The New People’s Army (NPA) continues to conduct its public health campaign as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to rage. At 17 villages in Samar, the people’s army and mass organizations are working hand in hand to implement precautionary measures to prevent the spread of the disease. They established health protocols and prepared quarantine facilities in each village.
Red fighters successively conducted their health campaigns amid intense operations of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in the area last June. In one guerrilla front, four NPA units conducted basic medical trainings to educate the health committees of revolutionary peasant organizations. Afterwards, the newly trained medics launched a mass clinic in the area. They provided free check-ups, dental services, minor operations and traditional medications to at least 400 residents from four villages.
Likewise, Red fighters are striving to be exemplars of cleanliness and sanitation. They wear face masks when interacting with the masses and follow protocols on social distancing and ensure cleanliness in guerrilla bases. They utilize traditional medication practices such as acupuncture and use herbal medicine. To address the shortage of medicines in villages, Red fighters spearheaded the production of herbal plants, herbal vitamins and medicines such as lagundi syrup and powder, and nutritious foods.
Extreme food shortage
The militarization of communities and economic restrictions imposed on farmers have aggravated the food crisis which has been raging in the region even before the pandemic. People in Eastern Visayas have long been suffering from extreme hunger and the lack of food products.
A research by Larab, the regional revolutionary publication in Eastern Visayas, disclosed that only 32% of the total agricultural land area in the region is utilized for food production such as palay, root crops and vegetables. Majority of the agricultural area—63% or 455,134 hectares—is used for the production of cash crops such as coconuts and abaca that are mainly for export.
Palay production in the region has been declining steadily for more than a decade. The last time that Eastern Visayas was able to produce a metric ton of palay was in 2008. This further declined by 11% in 2019.
The palay harvest and supplementary income from working as palay porters is not sufficient to make ends meet for a family of 10 for the entire year.
If they were to eat twice a day, they will be left with at least 19 out of the 54 sacks of rice they were able to harvest. They are compelled to work as porters, because if not, they will be forced to eat rice once a day for the next nine months before the harvest season.
Due to rice shortage, farmers eat sweet potatoes, cassava and bananas as alternative. However, these are also scarce as only 19% of the agricultural land area in the region (73,411 hectares) is utilized in producing these crops.
Similarly, the stipulated daily minimum wage for farm workers in the region which is pegged at ₱236-₱238 is extremely meager. A family of five commonly spends up to ₱135 to eat rice at least twice a day. This excludes expenses for other basic needs.
Farmers cannot also rely primarily on selling copra. The farmgate price of copra dropped to ₱8 per kilo after the typhoon Ambo hit the region in May. The typhoon also adversely affected abaca production which has been experiencing a decline for a decade now due to pests.
https://cpp.ph/2020/09/07/health-protocols-and-production/
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