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PLUNGE-IN ONE REPORTS

 

BACOLOD – NEGROS OCCIDENTAL

Background

The sugar industry provides for the Philipp­ines approximately P40 billion per annum which is about 20-25% of foreign earnings. The industry pays an average of P200 million in yearly taxes. The annual earnings for the last six years are seen in the following list:

US$ million

1971                       212

1972                       208

1973                       274

1974                       737

1975                       744

1976                       422

The area planted to sugar is 513,552 hec­tares in 37,160 farms. There are 460,000 worker families in these farms. There are almost 40 sugar mills all over the country distributed in the following geographical areas:

Luzon                                 10

Negros Occidental               5

Negros Oriental                    3

Lloilo                                   4

Capiz                                  2

Cebu                                   2

Leyte                                  2

The cost of production according to the Philippine National Bank in 1976 is P80.00 Per picul although it fluctuates from P88.00 to P125.00. The following figures were given on the prices of sugar from 1974-1977: (1 Picul = 63.25 kg. = 139.15lbs.)

'74-'75              '75-'76               76-'77

Exp. A        P180.00            125.00              90.00

Ress. C         49.80             60.00               60.00

The minimum wages negotiated after a strike is P7.00 per day for agricultural workers and P11.00 daily for industrial workers. But most of the workers get less than these. Women get even lesser about P5.00 per day and children approximately P4.50. The average income – is between P800.00 to P1200 per annum.

The milling season lasts for 180 days for industrial workers. For agricultural workers, there is on the average about 142 days of work per year on the basis of one worker working on 1.5 hectares of land.

There are three separate divisions in the process of planting the cane to the final production of sugar: cultivation, harvesting, and milling. The workers involved with cultivation and harvesting are known as agricultural workers while the mill workers are regarded as industrial workers.

1. Cultivation — involves land preparation, planting of the sugar cane, fertilizing, weed­ing and watering. To do all these require 45 days per hectare, in average. This work is done mainly by the dumaans – permanent resident workers. Among the haciendas of Negros, these dumaans comprise ap­proximately 150,000 families.

2. Harvesting – involves cutting, hauling and loading the cane. This work is also done by the dumaan and also by the migrant workers called sacadas. An average of about 20,000 workers come to Negros yearly to work on the farms during the harvest season.

3. Milling work involves (cutting), crushing, separation of water, etc. up to the packing stage. There are 80,000 workers in the 17 miles in Negros. They work 7-9 months of the year and are paid a minimum wage of P11.00 a day.

 

The National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW)

In our talk with a representative of the NFSW, several aspects of the sugar industry were pointed to us:

1. There is enforced idleness. There are only 180 working days in the year out of a possible 313.

2. The workers are completely dependent on the hacienda for their income. They cannot plant much on the small plots that they live on, and what they plant are usually destroyed by pests. The haciendas are sub-

 

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sidized only for the crop, not for any other crops. The subsidy for cane was introduced before Martial Law by the Congress and the Senate. Out of 120 members of the Congress, 80 owned haciendas, and out of the 24 Senators, 18 were hacienderos.

After Martial Law was imposed, the ex­porting of sugar to overseas markets was taken over by the government (previously it was done by the Planters Association). The first year of Martial Law, the profit was P3.8 billion (1974). In 1975, it was P12 billion. The 1975 budget of the Philip­pines during that year was P18.

It is often said of the dumaan:

"They are born in debt

They live in debt

and they die in debt."

To help both the dumaans and the sacadas improve their lot, the NFSW resolved not only to get better wages but to improve on the system of cropping. They have the following programs:

 

A. Short-term:   

1) cultivation of vacant land

2) conversion of 10% of sugar land into other crops.

 

To this end, the NFSW members occupied 3800 acres of land. They set apart 1,500 acres and have planted the remaining 2,500 acres. This program has so far involved 1000 families.

 

B. Mid-term-conversion of 30% of the land

 

C. Long term-complete agrarian reform.

 

According to the NFSW, there are 69 unions working with sugar workers in Negros and 68 of them are company-owned.

The NFSW has come from its church-orient­ed beginnings in 1971 when their group was known as the Khi-Rho (Greek initials for Christ). Their first protest and also sign of unity was to stop going to church. From there they began fighting for higher wages, which then was only P4.50. They wanted it raised to P18.00 but got P7.00 instead. The group led 8 strikes between August 1971 and September 1972. The imposition of Martial Law froze their activities for sometime, but in March 1973, they were back into action.

To take away some of their impact, the martial law government promised the workers that if they brought their problems or accusations against their employers to the labor court, they would be dealt with and settled within 21 days. Until June 1977, the NFSW brought up 634 different cases against the employers in the court for non-payment of wages. Only 52 cases have so far been resolved, and 23 out of the 52 were decided against the workers.

Presidential Decree No. 21 declared that there would be no strikes and no lockouts. Till now no hacienderos have been jailed for lockouts through 800 families, representing 6000 people have been locked out for going to the labor courts.

The NFSW also does not agree with the government's idea of land reform, which would entail small farms with single families. The NFSW envisions large farms about 2,000 hectares with 1,000 families each, to be collectively owned.

 

Plantations Visited

We visited four haciendas. Sta. Rita, San Enrique, Barnabas and Vallez. Two nights were spent in the plantation. Our first night was spent at Santa Rita and the second at San Enrique with NFSW member workers.

 

Santa Rita

The house where we stayed on was on a land donated by the hacienda to the Augustinian nuns who in return leased it to the workers. This has come under the Land Reform Project of the NFSW. The land had 10 hectares planted and it was harvest time when we arrived. We stayed with the family and at night about 8 of us slept in a room of 20 x 20 sq. ft. The food, which was specially bought for us consisted of canned baked beans, sardines and sausages which were served at lunch, dinner and breakfast. But were told that the family usually eat only what is available in their

 

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small pot and what they can afford from time to time, which is not much.

After having spent almost one and a half days in this plantation, we went to San En­rique which was approximately 17 kms. away.

 

San Enrique

Here, too, we spent the night with one of the NFSW workers. The members of the NFSW seemed well organized in this farm. The discussion we had revealed the educa­tional process they are undergoing. A very simple meal was prepared for us. The vege­tables used for the soup came from their own plot. We met about 15-20 people both male and female. The house had the same size (20 X 20 sq. ft.) similar to that at Sta. Rita but the main room has been partitioned into a bedroom and a sitting room. We left the farm next morning and went to Barnabas and Vallez. We spent out time there in meet­ing with few people before returning to the monastery at night.

 

Victoria Mills

We also visited Victoria Mills. We saw the sugar crushing and the processing. While the workers wage is about P8.00 a day (no over­time pay is given in order to cut down the cost of production), the monthly salaries of the engineers is P2.000 or more. The com­munity at Victorias Mills seem to be well organized with a cantina, post office, etc. We did not see the houses of the workers but saw the middle-class houses of the officers. The church with the painting of an angry Christ is a main attraction for tourists. The book on this chapel is sold for P13.00 at the stall run by the Mill administration. But the Church stands isolated and unrelated to the exploitation going around.

 

The Plight of the Workers

A brief visit and the short live-in has revealed so much to us regarding the life of the dum­aans and the sacadas whose labor provides quite a sizeable percentage of the country's economy.

On the average, it was revealed that the size of the family varies from 8-10 children who attend the elementary schools nearby. But the education of the children is stopped mid­way since children after 13 have to work to augment the parents' income. Thus, at a very young age, the children are absorbed into the labor force.

Work Conditions and Wages Most of our respondents have worked on the haciendas for more than 10 years. Their average income is about P7.00 a day. In many of the estates the pakiao system is still operating, which means a flat rate is given for a piece of work. It was the harvesting season when we visited the estate, but we learned that a good number of the sacadas were not employed to save on the produc­tion cost. This was the same story in many of the haciendas in the area.

By law, social security, medicare and work­ers' compensation are deducted from the salaries of the workers. Employers are also required to contribute their share to these funds. But most of whom we met claimed that there is no social security or medicare. Another form of exploitation which we learned about was the cantina which is operated either by the hacienderos or by the administrator of the estate. Among the arti­cles sold in the cantina are rice, corn grits, vegetables, fish, salt, sugar, condensed milk, soap, and other articles. The cantina makes good business when one considers that the workers have to pay P.20-P1.00 more on each item than they would if they bought from the market. And usually the market is quite a distance from the hacienda or in many cases; the workers do not have the cash to buy commodities when needed. So getting them on credit means paying another 50% more on the dictated price by the cantina managers.

The workers could augment their cash income by cultivating the small plots of paddy lands along with the sugar cane plan­tations, which we saw in several estates. And they do cultivate these during their free time. But even here the exploitation con­tinues: the plots are assigned by the administrator and the workers get only 1 cavan out

 

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of every 10 cavans they produce (10-90% in favor of the hacienda). (A cavan, 1 sack is approximately 50 kgs.)

 

Prices of Basic Commodities

Between the cantina and the government managed stores in the town, the workers do not have a chance to stretch the measly in­come earned literally from their sweat and blood. This we found out when we com­pared the prices between the town markets. and the government's prices.

 

A Subsistence Life

Women work for 8-10 hours a day for P4.00-P5.00 while children aged 10 and 13 years may work the same length of time for P2.00-P3.00 a day. Quite often the whole family is in the field working to earn more in order to make both ends meet. It was revealed to us during our discussion that they buy clothing only on festival time or on their birthdays. Rice with vegetables soup are the two most staple items in the diet of the family.

Our visits to the haciendas have unfolded the deplorable conditions of the workers. Most of those whom we met were members of the NFSW or full time persons working in their awareness building program. The NFSW or full time persons working in their aware­ness building program. The NFSW under­stand the plight of the workers, they see through the system of exploitation. But this situation of awareness can not be generalized. In most cases, the workers are afraid to join any union out of fear of losing their jobs out of fear of being harassed. In one of the haciendas, we were told that the manage­ment ordered the burning of a weak sugar plantation as the workers used it in feeding their carabaos.

 

Group Members:

Nimalka Fernando, Patrick McDivith and Vimal Madhavan