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History | Pivotal Junctions in the History of the FFF | Membership Development | Political & Legislative Involvement

Pivotal Junctions in the History of the FFF

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	Leaps and Milestones	Ordeals and Sacrifices	Ideological Stance	National Milieu
1967	The Federation starts conducting the 35-day Leadership Formation Course (LFC) for organizers. At the same time, it intensifies its orientation work among religious, youth and other sectoral allies. FFF joins the International Catholic Rural Association, based in Rome, Italy and the International Federation of Plantation, Agricultural and Allied Workers (IFPAAW) based in Geneva, Switzerland. FFF starts organizing in Davao Oriental, then in other areas of Mindanao. Hundreds of pre-membership seminars, called mini-LFCs, are held, resulting in a strong mass base in the South.		Late 60s. The FFF has developed a fairly comprehensive ideological platform, which is incorporated into its Leadership Formation Course, its mini-LFC, pre-membership seminars and other educational activities.	Late 60s. Following Vatican II reforms, the Church in the Philippines shows greater interest and involvement in social action. There is an increase in mass demonstrations and other forms of unrest especially among youth and peasants, culminating in the declaration of martial law.
1968	FFF’s two-month picket before the Bureau of Lands in Agrifina Circle resolves many long pending land cases, resulting in the distribution of thousands of hectares of public and private lands to members. Responding to FFF demands, President Ferdinand E. Marcos creates the Presidential Coordinating Committee on Social Justice and Agrarian Reforms (PCCSJAR), which institutionalizes an inter-agency approach to action on critical land disputes. The PCCSJAR is the forerunner of the Presidential Action Committee on Land Problems (PACLAP) and the Commission on the Settlement of Land Problems (COSLAP), which are later on also created upon the insistence of the FFF.
	68-72. Numerous demonstrations, pickets and other mass actions are undertaken by FFF and allied groups throughout the Philippines. In the remote Anakan Lumber Company logging area in Gingoog City, Misamis Oriental, several hundred FFF members and their family members stage their version of “people power” by lying in front of the company’s bulldozers to prevent the demolition of their homes and farms. A number of FFF organizers are assassinated, such as Pedring Aquino of Doclong 1st, San Clemente, Tarlac and Lucio Abello of Matalom, Leyte.
1970	Pope Paul VI appoints Jeremias Montemayor together with then Karol Cardinal Wojtila (now Pope John Paul II) as Consultor, and later Member, of the Pontifical Council for the Laity.
1971	FFF establishes the Dilag ng Kalipunan, its women’s arm, and helps organize the Federation of Free Teachers (FFT). FFF leaders Camilo Sabio and Gaudioso Buen of Davao and Timoteo Ruben of Misamis Occidental are elected delegates to the l97l Constitutional Convention. FFF leaders play a key role in setting up a political party, the Kapisanan ng mga Malayang Mamamayan (KAMAYAN), which fields several hundred candidates in the l97l local elections.		The FFF enters the electoral arena. Three FFF leaders became Constitutional Convention delegates. Scores of FFF members join the local elections.
	As a result of the FFF-led 84-day picket before Congress, the Code of Agrarian Reforms of the Philippines (R.A. No. 6389) and its financing statute (R.A. No. 6390) are enacted. R.A. 6389 converts the entire country into a “land reform (leasehold) area,” and creates the Department of Agrarian Reform.
1972	FFF, together with the Philippine Association of Free Labor Unions (PAFLU) and the Philippine Confederation of Trade Unions (PHILCONTU), form the national labor-peasant alliance, Kapulungang Anak-Pawis ng Pilipinas (KAPP). FFF and its allied organizations publish Toward a Filipino Ideology, which presents the detailed philosophy and program of the movement. President Marcos signs into law the Tenant Emancipation Decree (P.D. No. 27) on October 2l, in the presence of FFF leaders in Malacañang. 72-74. Following the proclamation of martial law, many FFF chapters (especially in Mindanao) shift their attention to organizing self-financed and self-managed cooperatives.	The declaration of martial law results in the arrest of many FFF leaders in the provinces. The FFF leadership works overtime to secure their release. There are reports of members burning or burying their FFF membership booklets or T-shirts because of fear of harassment by the military and the Constabulary. The changed political situation exacerbates the earlier tensions within the FFF. Although the FFF National Policy Board (NPB) has taken a stance of “critical collaboration” with President Marcos, a small but influential group of officers want the organization to be more critical of, or adversarial to, Marcos.	The FFF movement’s philosophy and program are formalized in the document, Toward a Filipino Ideology. 72-81. Throughout the martial law era, the FFF remains consistent in its role of upholding peasants’ rights and interests especially in the area of land reform, cooperative development, and political representation. Under the FFF’s policy of “critical collaboration”, it supports policies and programs assisting farmers (e.g., PD 27) but denounces abuses and other irregularities in government (military/Constabulary wrongdoings, imposition of Samahang Nayon program, coconut levy scam, etc.). The FFF enters into linkages with other peasant and labor groups in order to have a stronger voice and protection vis-à-vis government. This period also ushers in a dramatic upsurge in FFF’s economic activities through the organization of cooperatives.	Martial law is declared on September 21.
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