16/10/2026
๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฎ๐น ๐ฆ๐๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐จ๐ฃ๐๐ ๐๐ผ๐น๐น๐ฒ๐ด๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ด๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฐ๐๐น๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ผ๐ผ๐ฑ ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐๐๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ต๐บ๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐ผ๐๐ป๐ฐ๐ถ๐น ๐ผ๐ป ๐ช๐ผ๐ฟ๐น๐ฑ ๐๐๐ป๐ด๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฒ
It is a painful admission that ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ถ๐น๐ถ๐ฝ๐ถ๐ป๐ผ ๐ฒ๐
๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ผ๐น๐๐ป๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ ๐ต๐๐ป๐ด๐ฒ๐ฟ. Data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) show that 37.8 million Filipinos are moderately or severely food insecure. A September 2026 Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey shows that 22.6% of Filipinos are experiencing involuntary hunger, with a 2.3% increase since June 2026. The rate has not deepened this level since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of families identifying themselves as food-poor has increased to 33.2% this September from the previous 29.9% in June. Individuals rate themselves food-poor has jumped to 44% from a previous 36% in three months prior. We must face the tragic reality: ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ ๐ฎ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ผ๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฃ๐ต๐ถ๐น๐ถ๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ๐.
Despite efforts from agricultural schools, institutions, organizations, and thinktanks in improving local varieties, there continues to be a failure in strengthening the local industry. Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) shows a decline in food self-sufficiency: the beef industry has reached from 91.5% in 1990 to a staggeringly low 49%, tuna has declined from a 96.3% to 76.8%, rice has declined from a 91% to 78.1%, coffee has reached from a high of 107.7 in 1990 to reaching 47.4% this 2025. There is the sad reality: despite being named as an agricultural country, the Philippines is experiencing a massive failure in establishing steady food systems. Massive portions of the local food supply chain continue to be a failure, despite efforts made by institutions like the University of the Philippines Los Banos to pioneer agriculture, food systems, and nutrition research.
Ultimately, care for agriculture returns on what the government considers to be a priority. Addressing issues in involuntary hunger and in a declining food industry is a necessity to reframe what we consider agricultural innovation. ๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐บ๐๐๐ ๐ฏ๐ฒ ๐บ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ต๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐น๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐บ๐๐๐ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ด๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฐ๐๐น๐๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐น, ๐ฏ๐๐ ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ด๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ป.
Continued misprioritization of food self-sufficiency has been brought about by the buy-and-large tendency of the Marcos administration to value Philippine land as boons for foreign investors and leasers. With the implementation of the Investors Lease Act, extending foreign maximum aggregate tenure to 99 years from the previous 50, the Philippines has become a subdivision for foreign lease. The Pax Silica Initiative, launched in December 2025 to establish supply chains for semiconductors, AI infrastructure, and critical mineral processing, has benefited from this extension. Managed, regulated, and overseen by the Bases Conversion and Development Authority, the Pax Silica initiative is in the larger investment of the United States of America to lay land in the Luzon Economic Corridor, positioning the Philippines as an American hub within convenient reach to another imperialist superpower: China. Ultimately, the Pax Silica initiative, amongst other establishments of Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreements, has placed the Philippines in the middle of territorialization between two opposing imperialist powers.
Locally, efforts in revitalizing agrarian reform continue to be a massive failure. Dressed under different administrations, agrarian policies have failed to address ongoing systemic bottlenecks that ravage the farm industry: inaccessible farm-to-market infrastructure, lack of postharvest research facilities, and depressingly quick land conversion. A 2025 study from the Philippines and the Netherlands traced agricultural conversions of built-up areas from 2003-2019 and found that โ31% of cropland converted to built-up areas were within legally protected zones under the Network of Protected Areas for Agriculture and Agro-Industrial Development (NPAAAD)โ. Continuing, corporate-led renewable energy projects have deepened land conversion of agricultural land. Projects like the Olongapo Solar Power Plant, the Quezon North Onshore Wind Power project, the Ahunan Pumped-Storage Hydropower Plant Project, amongst many others, have greatly contributed to the displacement and uprooting of agricultural and indigenous communities.
Dishearteningly, the struggle of the peasant farmer goes beyond agrarian, as the Philippines is about to experience one of the most catastrophic climate crises from October 2026 to March 2027. Reports from the Philippine Business for Social Progress notes that the Super El Niรฑo (SEร) could devastate the agriculture, fishery, and forestry sector, as well as the entire economy. With Philippine agriculture being largely smallhold farms, heat indices brought about by the SEร could handicap the industry. And despite warnings from climate experts and business thinktanks, the Marcos Administration has continued to focus its priorities to converting agricultural land into data centers, corporate renewable energy sites, and imperialist playgrounds.
Policy misprioritizations like these are not simply perpetuated as conceptual failures, these are manifested as community displacement, neglect, harassment, militarization, and massacre. There must be a cognizance of the brutal and violent effects of a failure in addressing systemic change in the food system. There have been many incidents of such within Southern Tagalog, one of the most recent being the attack on Minggo Baringay, an Indigenous Mangyan-Hanunuo in Mansalay, Oriental Mindoro who was beaten by nine soldiers from the 4th Infantry Battalion on the 21st of September. Such is the case of the AFP Western Command, Philippine Navy, and the Balabac Municipal Police Station of the PNP harassing environmental defenders in Molbog, Balabac, Palawan conducting consultations regarding the incoming Super El Niรฑo and the ongoing use of Balabac Island as an EDCA Site.
In line with all of this, ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐จ๐ฃ๐๐ ๐๐ผ๐น๐น๐ฒ๐ด๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ด๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฐ๐๐น๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ผ๐ผ๐ฑ ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐๐๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐๐ผ๐๐ป๐ฐ๐ถ๐น ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ด๐ป๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ ๐ข๐ฐ๐๐ผ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ญ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ ๐ช๐ผ๐ฟ๐น๐ฑ ๐๐๐ป๐ด๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ฎ๐ because this must remain clear: there must be an establishment of a strong national industry that abolishes involuntary hunger. There must be a strong rejection of imperialist invasion that allows the conversion of Philippine agricultural land into a hotbed of thuggery. There must be a strong integration of agrarian reform that generates farmers with bountiful harvests able to transport goods and services to those that need it. There must be mitigation and adaptation strategies that capacitates the agriculture sector under climate change. Finally, there must be a fierce recognition that for as long as there are farmers, farmworkers, and peasants that are continuously neglected, if not harassed, if not tortured, if not killed, we must continue to struggle for agrarian reform, food sovereignty, and freedom from imperialism.
We must support the Filipino farmer, impose protectionist policies on agriculture, and abolish trade liberalization, over-importation, and imperialist coddling. Participate in local movements that place oneself in realizing these campaigns. Take part in initiatives that foster a nationalist, scientific, and mass-oriented education. Integrate with the basic masses to further actualize effects of misprioritization. Be one with the masses in campaigning for a national industry, food sovereignty, and freedom from the shackles of imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucrat-capitalism.
๐ฆ๐ง๐ฅ๐จ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ข๐ฅ ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ก ๐ฅ๐๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ , ๐๐๐๐ ๐ฃ๐๐ข๐ก ๐๐ข๐ข๐ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฉ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐๐ก๐ง๐ฌ, ๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐ง ๐๐ ๐ฃ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐ฆ๐ !
