Analysis of Gilberto M. Llanto and Marife M. Ballesteros’s Article on Land Reforms in the Philippines

Under National Agro-Food Policy, agriculture sector has been identified as a National Key Result Area. Under this initiative, the agriculture sector is targeted to increase the Gross National Income by RM28.9 Billion (USD9.1 billion) to reach RM49.1 billion (USD15.4 billion) by 2020. The agricultural sector is also targeted to create more than 109,000 job opportunities by 2020, primarily in the rural areas.

“No man is good enough to govern another man without that other’s consent.” Abraham Lincoln. (Document A). The United States did just this in 1898, when they annexed the Philippines. The Filipino people had been fighting for their independence against Spain for many years before the US intervened. The rebels, led by Emilio Aguinaldo, were grateful for the assistance. The Filipino people thought that the US had come to help free them from Spain. Unfortunately for the Filipino people, they were incorrect. On February 6, 1899, the United States of America annexed the Philippines, much to the disgust of the rebels in the Philippines and many people in America (including Mark Twain, Andrew Carnegie, and former President Grover Cleveland.) The reasoning behind this was partially for economic prosperity, thinking that the Philippines held the “secret route” to riches by being a trading partner and a jumping

The final reason that the United States should annex the Philippines is, if not it would hurt them. As stated before, the Filipinos were unfit for

     First of all I think that the if we would have maybe let some of the well respected citizens in our great nation to speak their opinions and if the government would have listened to the that maybe we could have evaded war and ended our struggle with the Filipinos peacefully. One example of the great citizens that I was talking about would be Mark Twain who said "We have robbed a trusting friend of his land and his liberty; we have debauched America’s honor and blackened her face before the world…" If we would have listened to Mark Twain who knows how things would have ended up!

Source A is reliable but does not fully support the assertion. Source A, taken from a British-based research in 1997, intends to show how Mao’s preventive healthcare measures improved the peasants’ quality of life but “sparrowcide” had resulted in people having lesser grain as they were eaten by insects. Source A states that Mao had implemented the measures such as “basic healthcare and preventive services”, closing brothels and running campaigns against opium use to bring diseases and vices under control. However, by eradicating the sparrows in the Four Pests Campaign, “the insects ... now devoured the grains instead”.

Late spring of 1898, The United States went to war with Spain in Cuba and the Philippines. We attacked the Spanish in the Philippines who had a large military presence there. The United States had an easy victory and suddenly became a major world power. The reasoning for this attack was because of the bad treatment of the Cubans by their Spanish masters.

The bald red, white, and blue eagle of American Democracy is coming for you Phillipines, run while you can! Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president of the United States, was so infatuated with the idea of democracy, and he wanted every country to have a little taste of American freedom! After America's victory in the Spanish American War, George Dewey and his 11,000 American troops marched into manila and were unsure whether to liberate or occupy the filipino people. Thinking the they were here to help, the Filipino rebels trusted the Americans, but were soon betrayed as Dewey decided to occupy the land. The United States had three choices to determine what they wanted to do with the Philippines: Give it back to Spain, Give the filipino people their freedom, or to annex the whole country itself. With much debate ranging from artists, influential citizens, and government officials, the US ultimately decided it would annex! The United States should not have annexed the Philippines but rather should have given them their independence. While others may think the annexation of the Philippines would have benefited them, what the Philippines really needed was

Throughout time, humans have pushed forward in every aspect in life in order to improve their living standards, wealth and most importantly the agricultural sector which is the base of every human race. Food is the basic requirement for any individual to stay alive and healthy. In an article by Tamsin McMahon, she states that over the past 60 years, the world population has grown from 2.5 billion to 7 billion while world hunger dropped from 40% down to 15% (McMahon T., July 2012). This shows that our agricultural advances through technology have helped control world hunger and decrease it by more than half, but this is a short-term solution if we want to consider the future generations that depend on our current actions toward the three main pillars of agriculture which are: Health and nutrition, Economy and sustainability all while considering the local small farms and corporate farms.

South Asia is one of the most densely populated regions of the world, where despite a slow growth, agriculture remains the backbone of rural economy as it employs one half to over 90 percent of the labor force. Both extensive and intensive policy measures for agriculture

The U.S. decision to annex the Philippines was accompanied by strong rallies of support as well as many people who opposed it. But what brought about this monumental event in the history of the U.S? On April 24th 1898 the Spanish declared war on the United States after the U.S. had demanded that Spain withdrawal their armed forces from Cuba. The U.S. had been aiding Cuba in their attempt to gain independence from Spain. On December 10th 1998, the signing of the Treaty of Paris formally ended the war. The treaty proclaimed that Spain would relinquish their claims to Cuba, which would soon become a U.S. protectorate. They would also give the U.S. Guam and Puerto Rico and sell the Philippines to the U.S. for a price of $20 million. The decision to annex the Philippines would trigger with domestic controversy

While agriculture is a huge part of Guatemala’s economy, it is dominated by a small portion of the population. Two percent of the population owns approximately 70-75% of Guatemala’s agricultural land. Forty-seven major plantations take over 3,700 hectares of land (1 hetare is 10000 square meters). This leaves majority of Guatemalans helpless in competing in the agricultural sector, and left to look for other career alternatives

As the Special Economic Advisor, you are also pushing for radical land reforms. Your argument is that if a country has experienced a successful land reform program, it is easier for that country to implement export substitution policies. Elaborate on this argument using the contrasting examples of East Asia and Latin America

Philippines is an archipelago located in Southeast Asia near the equator. The Philippine archipelago consists of 7,107 islands divided into three major groups of islands which is Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. As of 2016 the Philippine population is estimated to about 102,624,209 (World Fact Book). The Philippine nationality is termed Filipino and its population is made up of various ethnic groups. The national language is called Tagalog, it also the name of the major ethnic group of the country. According to Philippine Statistic Authority the population of urban area accounts for 45.3% of the country’s total population (Urban-Rural Classification). In contrast, the population in rural area is comprised of 54.7% and considered to be the majority population of the entire country. The Philippine climate is predominantly tropical marine where wet season occurs from November to April and is caused by the northeast monsoon. Similarly, the second set of rainy season, is caused by the southwest monsoon during May to October (World Fact Book). Additionally, the Philippine economy has been relatively resilient to global economic struggles because the country is less exposed to troubled international securities. The lower dependence on exports is what makes the country relatively resilient, relying only domestic products, as well as large remittances from millions of migrant and overseas Filipino workers (World Fact Book). The existing account balance has

Introduction Although many still think of the Philippines as an agricultural economy, strictly speaking, it is not. Agriculture, fishery and forestry directly account for just one-fifth (20 percent) of the economy’s aggregate domestic output (GDP). Ever since the 1960s, the direct share of agriculture in the GDP had fallen below one-third, and by 1981, the sector’s share had decreased to only 23 percent. Growth from this level was rather anemic, averaging 1.7 percent per annum during the period 1981-2003, compared to the average overall GDP growth of 2.6% over the same period. While agriculture output was largely

      Due to the effects of urbanization and industry, the amount of land available for agriculture is rapidly reducing. Of the total land area of 792,607 hectares for Negros Occidental (the Philippines) the Alienable and Disposable (A & D) areas covers 68.17 percent 0r 540,350.13 hectares. Classified Forest Land occupies 31.83 percent ( 252,256.53 hectares). Cropland makes up most of which is considered Alienable and Disposable. This includes the residential, commercial and institutional areas as well as agricultural lands. Fish ponds are also found in this area occupying an area of 9,333.14 hectares. Zoning and land use plans have been put into place to regulate the development of communities ensuring that the distribution of land is properly allocated so that it is not in incompatible use. Despite these measures, many farmers are very poor. The average size of an individual farm in the Philippines is 1.5. hectares. Small farms can only produce enough for subsistence purposes.