permaculture

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lflj@intrex.net>]

<http://dgmoen.net/video_trans/040.html>

Darrell G. Moen, Ph.D.
Promoting Social Justice, Human Rights, and Peace
The Golf War: A Story of Land, Golf and Revolution in the Philippines

(39 minutes: 1999 Anthill Productions, LLC)
Transcript courtesy of Bullfrog Films (www.bullfrogfilms.com)

Earl Woods: Mr. President and the Filipino citizens, you have an opportunity to see one of the great, great golfers of 
the world, my son Tiger Woods.

Jen Schradie: Mr. Woods, Mr. Woods, how do you feel like the development of golf courses can help the people of the 
Philippines?

Earl Woods: I really have no opinion on that. I don't know.

Narrator: The Philippine government and a large real estate developer want this civilized game to help their country. 
They planned one of Asia's most ambitious golf and tourist resorts and decided to put it in a community called Hacienda 
Looc, one of the most scenic places in the Philippines.

Macky Maceda: What's the use of having such a beautiful area if you can't 
really show it off to the tourists?

Narrator: There's just one problem with this plan.

Guillermo: If the project will push through, we will surely get evicted. We 
will be uprooted.

Narrator: Peasants organized to stop the construction, but then found their village overrun by armed guards and the 
military. Golf course opponents face violence and even death.

Romy Capulong: You have here, connivance, collusion, between unscrupulous developers and corrupt public officials 
against the people.

Narrator: But across the Philippines, peasants have joined the New People's Army, a guerrilla movement which has 
threatened to intervene in Hacienda Looc if any more peasants are killed.

Narrator: While the government and developers won't back down, villagers refuse to let their ancestral land be overrun 
by yachts and golf carts.

Roniel Asahan: I will not be a golf caddy. I'd rather become a farmer here in 
Hacienda Looc.

Visitacion Darean: What we need is to be able to farm, plant and produce 
food, not golf balls.

Guillermo Bautista: This land was being cultivated by my ancestors and then 
by my parents. And now I farm this land.

Narrator: Guillermo Bautista lives with his family in Calayo. Calayo sits on the China Sea and is one of four villages, 
or barangays, that make up the Hacienda Looc area, home to 2000 families.

Adelaida Sevilla: My name is Adelaida Sevilla. I was born and live here in Barangay Calayo in Hacienda Looc. Our life 
here is bonded to the land, we plant, we harvest rice and fruits from our land. The farmers and fishermen work jointly. 
They work together because there are only two sources of livelihood - farming and fishing.

Celedonio Sevilla: We are content with our life here.

Narrator: Celedonio Sevilla met his wife Visitacion Darean here in the 
barangay of Calayo.

Adelaida Sevilla: If we would live in a city we would not have means for livelihood. We do not know the jobs there, 
unlike here, where we can eat as long as we plant kamote. We can buy our household necessities as long as we plant 
eggplant. Our aspiration is to have land to till and cultivate all throughout our lives, as long as we live because it 
is what feeds and supports our children.

Narrator: Hacienda Looc sits on one of the 7000 islands of the Phillipines, a country in Southeast Asia. In the 16th 
century Spain colonized the area and forced Catholicism and the Hacienda plantation system on many regions of the new 
colony. Hacienda Looc is about 50 miles south of Manila but could be just about anywhere in the Philippines which is 
still primarily an agricultural country. About half of the nearly 80 million Filipinos depend on agriculture, but many 
don't own their land. Since the 1980's the rate of rural poverty has dramatically increased to over 70%. In 1898, the 
United States bought the Philippines from Spain and then brutally crushed a Filipino independence movement and propped 
up loyal leaders. In 1972 one such ruler, dictator Ferdinand Marcos, instituted martial law and violently suppressed 
opposition. Corazon Aquino was swept to power in 1986 admist a nationwide movement against Marcos. She promised land 
reform and human rights. Instead, the U.S.-backed military continued its violence against peasant and labor activists. 
And Aquino, a large landholder herself, exempted 75% of the land from redistribution to peasants. After Aquino stepped 
down, Fidel Ramos was elected president. Ramos, a second cousin of Marcos and a general under his dictatorship, was 
trained at the U.S. West Point Military Academy. Under President Ramos, golf course development boomed as part of a 
larger policy of converting fertile agricultural land to tourist areas, industrial zones, and residential subdivisions. 
In 1998, Ramos greeted the world's most famous golfer, Tiger Woods, as he arrived at the Mimosa Golf and Country Club. 
[President Ramos: "Welcome to the Philippines."] --- Though Tiger was just 100 miles north of Hacienda Looc, he didn't 
know yet about this community.

Earl Woods: Mr. President, I am very, very pleased to be in your country today. I've never visited your place, and it's 
a gorgeous, gorgeous country. I want to tell you a couple of things that went into bringing this young man up. He has 
this work ethic. There are no short cuts Practice, practice, practice and he will work even harder to improve in the future.

Jen Schradie: Why is it important that Tiger Woods is holding a junior golf 
clinic?

Junior Golfer: Cuz it's a great sport and like Tiger Woods is the greatest player in the world, and he can show us the 
right way to the sport.

Tiger Woods: I want all of you to learn and grow from this experience. Invariably you're gonna learn life, gonna learn 
about life because golf is a microcosm of life.

Narrator: Tiger's corporate sponsors orchestrated a one-day media event called the Day of the Tiger that received 
all-day television coverage from the government network. He was paid to play in an exhibition match and to promote the 
game of golf.

Macky: Oh, I think it's going to be a great picker upper for the entire country in general. Everybody's feeling kind of 
down with this economic crisis. And Tiger is just, I know it, he's going to give everybody a good feeling.

Narrator: Macky Maceda is a vice-president for Fil-Estate Land, Incorporated, the golf course developer in Hacienda 
Looc. Tiger didn't come to support this development, but Maceda was clear about what Tiger's visit could do.

Macky Maceda: That's going to help pick up the game and the development of 
courses here in the country.

Romy Capulong: Tiger Woods should be barred from entering this country, I 
think.

Narrator: Attorney Romy Capulong serves as legal counsel for the Hacienda 
Looc farmers.

Romy Capulong: If I can do something about it -- I'll certainly do that -- to bar him from entering this country and 
propagating golf.

Narrator: Tiger wasn't the only American to promote golf in the Philippines. In 1991, the U.S. Agency for International 
Development paid for a study that concluded that the Hacienda Looc area is ripe for tourism, and land conversion.

Romy Capulong: We have globalization, we have privatization, we have land conversion. All of these are just complete 
manifestation of US -- dictated policies, mainly through the IMF and the World Bank, now through the World Trade 
Organization. Land conversion, which the government and the capitalists call development, quote unquote, destroys 
culture, destroys homes, communities, environment, and doesn't really bring any benefits to our people.

Macky Maceda: Here's a scale model of the Fil-Estate Harbortown development and over here where it says golf course 1, 
that's an 18-hole golf course that will be designed by Jack Nicklaus�. There's gonna be a marina in this area and 
various residential areas, so-called marina housing or canal housing.... Like I said, it's a balanced mix of land uses 
and it's a special project.

Guillermo Bautista: There will be a golf course on top. Here will be the Greg Norman course. The plains will be 
converted into a marina where yachts can sail and dock.

Narrator: Fil-Estate, the company that wants to develop Hacienda Looc into Harbortown, plans a luxury beach resort with 
residential villas. The plains would be flooded for a yacht marina. And the hillsides transformed into four 18-hole golf 
courses. To support his family Guillermo Bautista depends on his rice field of one hectare, or about 2 1/2 acres. Now, 
Guillermo and over 7000 other residents of Hacienda Looc face eviction from their homes and fields for what Fil-Estate 
calls eco-tourism. Guillermo's cousin Philip is also worried about his community.

Philip Bautista: You see, when we talk about Harbortown, this is the proposed Harbortown. These people, these are small 
farmers, these are small fishermen live here. If this will make marina, or Harbortown, where do these people move? Where 
will they live?

Narrator: According to Fil-Estate, its jobs would develop the area. For the villagers, losing their farms and seas to 
fish would mean they must find other jobs in a country where the minimum wage is less than $5 a day.

Philip Bautista: No have permanent jobs. How do these people live forever? Here in this kind of place, even like this, 
as a farmer, they live forever here, so happy, very very happy, even me.

Narrator: Twenty-one year old Roniel was told that these jobs are a sign of 
development.

Roniel Asahan: If that project will push through the people will fall short of income because they cannot farm or fish 
any more.

Narrator: The jobs available in a tourist area like Harbortown would be golf caddies, groundskeepers, maids and even 
GRO's. GRO is a common term for prostitute. Prostitution is widespread throughout the Philippines, especially around 
tourist areas.

Adelaida Sevilla: They say it's a job, but we do not need jobs from Fil-Estate because the status of women will be 
degraded. We cannot rely on the development. Never will we women allow development.

Guillermo Bautista: I learned the news that Tiger Woods is coming to the Philippines, but it would be better if he would 
come to Hacienda Looc to find out for himself how the people strongly oppose the golf course.

Narrator: At the Mimosa Golf Club Tiger taught aspiring golfers a few 
pointers.

General Secretary of the National Golf Association: He can really help develop the sport. And even for the younger guys. 
He should serve as a role model.

Jen Schradie: So what do you think about Tiger being here today?

Security Guard: We're proud.

Junior Golfer: Tiger Woods is introducing the game to other types of people 
like the poor ones or just little kids like us.

Jen Schradie: Do you play golf?

Security Guard: Nah, no we just work here.

Jen Schradie: Would you like to play golf?

Canadian Fan: He's got a great personality, a lot of presence, and it's good 
for the country and golf. Outstanding.

American supervisor: It's going to be very helpful to getting the youngsters 
up and off the streets and out playing golf.

Jen Schradie: Why don't you play golf?

Security Guard: We don't have money to play golf. We just work here.

Jen Schradie: So what are you doing here today at the tournament?

Security Guard: We're just guarding the [turns and sees his supervisor] thank 
you.

Jen Schradie: Just in general, how can golf help the people of the 
Philippines?

Earl Woods: It can provide them with an opportunity to learn about life.

Guillermo: When my father was cultivating the land, we paid one-fifth of every harvest, be it rice or corn... to 
Magdalena, the landlord.

Narrator: But after the government foreclosed on the landlord, two government agrarian reform programs awarded ownership 
of roughly 5000 out of the over 8000 hectare estate to the residents. Then, in 1993, all 8650 hectares of Hacienda Looc 
were sold to a real estate developer, even the land granted to farmers under land reform. Without even notifying 
peasants, the government's Assets Privatization Trust, or APT sold the entire Hacienda Looc estate for only one-fifth of 
its market value.

Gerry Bulatao: But I don't know, the attitude right now is that it's water 
under the bridge.

Narrator: Gerry Bulatao, an undersecretary for the Department of Agrarian Reform, could not explain how peasant land 
awards, administered by his own department, had been sold to developers.

Gerry Bulatao: But for some reason I'm not aware of, APT sold the land to the highest bidder and Manila Southcoast 
Development Corporation got the title. Why they did that? I don't know.

Narrator: The Manila SouthCoast Development Corporation owns the land but is collaborating with Fil-Estate to build 
Harbortown. The terms of the sale allowed them to develop the 3000 hectares not covered under land reform, and they 
could use the land awarded to peasants if they could prove it was not agricultural.

Macky Maceda: The main line is that these lands are not really agriculturally 
viable.

Guillermo Bautista: We can clearly see the evidence of how productive these lands are, even the mountains where there 
are fruit-bearing trees like mango, santol, guava, star apple and other fruits which can be grown here and that people 
live on.

Narrator: But Fil-Estate convinced the Department of Agrarian Reform to overturn the distribution of over 1,200 hectares 
of land previously awarded to peasants. Fil-Estate won the hills to build four 18-hole golf courses, but the plan for a 
yacht marina is on the land now occupied by villagers' homes and fields in Calayo, so the developer once again turned to 
government officials.

Jen Schradie: What are you hoping that the Harbortown project will do for the 
community of Hacienda Looc?

Conrado Apacible: Ah, it means a lot of progress for the community. Not only for Calayo, but for the town, and for the 
province, for the nation as a whole.

Narrator: Conrado Apacible, a former congressman, appeared among many politicians at this Fil-Estate and government 
sponsored ceremony in Calayo, designed to gain support for Harbortown. Residents were fed, entertained and promised they 
could keep their homes. But government officials handed peasants certificates of no legal value, and no one mentioned 
Fil-Estate's plans to build a yacht marina in the same place where the villagers live, fish and farm.

Reynaldo Dimayacycac, Sr.: In my own opinion, this is the most important period of our lives because in spite of the 
dissenting opinions to the project of the Manila South Coast Development Corporation, as joint venture with Fil-Estate, 
everybody, not only you here, will benefit from the job opportunities.

Romy Capulong: They're all in support of the so-called development project. Many of these officials have acted because 
of corruption in favor of the developer.

Narrator: In a series of law suits, residents and attorney Capulong have accused local officials of taking property on 
behalf of Fil-Estate, using methods such as having peasants sign blank documents and producing contracts from dead people.

Romy Capulong: At least two of the five barangay captains were buying agents and subcontractors of, of the developer. 
The mayor herself, the head of the town, was the first big buying agent of the developer.

Mayor Apacible: At times, they're telling me that I am an agent. I am not an 
agent. I am a mayor.

Narrator: As head of local resistance Guillermo was approached by local 
officials.

Guillermo: On October 7, 1996, I was called by Mayor Apacible and she offered me 1.2 million pesos on condition that I 
will allow the machine of Fil-Estate to operate.

Mayor Apacible: And an agent usually gets commission. No one ever did give a cent commission from me, especially from 
those areas. I'm just helping them out.

Romy Capulong: From the lowest official of the place, called Barangay officials, up to the town officials, up to the 
provincial officials, up to the national officials, all the way up to the highest official of the land, the office of 
the president, all of them have supported the project.

Narrator: This advertisement that touts the President's support for another Fil-Estate resort is not the developer's 
only link to influential politicians. In 1996, Ramos appointed the brother of Fil-Estate's CEO as Undersecretary of 
Tourism after the developer had a stake in Hacienda Looc. This department is critical for a resort developer like 
Fil-Estate.

Macky Maceda: The Hacienda Looc area is one of the areas that's being 
promoted by the Department of Tourism to be developed.

Narrator: Macky is the son of Ernie Maceda, then the president of the Philippine Senate and now the ambassador to the 
United States.

Roniel Asahan: We cannot allow our lands to be grabbed by this giant developer. If we will pursue with our struggle, we 
will have a bright future because it is the land that we are fighting for.

Narrator: In 1996, the peasants formed an organization called Umalpas-Ka, which means "break free." Guillermo is the 
head of Umalpas-Ka.

Guillermo Bautista: We are fighting for our rights to our land.

Visitacion Darean: We cannot leave this place. That's why we joined the 
organization.

Narrator: Fil-Estate started bulldozing the mountainous hills for golf course construction, but Umalpas Ka members 
responded.

Adelaida Sevilla: There were many women who climbed the mountain. We formed a human barricade to prevent the bulldozer 
from excavating the land. It was a full force show-up by the Philippine National Police, the military, barangay and 
Fil-Estate security, but we proved how firm we were during the negotiations and we won.

Narrator: But peasants who joined Umalpas-Ka paid a price for their non-violent organizing against the development. They 
face an occupying military force in their community, including the Philippine National Police and armed security guards.

Celedonio Sevilla: I was on my way home. I met the barangay captain's brother along the way. Upon seeing me, he 
exclaimed, "You are one of them!" and slapped me at the same time. He even fired a shot. So I ran toward my house.

Narrator: Celedonio was one of several victims of harassment reportedly organized by local officials. The brother of 
Celedonio's assailant is a barangay captain and a Fil-Estate subcontractor.

Guillermo Bautista: I was harassed many times in forming the organization. In fact the harassment that we experienced 
was on August 9, 1996. The bodyguards of the barangay captain came with high-powered guns. They continuously harassed us 
every night, and they are still giving me death threats. They have also forcibly entered my house, and we are still 
getting harassed.

Celedonio Sevilla: I don't know any reason for the assault except my 
affiliation with Umalpas-Ka.

Phillip Bautista: Peaceful barrio. This is very peaceful. You could go everywhere here before, but now I am afraid. 
Other people are afraid. We cannot go somewhere.

Visitacion Darean: We went many times to the town hall, but no one helped us because, according to them, we cannot 
achieve anything in the town hall. They didn't pay any attention to us.

Celedonio Sevilla: They said that they could not do anything.

Visitacion Darean: They didn't pay us any attention. They said we cannot hope 
for anything there.

Celedonio Sevilla: They even laughed at us.

Mayor Apacible: I'm not there. I'm not present every day, but there's no such thing. Only there is some 
misunderstanding, and I think this is something like politics.

Roniel Asahan: At first, we publicized the issue to many people. This helped us expose what the military is doing to 
many people through holding rallies, pickets and media projects to protest and call a stop to militarization.

Romy Capulong: You have here a community of two thousand families ah, in 
8,650 hectares completely militarized.

Narrator: In 1997, Fil-Estate security guards gunned down two opponents of Harbor Town, according to peasant and 
national newspaper reports. One of the Fil-Estate security guards left his identity badge at the crime scene. They were 
arrested for the murders but then released.

Mayor Apacible: Some of these cases have nothing to do with the land problem. There aren't even, there are security 
guards in one particular area, there are security guards. They went on drinking spree, and that's it.

Narrator: Later that year a third opponent of the Harbortown project died of gunshot wounds but local authorities never 
made any arrests.

Guillermo Bautista: Since the establishment of the organization Umalpas Ka, three farmers have been killed. They are: 
Perfecto Manalo, Francisco Marasigan, and Maximino Carpenter, who are all members of the organization Umalpas Ka.

Narrator: Peasants believe they were being killed because they opposed Harbortown, and so does the New People's Army. 
This guerrilla movement threatened retaliation against Fil-Estate. And then the militarization eased and the killings 
stopped. A spokesperson of the New People's Army, or NPA, Ka Roger, restated their position on Hacienda Looc.

Ka Roger: If they will continue these unnecessary killings the NPA will be forced to launch military operations against 
their armed goons and anybody responsible for these killings.

Narrator: Since the Communist Party of the Philippines formed the NPA during the reign of dictator Ferdinand Marcos, 
they have been a key force in fighting the government in areas of local support throughout the Philippine countryside.

Ka Roger: The Philippines is basically an agricultural country, so the 
problem is land.

Narrator: The New People's Army is calling for genuine agrarian reform -- a plan to demolish the centuries long 
tradition of haciendas, landlords, and land grabbing, and redistribute land ownership directly to those who farm it.

Ka Lian: Ultimately it would have to come down to armed struggle because that is the only way to change the whole 
system, the whole structure. We have to seize political power from the ruling classes and not leave it as just simply a 
legal battle or parliamentary struggle because it would never be resolved by those means, as history has proven time and 
again.

Narrator: The NPA has not intervened in Hacienda Looc, but their pledge of support marked a turning point in the 
villagers' struggle against Fil-Estate and the government.

Phillip Bautista: We welcome the NPA to have some assistance. I think it helps a lot to minimize the harassment - 
harassment from the municipality or from the barrio.

Roniel Asahan: We are glad to receive the support from those who will truly help us, that is the support from the NPA, 
because they are supportive of the struggle of the peasants here in our community.

Narrator: The villagers not only welcome the NPA's support, but also their 
message.

Guillermo: Here in our community, we can only achieve genuine agrarian reform by waging a struggle...a fight for our 
land. If we just rely on the government to implement it, we will never achieve genuine agrarian reform.

Press Conference MC: The World Number One Tiger Woods.

Ka Lian: Does he have any idea that despite the fact that he enjoys the game and other rich people enjoy the game so 
much what about its effects on the poor people?

Jen Schradie: Yes, Tiger with all due respect, I wanted to know what you had to say about farmers here in the 
Philippines who are being displaced for the construction on golf courses in a town called Hacienda Looc, and I was 
wondering what you would say to the farmers?

Tiger: Well to be honest with you, I really didn't know that until now.

Earl Woods: Have fun. Golf is a game.

NPA guerrilla: To them, maybe it's just a game but to millions and millions 
of farmers, it's life and death.

Earl Woods: its spelled g-a-m-e. Game. It is not life and death.

Tiger Woods: Unfortunately, that's a pretty tough situation. A lot of people want to play golf and also some people need 
to make a living farming, so it's one of those things I think over time we'll find out what the answer is, but initially 
as I said, it could be swayed back and forth.

Narrator: The NPA's numbers grew 25% the year after Tiger's visit.

Jen Schradie: Why are you a guerrilla rather than a golfer?

Ka Lian: It's because it's what is needed in our country. Right now, what we need is to liberate ourselves, to fight a 
revolution and not hold a golf club or play golf.

Narrator: And Fil-Estate considered talks with the NPA.

Macky Maceda: If the government approaches them for peace, why can't the 
private sector, right?

Narrator: But Fil-Estates' efforts were not successful in stopping resistance. And Tiger's fan, President Ramos, was 
replaced by another golfer, Joseph Estrada, a former movie actor turned politician, who, like Ramos, has also refused to 
return Hacienda Looc land back to peasants. The golf courses have not yet been built, but villagers still face off 
against Fil-Estate bulldozers, and the NPA is still watching.

Adelaida Sevilla: And if the government does not help and there are others who are willing to help...whose side will the 
people choose? Filipinos have a saying "An oppressed person will fight back with the blade."