency, iron deficiency, anemia and iodine deficiency.Malnutrition is basically caused by poverty. Further, women and girls are among the firstto suffer from the situations of hunger and chronic malnutrition and they pass on themutilations of malnutrition from one generation to the next. Among pregnant women, theFourth National Nutrition Survey (FNNS) of the DOST found that 4-5 out of ten pregnantwomen suffer from iron deficiency anemia. Moreover, FNNS showed that five out of 10infants, ages six months to one year, are anemic. In general, 3 out of 10 Filipinos are irondeficient 108.
107 GC, No.12, par.21; Maastricht Guidelines on Violations of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Part II, par.8108 Manila Bulletin, May 29, 1999
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In 1999, according to FNRI, both the per capita energy consumption (Kcal)and the per capita protein consumption (g) fell short of the recommended dailyallowance. The 1999 statistics from FNRI reveal that seven out of 100 children aged 0-5years are afflicted with acute malnutrition and nine out of 100 are moderatelyunderweight. Compared with a similar survey in 1996, the number of underweight andwasting pre-schoolers increased by 0.4% and 1.4% respectively109.
In a study of the country's national nutrition program for the period 1998 to 2001, thesituation worsened among 6-10 year old children where underweight increased by 2.7%while stunting remained essentially the same at 41%. Based on 2001 data, the estimateis that in these two age groups of children, 6.7 million are underweight and 7.5 millionare stunted.110
FOOD SAFETY AND QUALITY
This element of the right to food is very much interrelated with the right to health and rightto life. The Philippines, as a State party to the ICESCR, has failed to take decisive stepsand definitive programs to remove threats and hazards to safety of food. There isbioaccumulation of heavy metals, presence of chemicals and parasitic infestation in food.The Philippine state has not adopted the “precautionary principle” with regard to GMOsby not adopting laws on labeling products containing GMOs and thus failed to ensure theright to information and choice of peoples with regards GMOs. In December 2000,Greenpeace-Philippines conducted a study on genetically engineered-content of some 30products sold in grocery shelves. Of the 30 products, 11 were found to contain eitherRoundup Ready crops (corn and soya) or Bt corn. The products with GMOs included aninfant formula 111.
There is also failure to ensure safe water for peoples to drink and use. Some cases ofpollution of waters by mercury, cyanide and mine wastes are related to large-scalemining activities by multinational companies in the country.
Fish is the main source of protein for peoples in the Philippines and the most commonhealth problem associated with fish as food is the infestation of parasites. Red tide is abiological event associated with human illness called paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP)and it was reported in the Philippines as early as 1908 and it remains as a majorproblem in the country.
AVAILABILITY AND SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION
109 “Malnutrition rising among preschoolers, “ PDI, December 5, 1999. FNRI, 1996 Updating of Nutritional Status ofFilipino Children at the Provincial Level, July 1997.110 Florencio, Cecilia. The Philippine Nutrition Program and the Nutrition Well-being of Filipinos. An analysis of thePhilippine Medium-Term Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition. Department of Food and Science and Nutrition.University of the Philippines, Quezon City. January 2003.111 Greenpeace Briefing Kit, 2001
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The Philippine state has not been able to ensure production of sufficient food to itspopulation by poorly allocating funds for agriculture, even as it spends 28.43% of thenational budget for debt servicing. Agriculture has not been able to grow at a rate equalto the needs of feeding a growing population. The rice production and productivitydeclined.
The government resorted to importation to counterbalance the situation of neededcommodities and rising prices. However, this eroded further the ability of the Filipinofarmers to compete, as well as their motivation to continue in agricultural production.Increased dependency on food imports could render a country vulnerable to sudden riseand fall of food prices or to political decisions by foreign governments to sell or not to sellfood.
By the mid-1990’s, the Philippines had turned from a net agricultural exporter to a netimporter 112. In the cereal sub-sector, the country’s self-sufficiency ratio in rice wentdown, from 89.49 percent in 1996 to 73.16 percent in 1998. Dependency upon externalfood markets continue to grow.
The devaluation of the peso and the hike in petroleum products resulted in higher pricesof imported inputs such as fertilizers, pesticides and farm machinery. Consequently,farmers are incurring higher production costs. With the ongoing financial crisis, farmers(who are considered high-risk borrowers) are having a harder time accessing funds,especially from the formal financial intermediaries (e.g. banks) and would rely moreheavily on informal sources (mostly traders) that would be charging higher interest rates.
To encourage agribusiness and landlords to plant High Value Crops (HVC), thegovernment has provided incentives, tax holidays and technical and infrastructuresupport and other perks. For export crop production, government has also promotedcontract growing, which allows direct participation of transnational corporations in foodproduction. Since rice and corn are no longer profitable, according to the government,land allocated for cereals is being reduced in favor of HVCs.
The long-term sustainability of food production demands the maintenance andenhancement of the country’s resource base and of its biodiversity as well as theequitable distribution of these resources and the benefits derived from them. In thePhilippines, however, most of its forests and marine resources are already depleted.
Philippine forests are disappearing at an alarming rate. Fifty percent of Philippine forestswere lost to commercial logging during the Marcos regime. Some estimates placed thetotal degraded area in the country at 5 million hectares or 16.8 percent of total land area.Forest loss in the Cordilleras is affecting water supply at Chico River, the major source ofirrigation for rice lands in Kalinga and Isabela 113.
112 Department of Agriculture. Farms, Food and Foreign Trade: The WTO and Philippine Agriculture, Paperpresented during the National Consultation on Emerging Issues in the Next Round of WTO Negotiations, November3, 1999, Quezon City, Philippines113 “Forest loss draining Chico Dam water supply,” Philippine Daily Inquirer, January 22, 1997
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About 69% of total Philippine land area is subjected to various forms of soil degradation114. What is alarming is that many of the degraded lands are watershed areas for mostirrigation systems of the key grain areas in the country. Many of the country’s provinceshave already lost 50% of their topsoil to erosion and that 70% of all croplands arevulnerable to erosion 115.
Large-scale mining by multinational companies continue to cause irreversible destructionon the country’s fragile environment and loss of subsistence among many indigenouspeoples 116.
The Forest Management Bureau (FMB) reported that mangrove areas are dwindling atthe rate of 2% per year. Out of the original 450,000 hectares, only 117,700 hectares(26.16%) remained in 1995. The loss of mangroves can be attributed primarily to theillegal conversion of these areas into fishponds, indiscriminate cutting of mangrove treesfor firewood and construction purposes, and reclamation of mangrove areas for otherland uses. It is estimated that 95% of fishponds were once mangrove areas. Accordingto the Department of Agriculture, one hectare of mangrove could support more than 600kilograms of natural fish production in near shore waters per year.
Further, the Philippines coral reef areas are extensively damaged. Only 6% remain inexcellent condition. The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) reportedthat up to 70% of coral reefs are partly or fully damaged.
The country is already experiencing a shortfall in fish supply . The Philippines, as a stateparty to the covenant, has not protected municipal fisherfolk from foreign-owned large-scale fishing companies. Massive deforestation, industrial pollution and the use ofchemical inputs are destroying (or have destroyed) freshwater sources.
SUSTAINABLE ACCESS
In looking at the problem of food access, it is important to consider the non-marketdeterminants of the ability to command goods on the market: ownership of resources andthe terms on which people come to the market and which influence their ability to trade.
Farmers either do not produce sufficient rice for their own consumption because theirland is small or they sell most of their palay (unhusked rice) immediately after harvest topay off their loans or purchase other basic needs. Most often than not, they sell when theprice of palay is at its lowest and therefore unable to access adequate food.
Fishing households do not necessarily have a regular supply of fish because they opt tosell their fish to the market in order to procure rice and other needs of the family. Lack of
114 “70 percent of Philippine land area show degradation signs,” Today, October 31, 1995115 “The price of deforestation,” Philippine Daily Inquirer, January 16, 2000116 “Rhetoric and Reality: First Year of Estrada Administration,” Philippine Human Rights Update, Vol 13, No. 3-4,1999, p 16
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post-harvest facilities for fisheries limit the potential value-added for fish products thuslimiting the potential income of fishing households (as raw producers).
Central to the issue of ensuring access to adequate and nutritious food is access to andcontrol of land resources. The Philippine government established the ComprehensiveAgrarian Reform Program (CARP) to respond to the issue of societal injustice andsocietal inequity and to empower and make productive Filipino farmers through theredistribution of lands. However, the implementation of CARP has been snail-paced.Land distribution has been outpaced by land conversions and worse, there are cases ofreversion of previously distributed lands. Despite its legal abolition, tenancy relationspersist.
Due to the World Trade Organization Agreement on Agriculture, which has resulted, tothe influx of imported sensitive products like vegetables, the small farmers’ income hasdeclined. The Philippines a State party to the ICESCR violated the rights of small farmersthrough retrogressive action, when it repealed the 1991 Magna Carta of Small Farmerswithout adequate safety nets.
Further, the government discriminated against women when they issued land titles andother forms of ownership certificates to male farmers despite the fact that the CARPshould be issued in the names of both spouses. Only 5,145 women are holders ofCertificate of Land Ownership Agreement (CLOA) compared to 23,310 men farmers.Available data also show limited representation of women in officially recognizedorganizations and bodies related to agrarian reform. In 1996, the DAR reported thatmembership in Agrarian reform Community Organizations was predominantly composedof 72% males and 28% females 117.
The passage of the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act was a positive step for the indigenouspeoples struggle for their ancestral domain, which is also key to their access to food.However, the National Commission for Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), which wasestablished to facilitate processing of ancestral domain claims as well as to assistindigenous peoples on other concerns, has not been effective due to absence ofadequate funds. Instead, other agencies have been created by the Estrada and Arroyogovernments causing more confusion, rather than facilitating the processing of ancestraldomain claims.
The situation that neither the indigenous peoples nor their ancestral lands areacknowledged in the Municipal Comprehensive Development Plan (MCDP), in most partsof Mindanao, is in effect discrimination against them. Thousands of indigenous peoplesare deprived of their ancestral lands with the enactment of the Mining Act of 1995 thatgrants mining exploration and operations in vast tracts of lands, many of which areancestral domains. The Estrada government granted 47 mining permits (17 to foreigncompanies) that affected 369,300 hectares of ancestral lands in 1999. 118.
117 Formanes, Belinda L. Narrative on Agrarian Reforma nd Right to Adequate Food, unpublished paper of PhilNet-RDI, Inc., October 9, 2002, p. 6.118 TFDP, Large Scale Mining Operations, Environmental Destruction and Indigenous Peoples, p. 1, no date
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The conflict in Mindanao between the Philippine government and the MILF has a greateffect on peoples’ physical and economic access to food. Peoples are recurrentlydisplaced, thus severing them from their means of subsistence, particularly their sourcesof food, and production was disrupted. During the war situation in 2000, the access ofchildren of the already impoverished internally displaced persons to adequate andnutritious food became worse. Their families were only able to eat once or twice a day.The National Nutrition Council (NNC) in Region XII reported at that time 38.01% or154,118 of 405,491 children in the various evacuation centers were severely to mildlyunderweight, as those in the Dawah Evacuation Center 119.
Millions of peoples in the country are deprived by government the ability to accessadequate food when it pegged minimum wage lower than what is necessary for anadequate standard of living. The wage level is already low but many workers do not evenreceive the correct pay. More than 1.22 million minimum wage workers in Metro Manilawere deprived of their correct pay but few were indemnified. Other employers resort tocasualization of labor and job rotation. Many of the workers employed under thesearrangements do not receive social security benefits such as maternity and retirementpensions 120. According to the 1997 Family Income and Expenditure Survey, the averageannual income of the richest 10% of families was P491,658 (more likely, their income ishigher than this amount) compared to only P20,621 for the poorest 10% of families.
THE RIGHT TO ADEQUATE HOUSING
HABITABILITY
The Philippine state has not been able to respond adequately to the housing needs of itspeoples. In Metro Manila alone, there are 405,843 families considered as informalsettlers whose dwellings are made of light combustible materials like pieces of scrapwood, cartons and cloth with rusty galvanized iron maintained in place by old tires or bigstones. 10.95% or 44,437 of these informal settlers live in extremely dangerous areas inMetro Manila.
In the streets of Metro Manila and Cebu, homeless people continue to be seen sleepingand resting in various roads and alleys, usually near unused buildings and under bridges.Sometimes they have their pushcarts, which serve as a house, along with them. It hasalso been noted that public cemeteries in Metro Manila serve are resting places for theliving, including children.
In a survey of 15 Metro Manila cities and municipalities, Navotas has 10,450 householdsliving in danger zones, which is 54.91% of the town’s total informal settlers. In QuezonCity, which is supposed to be a first class city, some 3,836 households are reported bythe Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) to be living along the PasigRiver. 119 TFDP Research on War Situation in Central Mindanao, 2001120 Amaryllis T. Torres, “Developing Women as Human Resources for Trade Liberalization: The Women’s Critique,”Philippine Women Taking on APEC and Globalization, Philippine Women’s Forum on APEC (PWFA), 1998, P.22.
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Malnutrition, skin infections, respiratory and gastrointestinal problems are very commonamong the people, especially among the children in Payatas. An avalanche of garbagekilled about 200 and destroyed houses in Barangay Payatas in Quezon City in July 2000,Yet there is an estimated 80,000 people living in Payatas in March 2002121, including thethree children whom President Arroyo promised to help during her State of the NationAddress in 2001. For 80% of the Payatas residents, the dumpsites and landfills alsoserve as their source of livelihood.
A big number of peoples in the danger areas have difficulties getting out of the hazardousplaces of abode because of the high cost of living compared to very low wages.Casualization of labor and high unemployment rates further make the situation moredifficult. Instead of paying amortization or rent, the poor prioritize the use of their lowincome for food, which on many occasions is also inadequate and nutritionally deficient.
LEGAL SECURITY OF TENURE
The Urban and Development Housing Act (UDHA) of 1992 is a positive step for the rightto housing. It has provided a number of conditions when eviction or demolition is allowedand absence of such would make the acts of eviction or demolition illegal. However,despite the UDHA, there have been a number of cases of illegal and violent demolitionsand forced evictions. Violators of the UDHA have not been penalized.
The Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP) documented cases of demolitionsfrom January 1995- March 2002 where mandatory requirements as provided in theUDHA were violated: 34 cases in 1995, 32 cases in 1996, 61 cases in 1997, 23 cases in1998, 27 cases in 1999, 10 in 2000, 16 cases in 2001 and 2 cases in the first quarter of2002. During the Estrada administration (1998 – 2000), the Urban Poor Associates (UPA)has documented a total of 24 violent incidents of demolition. This has resulted to about8,315 families who were affected. In the same report, Urban Poor Associates noted thatthere is a low percentage of relocation of families evicted from their homes.
Legal security of tenure has continued to be a problem for the urban poor and slumdwellers. For the year 2001-2004, the Arroyo government targeted a total of 620,000houses to be demolished because they are located in danger areas, areas for prioritydevelopment, and areas for infrastructure projects. Adequate relocation sites, however,are usually not available prior to forced eviction.
The security of tenure for housing among farmers is directly related to security of landtenure because they usually build their houses in the same lands they till. As earliermentioned, the implementation of the CARP has been delayed. The Philippine PeasantInstitute in 2001 stated that of the targeted 20.6 million hectares for distribution from1988-1994, only 10.883 million hectares were distributed.122
121 Rhea Hermoso, “Land of Hell, Land of Promise”, Newsbreak, March 18, 2002, p. 18122 Philippine Peasant Institute, “Philippine Concerns on the Right to Food”, 2001.
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For indigenous peoples, security of tenure is linked with their ancestral domain. Again, asearlier noted, there has been very slow and ineffective processing of ancestral domainclaims, despite the passage of the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act. Large-scale miningactivities also serve as obstacles to ancestral domain claims.
LOCATION AND AVAILABILITY OF SERVICES, FACILITIES AND INFRASTRUCTURE
Despite apparent wealth of cities, utilities and sanitary facilities in the urban poorcommunities remain inaccessible and inadequate. Of the total urban poor population,more than 74.5% has no potable water facilities. Further, there are even communities inMetro Manila without electricity.
The location of resettlement sites, whether in urban or rural areas, often cut residents offfrom their previous jobs and limits their employment opportunities. The governmentresettlement areas usually do not have adequate basic services. Public transportation isalso difficult and expensive.
The Estrada government developed the Kasiglahan resettlement sites. According torelocated families, Kasiglahan I does not have adequate basic services. Publictransportation from the area is difficult and expensive. An Asian development Bank (ADB)team that visited the Kasiglahan settlement areas also stated that they did not meet ADBstandards.123
In 1998, the National Statistical Office (NSO) reported 18.4% of households in thecountry have doubtful sources of drinking water. As of June 30, 2001, the Philippines has79 provinces, 115 cities, 1,496 municipalities and 41,943 barangays. The NationalStatistical Coordination Board reported on the number of health facilities nationwide asfollows: 1,712 hospitals (as of 2000); 2,405 rural health units or RHUs (as of 1997) and14,416 barangay health stations (as of 1999). The hospitals are concentrated in the citiesand town centers, the RHUs are in the towns thus two-thirds of the barangays do nothave a health station nearby.
As of 2002, 1054 barangays do not have elementary schools while 6 municipalities donot have high schools. Residents interviewed in Marikina complained about inadequatebasic and school facilities. As many as 70 to 80 students crowd in 20 to 56 square metermakeshift classrooms.
ACCESSIBILITY
The problem of affordable housing in the Philippines continues to worsen. It has beenestimated that from 1993 to 1998, there was a housing deficiency of 3,720,000 units, ofwhich 873,000 and 2,853,000 comprised backlog and future housing needs,respectively. The high cost of land and dearth of affordable housing has driven evenprofessionals and workers with regular employment to live in slums and danger areas.
The government’s main response to the housing problem has been socialized housingproduction and resettlement. However, this has remained to be inaccessible to mostfamilies who cannot afford the monthly amortization.
The government had been appropriating only about one-half percent of the nationalbudget to housing from 1993-1999. It only increased to 1.4% in the year 2000 but againwent down to less than 1% (only .82%) of the national budget in the year 2001. For 2002,the national allocation for socialized housing for the poorest of the poor is only P1.5billion, which government explains as because of the huge national debt which has to beserviced and to keep the budget deficit within P130 billion for the year. The servicing ofthe huge national budget because of the Automatic Debt Service Appropriations Act is amajor obstacle to a bigger fund allocation for housing. The housing budget is veryminimal compared to the budget allocated for the military.
The Community Mortgage Program (CMP) is a good program to address the needs of thepoor because it enables communities to acquire land they reside in at affordable prices.Unfortunately the CMP is still very concentrated in Metro Manila, thereby excludes ruralhouseholds. It only accomplished 47.6 percent of its overall target for 1993-1998, utilizing61.3 percent of funds planned for the period. Only 52.5 percent of the expected funds forCMP were actually released. It was even worse in 1999 when the governmentaccomplished only 44 percent of its targets.124
The government’s socialized housing program has not led to increased access toaffordable housing for the poorest 30 percent of the population. 1998, the poorest 30percent of the population earned an average of P3,057 per month; the poorest 20 percentearned an average of P2,238 per month; and the poorest 10 percent earned only anaverage of P1220 per month125. For the poorest 10 percent, a monthly amortization ofP400 would be burdensome, and an amortization of P1,200 impossible.
The National Housing Authority’s Resettlement Program performed poorly andinefficiently during 1993 through 1998: it accomplished only 35.2 percent of its target toassist 174,581 households, while utilizing 94.7 percent of the P3.7 billion allotted for theprogram126. This is poor governance of available resources.
No less than a World Bank study showed that socialized housing has primarily benefited(95%) urban households, the majority came from the National Capital Region (NCR).High and the middle-income households have captured most of the assistance, with only21% coming from the poor. The World Bank study entitled the Filipino Report Card ofPro-Poor Services concluded that Estrada pro-poor services went to non-poor.127
124 ibid125 “Update on the Housing Situation in the Philippines”126 Medium Term Development Plan (MTDP)127 Cited in the Editorial and Opinion of www.inqu7.net, August 23,2001 by Ma. Ceres Doyo
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Besides financing, urban poor and socialized housing advocates have pointed outenvironmental and land use problems. Many housing development projects beganwithout an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC). With the lack of land-useregulations, private business developers, and real estate speculators have alreadymonopolized land.
The Philippine Poverty Assessment also noted that while one of the government’s moreimportant “targeted” programs was housing, public housing is highly regressive,benefiting mainly non-poor households in urban areas.128
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Enact an enabling law that makes human rights education, especially ofeconomic, social and cultural rights, compulsory at all levels,
2. Fast track and immediately stop discrimination against women in theimplementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP). Allocatemore funds for the implementation of the Indigenous Peoples Rights Acr (IPRA).
3. The Philippines should adopt a human rights approach to development and inits poverty eradication programs. The Philippines should set benchmarks onpoverty eradication and the rights to food and housing and use the GeneralComments 4,7,12 and 15 as guidelines.
4. Review Philippine membership and obligations in the WTO, especially theAgreements on Agriculture, and immediately provide safety nets for the smallfarmers.
5. Adopt the ‘precautionary principle’ with regards GMOs and require labeling ofGE/GM food and seed imports.
6. Enact immediately appropriate executive and legislative measures, up to thelocal government level, that ensure displaced families’ rights to adequate food andhousing.
7. Enforce immediate moratorium in evictions and demolitions and ensureadequate resettlement or relocation sites, especially among the urban poor,farmers and indigenous peoples.
128 Cited in the Filipino Report Card on Pro-Poor Services in the World Bank report for the East Asia and PacificRegion, 2000
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The provisions of the Urban Development Housing Act, which have beenrepeatedly violated by government, must be implemented strictly. Perpetrators offorced eviction must be punished.
8. A review of the Philippine national budget must be done and ensure allocation offunds to fulfill the rights to food and housing and other human rights. TheAutomatic Debt Appropriation Act must be repealed immediately.
9. Immediately review wages and adjust minimum wage to ensure decent living.
10. Adopt an Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Socialand Cultural Rights.
