I am Joanna
October 15 2024
3 minutes
I am 25 years old and I live in the Philippines. In October 2022, my husband, my 1-year-old child and I lost our house. Together with 72 other houses, it was demolished by the multinational Riverforest Development Corporation (RDC).
The Riverforest Corporation (RDC) is owned by a very wealthy family, the Litton family. In 1979, the family bought 213 hectares of land in Sumalo in the Philippines, where I come from. Many farmers like us were already dependent on the land for our income and food. Since then, there has been a constant battle between farmers who want this land back and the Litton family who are resisting this.
However, we should have the law on our side. Because in the Philippines, there is a law, the General Agricultural Reform Program (CARP), that protects poor farmers. The law is supposed to ensure that farmers get a part of the land that they have been working on for years, but formally do not own (anymore). The goal is to distribute the land more fairly. If the law is enforced, then we would be able to grow our own food and take better care of our families.
Part of the land belongs to us, the farmers. And we try to enforce that. But the Litton family doesn’t play fair. They sit on a huge amount of resources and power and will stop at nothing to intimidate us, for example by using armed guards to block government measures like land surveys. They also file false charges against us, forcing us to spend a lot of time and money defending ourselves. And to make matters worse, in 2022 they started demolishing our homes. Now we have nowhere to go.
All we want is to regain ownership of the land that is legally ours. A small piece of land would be enough for me and my family to be able to feed ourselves. Now we can't even pick the fruit from the trees that we planted years ago. We want the land to be divided fairly so that we can work it and provide for ourselves.
We don't give up. Together with 11.11.11-partners Focus on the Global South, iDefend and PKKK, we have organized ourselves and have already organized several petitions and protest actions to enforce the legislation. Media campaigns are also part of our strategy, because people need to know about the injustice that is happening here.
Make a donation for Joanna
With your donation to 11.11.11 do you also support the farmers in their fight to get a piece of land back. A piece of land that is legally theirs. Thank you.
Did you know that a donation of 40 euros is tax deductible up to 45%? This way, you get back up to 50 euros as a tax reduction on your donation of 22,5 euros.
