Thousands of farmers, fishers, and micro-entrepreneurs from Iloilo and Capiz recently thanked their Swiss partner for helping them improve and secure their access to land and livelihood and increase their resilience against natural disasters.
At the same time, the workers, all members of national peasant federation Task Force Mapalad, urged government agencies focused on the rural poor to carry on the efforts of the Swiss Interchurch Aid or HEKS (Hilfswerk der Evangelischen Kirchen Schweiz) in laying the groundwork toward a more sustainable and equitable future for Filipinos.
“As HEKS leaves us with a hope for a better, safer, and more fulfilling life, we now look forward to the Philippine government, especially the Department of Agrarian Reform and the Department of Agriculture and other concerned agencies to commit itself in continuing what our Swiss partner started three years ago,” said TFM-Panay team leader Karen Tuason.
By the end of the year, HEKS will end all its projects with TFM, its long-standing partner-organization, and leave the Philippines after four decades of helping the country so that it can focus on the pressing needs of other developing nations.
“HEKS helped us place ourselves on the right track. We earnestly hope that the Philippine government, under the Duterte administration, won’t detour from that track and fast-track our journey towards progress and prosperity,” said TFM farmer-leader Teresita Billonid from Pilar, Capiz, who is also vice president of Panay Island Farmers’ Association.
During Wednesday’s event at the Villareal Stadium in Roxas, City in Capiz dubbed “Padayon sa Pagtindog: Pagtililipon Sang Mga Mangunguma Kag Mangingisda Sa Isla Sang Panay,” some 4,000 TFM members welcomed various government agencies and educational institutions that had committed to carry on the initial success of TFM-HEKS initiative in Panay.
Since 2006, HEKS has been helping TFM peasants and farmer-entrepreneurs in Mindanao in fighting poverty and landlessness and promoting social justice.
In December 2013, a month after Panay Island was hit by Super Typhoon “Yolanda,” HEKS extended its assistance to TFM farmers and fishers in Capiz and Iloilo, which were identified by the World Bank in June 2013 as among the 23 provinces that were at high risk for disasters.
Realizing that land tenure improvement was among the key factors in establishing stronger livelihood options for Yolanda victims, the HEKS in September 2014 extended its rehabilitation and disaster risk reduction efforts towards increasing the resilience of typhoon victims among landless households by improving their access to land.
HEKS-TFM in Panay campaigned for the land rights of 1,260 farmers in 45 landholdings in the following five towns: San Dionisio and Carles in Iloilo and Pilar, Pontevedra, and Dao in Capiz covering a total area of 1,959 hectares.