By DIEGO MORRA
After the Court of Appeals (CA) ruled that Hacienda Luisita, Inc. was “unfairly treated” by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) and ordered that the Cojuangco and Aquino families be compensated “justly” with P28.48-billion for the more than 4,500.7978 hectares of land covered by CARP in the 6,245. 6484-hectare estate, Batangas farmers, small sugar planters, fisherfolk and agricultural demanded that the Department of Agriculture (DA) compensate them for the losses they incurred when Typhoon Kristine ruined their farms and livelihood.
The complaining Batangas farmers, fisherfolk, sugarcane planters and agricultural workers tried thrice to get an audience with the DA at the its central office but the department apparently was deaf to their pleas. In one protest on June 11, the gates were locked and not one official met with them. Furious, the protesters from the first congressional district of Batangas ramped up their actions with the support of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), forcing the DA in Calabarzon to schedule a meeting with more than 1,000 farmers and fisherfolk at the Balayan Government Center on June 18. Finally, the protesters confronted regional DA officials about the prolonged neglect and their exclusion from the list of calamity victims to be compensated.
KMP said the DA in Calabarzon was pressured to meet with the Batangas protesters, even though it was the duty of regional officials to hear them, discuss possible solutions, and firm up the compensation schedule. “This dialogue did not happen out of the DA’s goodwill. It happened because farmers and farmworkers kept on pressing their demand and their right to be heard and recognized by the government, particularly the Department of Agriculture,” said KMP chairperson Danilo Ramos. The farmers, organized under SUGAR Batangas and the Alyansa ng mga Magsasaka para sa Kumpensasyon (AMK), have demanded aid and compensation for the destruction wrought by Typhoon Kristine and subsequent climate shocks.
Since November 2024, more than 8,000 farming families in western Batangas have suffered production losses. The March 2025 report of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) placed the damage to agriculture at P1.1 billion, with the most adverse impact suffered by 9,089 farmers across 4,601 hectares of farmland and fisheries. Not a single peso has been released to the affected farmers, fisherfolk, agricultural workers and small sugar planters. During the Balayan meeting, the farmers reiterated their demand for the immediate release of P283.23 million in unused disaster funds—including P237.4 million from the DA’s 2024 budget—allocated specifically for farmer compensation in the region.
They also called on Batangas Governor Vilma Santos-Recto to use the province’s remaining calamity funds from 2022 and 2023 to provide urgently needed relief and livelihood rehabilitation for the farmers. Jeverlyn Seguin, deputy secretary general of KASAMA-TK, said the government’s inaction had already caused deep suffering among the farmers. “We’ve been waiting for eight months since Typhoon Kristine devastated our communities, but government agencies have remained silent and indifferent. What we’re demanding isn’t just money—we’re demanding justice and accountability,” Seguin said. “This is a clear example of how the DA has treated us—not as citizens with rights, but as problems to avoid.”
Farmers also raised the lack of transparency and exclusion from the DA’s original damage assessments. Many affected communities were not counted, and their losses remain unacknowledged. They demanded full recognition of all affected individuals, the prompt release of financial aid, and a functioning inter-agency mechanism to deliver aid and rehabilitation without delay. Throughout the dialogue, farmers reiterated the same call they have repeated for so many months: “Distribute calamity compensation now! Allocate disaster funds for real recovery!” KMP urged the DA to act forthwith, stop promising and instead deliver concrete results. KMP warned that failure to act decisively would only fuel further protests, not only in Western Batangas but in other regions that continue to suffer from drought, infestation and volcanic eruptions.
“Our farmers are drowning in losses from typhoons, flooding, and over importation—while government funds meant for them remain untouched,” Ramos said. “These are public funds. They are not for sitting in accounts—they are for rebuilding livelihoods through compensation and rehabilitation.” The onset of the “habagat” threatens to further devastate Batangas farmers already reeling from past typhoons and flooding, compounding crop losses and deepening food insecurity. Without immediate aid and disaster preparedness, communities risk the collapse of the only livelihood they know. Seguin and Gemcy Castojeres of AMK stressed that the farmers, fisherfolk, agricultural workers and small sugar planters will not stop protesting until their demands are addressed. “This is a test of whether the DA will finally fulfill its duty. We are always ready to return to the streets if the DA and the Marcos Jr government refuse to act on farmers’ woes,” they argued.
KMP noted that while the courts, the DAR and the DA are quick to act to address the “unfair treatment” of landlords, it takes an eternity for them to provide relief for calamity victims to their very own. In the case of Hacienda Luisita, the landlords are getting paid an amount far bigger than the annual DAR budget while the landless peasants supposed to benefit from CARP lands at the hacienda are harassed, evicted, coerced into agreeing with land conversion schemes or transforming their land into “equity” for agribusiness ventures controlled by landlords. Despite ample proof that the DA has performed badly since 2022, it has not eaten crow but maintains the façade that everything is well while agricultural production sinks and food imports flood the country.
