This article is the third in a series on the important work of KMP. The other three articles are available to read here on the ICHRP website: ICHRP celebrates KMP’s 40 years, KMP and the struggle for land, KMP and the anti-imperialist struggle.

AN INSEPARABLE HISTORY

Founded during Martial Law under Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s regime, KMP’s history is inextricable from the long history of fascism in the Philippines. Since the 1980’s and beyond, Filipino peasants have endured countless brutal attacks and massacres aimed at silencing their collective demands for land and justice.

STANDING FIRM IN CALLS FOR JUSTICE

Despite the viciousness of the state’s unrelenting fascist attacks, KMP has not wavered in its fight for justice. They have led efforts to expose extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances of activists and peace consultants, campaigned for the release of political prisoners, organized independent fact finding missions to unmask the truth, and pushed for investigations and inquiries into massacres.

BUILDING A MOVEMENT 

KMP has also contributed to agreements to protect human rights and address the root causes of conflict on both the national and international stage, such as the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) and  Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-Economic Reforms (CASER). They have been instrumental in building networks and alliances to strengthen the peasant movement against fascist violence, such as ICHRP, Tanggol Magsasaka, and the Coalition for Land Against Martial Law and Oppression.

THE FIGHT AGAINST FASCISM IS NOT JUST DEFENSIVE

At every point in its history, KMP has fought fascism in the country not only in defense of the peasant masses, but as an offensive step toward dismantling the oppressive and exploitative systems of feudalism, bureaucrat capitalism, and imperialism. ICHRP is invigorated by KMP’s resolute resistance against fascist attacks and stands firmly in solidarity with their fight for land, justice, and genuine peace!

Watch the recording at ichrp.net/Oct14Webinar

In the Philippines and across the world, Filipinos have demanded accountability and justice in response to the recent exposure of naked corruption within the Philippine government. While the Marcos government has sought to identify scapegoats and distance itself from the corruption, members of the Marcos clan are increasingly implicated alongside other dynastic families in the Philippine government as more information is exposed about the scandal.

The Marcos Jr regime has also responded with violent crackdown on protests. By September 23rd, police officers had arrested over 200 protestors in Manila after over 100,000 Manileños marched against the corrupt flood control projects. Police shot and killed a bystander who was returning from work.

The corruption behind the flood control projects, and the fascist response of the government, have captured international attention and agitation – but they are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the broader problems facing the Filipino people.

On October 14, the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) held a webinar about the anti-corruption protests, and the connections between this issue and the broader plunder and extraction from the Philippines by local and foreign elites – plunder that acutely affects the peasant farmers of the Philippine countryside. Our webinar featured speakers Maria Sol Taule, Teddy Casino, Ariel Casilao, and Peter Murphy.

This article is the second in a series on the important work of KMP. The other three articles are available to read here on the ICHRP website: ICHRP celebrates KMP’s 40 years, KMP and the struggle against fascism, KMP and the anti-imperialist struggle.

The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) was formed out of the unity of farmers and farmworkers in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao to struggle against land monopoly, high land rent, usury, high production costs, low buying prices for farm products, and low wages of farmworkers. Until today, the agricultural system in the Philippines remains feudal; semi-feudal exploitation in the countryside continues, alongside state attacks against the toiling masses.

For decades, peasants and farmworkers across the Philippines have organized and struggled against the semi-feudal system. One prominent struggle occurred in Hacienda Luisita. Beginning in 1956, farmworkers in Hacienda Luisita began organizing the United Luisita Workers Union to assert their rights to land and decent livelihood. Over the years, repression has intensified, culminating in the brutal 2004 Hacienda Luisita massacre, which became a symbol of the failure of bogus land reform. In 2017, the #OccupyLuisita campaign was launched to continue the spirit of the struggle. 2024 marked the 20th anniversary of the Hacienda Luisita massacre, with continued resurgence of farmer & community actions in the hacienda.

Similar peasant- & indigenous-led struggles have occurred across the Philippines, concurrent with increasing bogus land reform programs that fail to properly redistribute land.

The KMP has vigorously advanced land struggles across the Philippines. One key initiative advanced by the organization has been bungkalan, or collective farming, in which peasants maintain, develop, and farm on unused public lands. Peasants form cooperatives and local markets to connect producers directly to consumers.

Under the new challenges of the current Marcos regime — including the opening of agricultural lands to foreign leasing for 99 years, and the presence of U.S. military bases and missile systems in rural communities nationwide — the livelihood and security of farmers are placed in even greater danger. Yet if there is one truth that KMP’s forty years of struggle has proven, it is that the collective strength of the oppressed classes, once organized and united, cannot be suppressed.

With full strength and determination, we must stand with peasants to resist the deepening intervention of the U.S. in the country.

The history of KMP stands as proof that land is not merely a natural resource — it is life, livelihood, and dignity. And so long as there are farmers tilling the soil without their own land, so long as lands are stolen and defenders are killed, the Peasant Movement of the Philippines will remain alive and militantly fighting!

CONTEXT & CALL TO ACTION

This peasant month, From October 11-15, progressive and human rights organizations in the Philippines hosted an International Solidarity mission to document and expose the Filipino people’s struggle against land grabbing and the impacts of widespread militarization in the countryside on peasants and Indigenous peoples. 

Since the first day, ISM teams in Southern Tagalog (Rizal and Occidental Mindoro), Negros Occidental, and Eastern Visayas experienced surveillance, harassment, and intimidation.

Throughout the ISM, delegates documented unidentified people on motorcycles filming delegates, faced questioning by members of the Armed Forces, observed a drone flying above their ISM location, faced police and military presence surrounding ISM venues, and in one case even had Armed Forces enter the main venue of the ISM in Mindoro, scaring away children who were playing there. 

The attempts of the Marcos regime to undermine the International Solidarity Mission are part of the Philippine government’s counterinsurgency campaign which seeks to quash those who are seeking change to the status quo through respect for indigenous sovereignty and genuine land reform. 

Day to day, the peasant movement in the Philippines is resisting various land grabbing attempts of the big landlord class and foreign entities, whether via palm oil plantations,renewable energy projects or other forms of land use conversion that turn people’s land into golf courses, subdivisions or malls.

The struggle of peasants for land, and the people’s resistance is just. While the Marcos regime and its minions plunder the people’s resources through fake flood control projects, they also enrich themselves by overseeing projects in rural areas and serving foreign corporations over the people. 

On October 21st, just days after the completion of the ISM and Asia Pacific People’s Conference on Climate Injustice and Militarism, the peasant movement in the Philippines will mount a major protest action, known as a lakbayan, marching from the Department of Agrarian Reform to Mendiola in Manila to hold the US backed Marcos regime accountable for their crimes agains the people. 

As peasants in the Philippines advance, intensify and develop their struggle, our solidarity support must expand and become more bold.  

In order to amplify the findings of the International Solidarity Mission and the campaigns of peasants in the Philippines, ICHRP is calling for a Global Day of Solidarity with the Peasant Struggle Against Land Grabbing, on October 21st. 

To expose & oppose the responsible, US backed Marcos regime, we are calling upon members and friends of ICHRP to hold actions in front of Philippine embassies and consulates in major cities across the world. 

CALLS

Highlight the following calls in signs, speeches and written publications: 

SUPPORT THE PEASANT STRUGGLE FOR GENUINE LAND REFORM!
END AID TO THE PHILIPPINE MILITARY AND POLICE!
END SUPPORT FOR THE US BACKED MARCOS JR REGIME! 
END SUPPORT FOR CORRUPTION & PLUNDER IN THE PHILIPPINES!
SOLIDARITY IS NOT A CRIME! LONG LIVE INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY!

This article is the first in a series on the important work of KMP. The other three articles are available to read here on the ICHRP website: KMP and the struggle for land, KMP and the struggle against fascism, KMP and the anti-imperialist struggle.

Founded in 1985, the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) unites the peasants and farmworkers across the Philippines to campaign against feudalism, bureaucrat capitalism, and foreign domination, exposing the rotten feudal and foreign-dominated system that has long oppressed the majority of toiling people in the countryside.

Forged Under Fascist Repression

KMP was founded during Ferdinand Marcos Sr’s martial law in response to the state’s long history of deception and repression of the peasant masses. KMP has become a pillar of the broader democratic movement and has been sown via collective farming, established through protest marches, and forged in the struggle for land and justice. KMP asserts: land belongs to the tillers, not landlords or foreign interests.

Champions of Genuine Social Change

Regime after regime has flaunted bogus land reform programs leading to widespread land grabbing, evictions, and militarization crushing farmers generation after generation. 

But KMP envisions progress rooted in the landownership of tillers and in collective, systematic farming. In this alternate system, peasants nurture a vibrant and life-sustaining agriculture, laying the foundation for the growth and sustainability of national industries.

Under the regime of Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the nightmares of the past return: 

intensified militarization, abandonment of local agriculture, and subservience to the dictates of U.S. imperialism. Through the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, U.S. military bases and weapons have been reintroduced into the country, endangering the security and livelihood of rural communities. 

Peasant Victories Will Spring from Tireless Struggle

ICHRP applauds KMP’s continued commitment to be the voice and strength of the oppressed and exploited. Through determination and steadfastness, future victories will spring from tireless struggle. We stand by the efforts of KMP to rouse the broadest ranks of farmers and farmworkers to collectively fight for genuine land reform until final victory is won!