There is no right to health without the right to food, release the “Tinang 92”

The Council for Health and Development (CHD) is one with the farmers and land advocates in Hacienda Tinang, Concepcion, Tarlac in asserting for their right to land and execution of the Certificate of Land Ownership and Award (CLOA) that was first issued to them in 1995 under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP). Likewise, CHD condemns the unjust and violent arrest of the Philippine National Police against 92 farmers and advocates yesterday, a day before the 34^th year since the CARP was signed into law today, June 10, 1988.

According to the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, farmers from the Malayang Kilusang Samahan ng Magsasaka ng Tinang (MAKISAMA-Tinang) and supporters from different groups were preparing two hectares of land for vegetable planting when personnel from the PNP-Concepcion arrived. The armed police used excessive force, berated, red-tagged, manhandled and arrested the farmers and advocates.

Arresting farmers, who are merely addressing hunger through collective action, amidst the rise in hunger and malnutrition in the Philippines, is beyond comprehension and basic humanity.

In the first quarter of 2022 alone, 3.1 million or 12.2 per cent of Filipino families experienced involuntary hunger.^[1] Involuntary hunger is defined as being hungry and not having anything to eat – at least once in the past three months. Last year, the Philippines ranked 68^th out of 116 countries in the 2021 Global Hunger Index.^[2]

The right to health cannot be attained without ensuring, providing and promoting the underlying determinants of health such as safe and potable water, sanitation, housing, health-related information and education, gender equality – and food. Without farmers that grow food, the population is at risk even if health care is provided. The human right to adequate food is crucial to the enjoyment of all rights, including the right to health.^[3]

In this regard, the Council for Health and Development, national organization of more than 70 community-based health programs in the Philippines, enjoins all health activists and the general public to stand one with the call on authorities to immediately release the Tinang 92, expedite the long-overdue installation of 236 Tinang farmer-beneficiaries, and push for a genuine agrarian reform law.

^[1] Social Weather Stations, “First Quarter 2022 Social Weather Survey: Hunger rises from 11.8% to 12.2%”. June 06, 2022. https://www.sws.org.ph/swsmain/artcldisppage/?artcsyscode=ART-20220606102327

^[2] Global Hunger Index. 2021. https://www.globalhungerindex.org/philippines.html

^[3] Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. “OHCHR and the right to food”. https://www.ohchr.org/en/food