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Gaining ground: Agrarian reform in the Philippines
thereby acknowledging how our knowledge about floodplain management and its impacts has developed over time. The approach is an applied one with little concern for theory, except as it has helped us evaluate the components of the system.
Combination of approaches While the research reported in this book builds, in part, on an earlier study, it does not rely heavily on either the methods or the specific concerns of that study. Instead, it uses the findings of that study to develop some of the research questions and to provide good background material for understanding what is happening in the communities. In fact, this allows for a melding of the ideas and work of hazard researchers over a period of time, The combination of approaches and methods that is used makes the analyses and conclusions valuable because the focus is not on just one or two aspects and/or actors, but rather is on the dynamics of the system. This is what largely separates this research from previous evaluations of the impacts of floodplain regulations because it incorporates economic, perceptual and systemic considerations in the analyses, as they work separately and as they interact. For instance, the analysis recognizes both the possible differential impacts of regulations on different groups (builders, landowners, etc) and the differing perceptions of the importance of and need for floodplain regulations among these groups. However, it also recognizes that the impacts and perceptions are affected by other factors, including the elasticity of the local market and the avaiIability of flood-free properties, and the existence of flood control works. Further, there is a consideration of changes over time, both those that have occurred and those that may occur. Specifically, the conversion of vacant land to developed property is considered as it has been affected by floodplain land use regulations and/or building restrictions and as it is likely to be affected in the future. Despite the complexity of the issues and the number of variables that enter into how floodplain regulations have
346
affected communities, the interactions, confounding influences and differing levels of actual and perceived impact are presented in a coherent, well-organized manner. The research design is spelled out in the first chapter, and is followed throughout. Where the results differ from one community to the next, or from the expected, prior research is used to explain the reasons for what was observed. In addition, this research pulls together hazards literature with that of urban economics and decision making. Thus, the dynamics that are investigated are evident in the extensive list of references.
Characterizations Many times when numerous study sites are utilized to evaluate the impact of policies, there is a tendency to attempt to generalize the findings among the communities and to apply them to other communities. Although the data from the communities in this research project are aggregated at times to evaluate how regulations affect one sector or another, there is a clear recognition that the experiences of the ten communities differ and that the overall results may not apply to another community. On the other
hand, there are generalizations based on such characteristics as rapid population growth and related development pressures and how they relate to the adoption or non-adoption of strong floodplain management programmes. Thus, it is recognized that local conditions make generalization difficult, but also characteristics exist that are likely to be applicable to other communities which share those characteristics. This book is based on the US experience with floodplain land use regulations and does not attempt to reach beyond the United States. As such, it is of particular interest to US geographers and economists who are concerned with flood hazard policy and the effects that it has on land use. On the other hand, there is a direct relationship between the impacts of floodplain land use regulations and land use regulations that are developed to achieve other ends. As a result, the research design and the methods of analysis are applicable to any evaluation of the impact of land use regulations on the urban land market. Burreli E. Montz Geography Department Sfafe University of New York at Binghamton, USA
The explosive land question in the Philippines GAINING GROUND: AGRARIAN REFORM IN THE PHILIPPINES
by James Putzel and John Cunnington
War on Want, London, UK, 7989, 705 pp, f3.95 James Putzel and John Cunnington have produced a brief but tightly argued, comprehensive primer on the explosive land question in the Philippines. The authors write cogently, managing to distil the essence of the Philippine agrarian situation into 105 pages. Rhetorical embellishments are absent, but there is a quiet anger that stalks these pages. Putzel and Cun-
nington make no effort to conceal their partisan perspective, but it is one that is made unassailable by hardheaded analysis and masterful marshalling of the evidence. The book explores many dimensions of the land question, but the authors’ central theses appear to be the following: (1) Concentration of landownership is simply outrageous. The Philippines probably has the most unequal distribution of land in East Asia; and the fact that almost 70% of the country’s rural families live under the proverty line is definitely correlated with the reality that 20% of the population owns 80% of the land. (2) Agrarian reform is not only a
LAND USE POLICY
October 1989
Book reviews/Conference
question of social justice; it is also an imperative of economic rationality. Seventy per cent of the population lives in the countryside; and extremely unequal distribution of land prevents the emergence of a market of prosperous consumers whose effective demand would serve as the locomotive of industrial growth. The authors remind us that it was the growth in peasant purchasing power brought about by land reform that provided the stimulus for early industrialization in Taiwan and South Korea, which are now widely regarded as economic successes.
Environment Agrarian reform is also inextricably linked to the environmental question. Rural poverty caused by concentrated landownership drives masses of peasants to fragile forest lands that are unsuitable for farming - though the authors emphasize that logging companies, not the peasants, are mainly responsible for the rapid rate of deforestation. (3) The government of President Corazon Aquino cannot be counted on to push genuine land reform. Mrs Aquino may have brought back electoral democracy, but Putzel and Cunnington’s account makes it clear that she is not a social reformer. Aquino promised land reform during her campaign to oust Ferdinand Marcos in 1986. But instead of pushing through genuine reform during the 18 months that she possessed absolute decreemaking power, Aquino waited for the landlord-dominated Philippine Congress to come out with an ‘agrarian reform law’ whose generous landretention limits and other loopholes exempted as much as 70% of cultivated land in the Philippines from redistribution. A system of elite democracy has been restored in the Philippines, and it appears to be just as effective in defending entrenched upper-class interests as the defunct dictatorship. (4) Peasants and rural workers can manage successful reform if given the chance. Pro-landlord propaganda asserts that tenant farmers and rural workers do not have the capability and
LAND USE POLICY
October
1989
initiative for independent farming. But Filipino peasants and workers can be quite creative and motivated if they gain access to land, say the authors. Shortly after the ouster of Ferdinand Marcos, peasants took over idle lands or regained lands that had been usurped by Marcos’ cronies in various parts of the Philippines. On the sugarproducing island of Negros, the National Federation of Farm Workers managed to acquire legally several thousand hectares of idle sugarland and proceeded to convert them from export production to food production. Enthusiastic cooperative farming experiments were launched in these areas, but many of these efforts have come under heavy attack from landlord-backed paramilitary groups and the Philippine military. Technical obstacles will always emerge in the effort to achieve successful agarian reform, but landlord resistance remains the biggest obstacle of all. (5) There can be no peace in the countryside unless there is agrarian reform. It is land hunger that has led many peasants into the ranks of the guerrilla New People’s Army (NPA),
reporrs
now 30 000 strong. It will be very difficult for the government to eliminate the guerrillas through repression since, in their zones of control, ‘they have implemented land rent reduction, curbed usury and even redistributed some land. It is difficult to convince peasants that such actions are not in their interests.’ Putzel and Cunnington’s account makes it clear that the only alternative to agrarian reform is permanent counterinsurgency, permanent civil war. This book is essential reading for the few serious reformers left in the upper rungs of the Aquino government. But I share the authors’ deep apprehension that instead of ushering in an era of peace founded on genuine reform, the Aquino government, yielding to landlord and military interests, is retreating along a road that will eventually end in even greater social polarization.
Walden Belle Institute for Food and Development Policy San Francisco, CA, USA
Conference reports Improving the quality of the urban environment Seminar on Urban Wetland Management, organized by Middlesex Urban Pollution Research Centre, Enfield, UK, 3 February 7989 There is currently an upsurge of contern for the quality of the urban environment , its aesthetic value and potential for wildlife and human recreation. The media have promoted and nurtured this concern by encouraging, for example, the creation of ponds in gardens, schools and open spaces. The increase in water-based recreation, notably sailboarding. has stimulated an interest in water quality and methods of pollution control. Many local authorities have responded positively to these trends, but there is a dearth of literature on the
Polytechnic
design criteria and management of urban wetlands. In response to this, Middlesex Polytechnic Urban Pollution Research Centre organized a oneday seminar on Urban Wetland Management, held appropriately at the Polytechnic’s Trent Country Park site. Speakers and delegates were drawn from the water authorities, the Nature Conservancy Council, local authority ecologists and planners, private conservation groups and academic institutions. John Newton of the London Regeneration Consortium discussed
347
Combination of approaches While the research reported in this book builds, in part, on an earlier study, it does not rely heavily on either the methods or the specific concerns of that study. Instead, it uses the findings of that study to develop some of the research questions and to provide good background material for understanding what is happening in the communities. In fact, this allows for a melding of the ideas and work of hazard researchers over a period of time, The combination of approaches and methods that is used makes the analyses and conclusions valuable because the focus is not on just one or two aspects and/or actors, but rather is on the dynamics of the system. This is what largely separates this research from previous evaluations of the impacts of floodplain regulations because it incorporates economic, perceptual and systemic considerations in the analyses, as they work separately and as they interact. For instance, the analysis recognizes both the possible differential impacts of regulations on different groups (builders, landowners, etc) and the differing perceptions of the importance of and need for floodplain regulations among these groups. However, it also recognizes that the impacts and perceptions are affected by other factors, including the elasticity of the local market and the avaiIability of flood-free properties, and the existence of flood control works. Further, there is a consideration of changes over time, both those that have occurred and those that may occur. Specifically, the conversion of vacant land to developed property is considered as it has been affected by floodplain land use regulations and/or building restrictions and as it is likely to be affected in the future. Despite the complexity of the issues and the number of variables that enter into how floodplain regulations have
346
affected communities, the interactions, confounding influences and differing levels of actual and perceived impact are presented in a coherent, well-organized manner. The research design is spelled out in the first chapter, and is followed throughout. Where the results differ from one community to the next, or from the expected, prior research is used to explain the reasons for what was observed. In addition, this research pulls together hazards literature with that of urban economics and decision making. Thus, the dynamics that are investigated are evident in the extensive list of references.
Characterizations Many times when numerous study sites are utilized to evaluate the impact of policies, there is a tendency to attempt to generalize the findings among the communities and to apply them to other communities. Although the data from the communities in this research project are aggregated at times to evaluate how regulations affect one sector or another, there is a clear recognition that the experiences of the ten communities differ and that the overall results may not apply to another community. On the other
hand, there are generalizations based on such characteristics as rapid population growth and related development pressures and how they relate to the adoption or non-adoption of strong floodplain management programmes. Thus, it is recognized that local conditions make generalization difficult, but also characteristics exist that are likely to be applicable to other communities which share those characteristics. This book is based on the US experience with floodplain land use regulations and does not attempt to reach beyond the United States. As such, it is of particular interest to US geographers and economists who are concerned with flood hazard policy and the effects that it has on land use. On the other hand, there is a direct relationship between the impacts of floodplain land use regulations and land use regulations that are developed to achieve other ends. As a result, the research design and the methods of analysis are applicable to any evaluation of the impact of land use regulations on the urban land market. Burreli E. Montz Geography Department Sfafe University of New York at Binghamton, USA
The explosive land question in the Philippines GAINING GROUND: AGRARIAN REFORM IN THE PHILIPPINES
by James Putzel and John Cunnington
War on Want, London, UK, 7989, 705 pp, f3.95 James Putzel and John Cunnington have produced a brief but tightly argued, comprehensive primer on the explosive land question in the Philippines. The authors write cogently, managing to distil the essence of the Philippine agrarian situation into 105 pages. Rhetorical embellishments are absent, but there is a quiet anger that stalks these pages. Putzel and Cun-
nington make no effort to conceal their partisan perspective, but it is one that is made unassailable by hardheaded analysis and masterful marshalling of the evidence. The book explores many dimensions of the land question, but the authors’ central theses appear to be the following: (1) Concentration of landownership is simply outrageous. The Philippines probably has the most unequal distribution of land in East Asia; and the fact that almost 70% of the country’s rural families live under the proverty line is definitely correlated with the reality that 20% of the population owns 80% of the land. (2) Agrarian reform is not only a
LAND USE POLICY
October 1989
Book reviews/Conference
question of social justice; it is also an imperative of economic rationality. Seventy per cent of the population lives in the countryside; and extremely unequal distribution of land prevents the emergence of a market of prosperous consumers whose effective demand would serve as the locomotive of industrial growth. The authors remind us that it was the growth in peasant purchasing power brought about by land reform that provided the stimulus for early industrialization in Taiwan and South Korea, which are now widely regarded as economic successes.
Environment Agrarian reform is also inextricably linked to the environmental question. Rural poverty caused by concentrated landownership drives masses of peasants to fragile forest lands that are unsuitable for farming - though the authors emphasize that logging companies, not the peasants, are mainly responsible for the rapid rate of deforestation. (3) The government of President Corazon Aquino cannot be counted on to push genuine land reform. Mrs Aquino may have brought back electoral democracy, but Putzel and Cunnington’s account makes it clear that she is not a social reformer. Aquino promised land reform during her campaign to oust Ferdinand Marcos in 1986. But instead of pushing through genuine reform during the 18 months that she possessed absolute decreemaking power, Aquino waited for the landlord-dominated Philippine Congress to come out with an ‘agrarian reform law’ whose generous landretention limits and other loopholes exempted as much as 70% of cultivated land in the Philippines from redistribution. A system of elite democracy has been restored in the Philippines, and it appears to be just as effective in defending entrenched upper-class interests as the defunct dictatorship. (4) Peasants and rural workers can manage successful reform if given the chance. Pro-landlord propaganda asserts that tenant farmers and rural workers do not have the capability and
LAND USE POLICY
October
1989
initiative for independent farming. But Filipino peasants and workers can be quite creative and motivated if they gain access to land, say the authors. Shortly after the ouster of Ferdinand Marcos, peasants took over idle lands or regained lands that had been usurped by Marcos’ cronies in various parts of the Philippines. On the sugarproducing island of Negros, the National Federation of Farm Workers managed to acquire legally several thousand hectares of idle sugarland and proceeded to convert them from export production to food production. Enthusiastic cooperative farming experiments were launched in these areas, but many of these efforts have come under heavy attack from landlord-backed paramilitary groups and the Philippine military. Technical obstacles will always emerge in the effort to achieve successful agarian reform, but landlord resistance remains the biggest obstacle of all. (5) There can be no peace in the countryside unless there is agrarian reform. It is land hunger that has led many peasants into the ranks of the guerrilla New People’s Army (NPA),
reporrs
now 30 000 strong. It will be very difficult for the government to eliminate the guerrillas through repression since, in their zones of control, ‘they have implemented land rent reduction, curbed usury and even redistributed some land. It is difficult to convince peasants that such actions are not in their interests.’ Putzel and Cunnington’s account makes it clear that the only alternative to agrarian reform is permanent counterinsurgency, permanent civil war. This book is essential reading for the few serious reformers left in the upper rungs of the Aquino government. But I share the authors’ deep apprehension that instead of ushering in an era of peace founded on genuine reform, the Aquino government, yielding to landlord and military interests, is retreating along a road that will eventually end in even greater social polarization.
Walden Belle Institute for Food and Development Policy San Francisco, CA, USA
Conference reports Improving the quality of the urban environment Seminar on Urban Wetland Management, organized by Middlesex Urban Pollution Research Centre, Enfield, UK, 3 February 7989 There is currently an upsurge of contern for the quality of the urban environment , its aesthetic value and potential for wildlife and human recreation. The media have promoted and nurtured this concern by encouraging, for example, the creation of ponds in gardens, schools and open spaces. The increase in water-based recreation, notably sailboarding. has stimulated an interest in water quality and methods of pollution control. Many local authorities have responded positively to these trends, but there is a dearth of literature on the
Polytechnic
design criteria and management of urban wetlands. In response to this, Middlesex Polytechnic Urban Pollution Research Centre organized a oneday seminar on Urban Wetland Management, held appropriately at the Polytechnic’s Trent Country Park site. Speakers and delegates were drawn from the water authorities, the Nature Conservancy Council, local authority ecologists and planners, private conservation groups and academic institutions. John Newton of the London Regeneration Consortium discussed
347