Statements and Media Releases

The Center for Women’s Resources (CWR) stands in solidarity with the farmers of Central Luzon, especially women farmers, who embarked on a week-long protest caravan to amplify their calls against the rapid and aggressive land use conversion that threatens their livelihoods, food security, and the right to till the land.

CWR echoes the concerns raised by the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) regarding the devastating effects of the Marcos administration’s Build Better More (BBM) program, which continues the Duterte administration’s Build Build Build (BBB) infrastructure projects.

Infrastructure projects under the Central Luzon Development Program (CLDP) are causing massive farmland loss that exacerbate the displacement of farmers and endangering local food production.

Central Luzon, the country’s rice granary, contributes nearly 20% of national rice production and has the largest harvested rice area in the Philippines.
However, this crucial agricultural region is now under threat as the government prioritizes urban expansion, commercial hubs, and road networks aimed at accelerating business activities and boosting profit of local and foreign businesses – often at the expense of agricultural sustainability.

According to KMP’s analysis of the latest Census on Agriculture and Fisheries (CAF), farmland in Central Luzon has decreased by 18.44% over the past decade. This decline is driven by land conversion for infrastructure projects such as the Central Luzon Link Expressway (CLLex), the North Luzon East Expressway (NLEE), and New Clark City, among others.

These developments result in reduced agricultural production and displace farmers from their homes and communities. They also aggravate the impacts of climate crises such as flooding and landslides.

The lack of government support services for farmers further drives farming families deeper into poverty. A woman farmer from MAKISAMA in Hacienda Tinang, Tarlac, lamented the absence of subsidies for farm inputs and irrigation, compounded by the low prices of agricultural produce.

“Napakamura ng palay, umaabot lang sa Php 11 hanggang Php 15 per kilo ang palay, pero napakalaking puhunan ang nagagastos ng mga magsasaka. Kung sana ay may suportang serbisyo mula sa gobyerno, makakabawas ito kahit papaano sa gastos ng mga magsasaka.” (The price of palay is very low, ranging only from Php 11 to Php 15 per kilo, but farmers spend a huge amount on production. If only there were support services from the government, it would at least help reduce the farmers’ expenses.)

To sustain their production, many women farmers are forced to borrow from lending institutions with high-interest rates. Instead of relief, they find themselves trapped in a cycle of deepening debt.

“May mga pagkakataon na napipilitang mangutang sa lending na may mataas na interes para lang mabili ang mga pangangailangan para magtanim, tapos kapag anihan halos wala nang matitira dahil ibabayad lang sa pinag-utangan.” (There are times when people are forced to borrow from lenders with high interest rates just to buy the necessities for planting. Then, when it’s time to harvest, almost nothing is left because everything goes to paying off the debt.)

This worsening situation allows landlords and big businesses to exploit farmers’ financial struggles, pressuring them to sell their lands, which are then converted into commercial or non-agricultural properties. This further exacerbates the issue of landlessness and food insecurity.

Additionally, when farmers call for subsidies or demand a halt to infrastructure projects that displace them, they face various forms of repression, including surveillance, direct threats, and intimidation from police, military, and private goons working for landlords and businesses.

CWR strongly supports the demands of farmers in Central Luzon for agricultural subsidies and genuine rural development programs. We support their call to prioritize protecting farmlands and ensuring food security instead of promoting land conversion for commercial and infrastructure projects that undermine the country’s agricultural sector.

We urge everyone to stand with the farmers of Central Luzon in their fight to protect agricultural lands, to secure their right to land and livelihood, and our right to food sovereignty. #

The Center for Women’s Resources (CWR) welcomes the arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte over crimes against humanity as an initial victory for Filipino women and the people. For years, we have demanded justice for the countless victims of the war on drugs—many of whom were poor, including women and children.

Based on CWR’s monitoring, from July 2016 to October 2017, at least 120 women and girls were killed in the bloody war on drugs. Thousands of mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters have also been left to bear the brunt of state-sponsored violence.

From the onset of the brutal campaign, CWR has emphasized that the policy is anti-poor. It targeted suspected drug users in impoverished communities instead of addressing the root causes of the problem. The campaign led to thousands of deaths among the poor. Meanwhile, big drug lords continue to evade arrest. They operate freely as the spread of illegal drugs still persists.

Alongside the brutal war on drugs, the Duterte administration also carried out extensive human rights violations and targeted political opponents and communities resisting its anti-people policies and programs. Thousands have fallen victim to illegal arrests, enforced disappearances, and extrajudicial killings, even during the COVID19 pandemic. From July 2016 to June 2022, there were 422 cases of political extrajudicial killings, 66 of the victims were women.

Misogyny was also rampant during Duterte’s term. Between 2016 and 2018, CWR documented at least 30 misogynistic statements made by the former president. These included derogatory remarks about women, rape jokes, and offensive comments aimed at political opponents and critics.

Duterte’s arrest offers some relief to the thousands of women whose rights were violated under his rule. It stands as a testament to the power of people’s persistent calls for justice and accountability. It shows that when oppressed people come together and keep fighting, victories are possible.

However, we recognize that this is not the final victory. While Duterte’s arrest is a step forward, we urge everyone to remain steadfast in the fight to ensure his full accountability, including his co-conspirators, who must also face trial at the ICC. At the same time, we must combat the rampant spread of misinformation, disinformation, and fake news—tools that perpetrators use to distort the truth, manipulate public perception, and justify repression. Countering these tactics is crucial to our collective struggle for justice and accountability.

We also urge everyone to remain vigilant, as human rights violations continue under the Marcos Jr. administration. It upheld the Duterte administration’s repressive state policies and apparatus such as the Anti-Terror Law, using terrorism financing charges, and the NTF-ELCAC, to suppress women’s and people’s rights to freedom of expression and organization.

Finally, we call on the international community and all Filipinos to continue demanding accountability to ensure that justice will prevail.

Justice for the victims of Duterte’s crimes! End impunity – hold all perpetrators accountable! #

As the Philippine government hosts the International Conference on Women, Peace, and Security from October 28–30, the Center for Women’s Resources (CWR) expresses its deep concern in light of the ongoing and relentless attacks against Filipino women.

The Philippines have witnessed a disturbing trend of militarization and violence that disproportionately affects women. The total number of victims of various human rights violations has reached millions since Marcos Jr. took office as president in June 2022. This includes threat and harassment, forced evacuation, bombings, among others. There are 755 political prisoners held in various detention facilities nationwide as of June 30, 2024, with 103 of them arrested under the Marcos Jr. regime. Of this number, 147 are women, and more than half are farmers. There are 21 women victims of extrajudicial killings and four cases of enforced disappearances of women. The government’s collusion with foreign military powers exacerbates these kinds of violence, undermining the very rights and protections that such conferences purport to uphold.

The current geopolitical landscape, dominated by the United States’ militaristic strategies, uses the language of gender equality and women’s rights as a pretext for further military and economic intervention in the Asia-Pacific region. This is particularly troubling as the US seeks to entrench its influence against rising powers, such as China, under the guise of promoting peace and security.

The expansion of foreign military presence in the country poses additional vulnerabilities to women and all Filipino people. Earlier this year, more than 16,000 troops, including military personnel from Australia and France – joined the annual Balikatan exercises. In July 2024, the US government announced $500 million for the purchase of defense equipment and military services, purportedly to boost the country’s external defense capacity at a time of growing friction with China, particularly in the South China Sea.

In addition, the proliferation of Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) sites and continuous military exercises across the country indicate threats to our security, and the vulnerability of women to abuse. Numerous cases of human rights violations and abuse of women have been recorded since the time of the US military base presence in the country and with the regular conduct of Balikatan exercises.

Women’s rights, peace, and security cannot coexist with militarization and oppression. Instead of facilitating US interests, we call for genuine efforts that prioritize the safety, dignity, and rights of Filipino women and ensure that their voices are central to any discourse on peace and security. Alongside this, we hold the Philippine government accountable for its actions and demand that it uphold the rights of women in the Philippines, rather than using them as mere rhetoric in the service of foreign agendas. #

The Center for Women’s Resources joins peasant groups and advocates in reiterating calls for genuine land reform amidst rampant landlessness, land grabbing, land-use conversion, and displacement of peasant families. Peasant groups and advocates underscore the crucial role played by political dynasties in perpetuating corruption and in exacerbating poverty and landlessness in the country.

The political landscape in the Philippines remains dominated by landlords and business elites with vested interests to maintain a system that strips peasant women of their right to land and life. By occupying political positions while controlling vast agricultural estates, they shaped economic policies that prioritize their own economic and political interests over the needs of the rural poor.

Alongside land grabbing, displacement, and land use conversion, repression and attacks against the farmers remain rampant under the current administration of Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. In the Southern Tagalog region, the Santa Rosa Realty Development Corporation (SRRDC) attempted to displace farmers of Barangay Casile, Cabuyao by blocking 24 hectares of farmland and affecting the mobility of 11 families in their community.

The SRRDC is constructing fences for a major road project to connect Casile with the Cavite-Laguna Expressway (CALAX) without valid permits or prior consultation with local farmers. Barangay Casile is part of the 7,100-hectare Hacienda Yulo, controlled by cronies of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. Farmers there have faced threats and eviction attempts from Yulo-Ayala security forces for four years, with armed goons raiding and burning homes of farmer leaders.

In Occidental Mindoro, 29 Mangyan Iraya residents from Hacienda Almeda in Abra de Ilog were forcibly detained by private goons and police. Families of these Mangyan Iraya residents – 17 elders and 12 minors have lost contact with their loved ones and without news of their whereabouts.

The Irayas have been victims of harassment, enforced disappearances, and killings since the 1990s. The lands seized by Hacienda Almeda Inc. and real-estate developer Pieceland Corporation include the Iraya’s settlements, sacred groves, burial sites, watersheds, and sources of livelihood across approximately 1,546 hectares. This is despite multiple rulings in favor of the farmers and the Iraya Mangyan, the Almeda family continues to exploit loopholes in the bogus and failed CARP to delay and obstruct the redistribution of land.

We stand in solidarity with peasant women fighting for genuine land reform. Their demand for land is an assertion of economic survival, dignity, and life. Their courage in the face of oppression is a testament to their strength. By dismantling the system of political dynasties , we can ensure the peasantry’s rightful access and control over land and resources, and create a future where justice and life thrives. #