AMIDST THE STORM
Eleuteria Chacon usually begins her day before the break of dawn, as she tends to the cavendish bananas in her one-hectare farm within the more than 200-hectare land awarded to Checkered Farms Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Multi-Purpose Cooperative (CFARBEMPCO)in Barangay Tibungol, Panabo, Davao del Norte. As the sun beckons and barely puts a lit on her face, she prepares to go to work and at eight in the morning, the halls of the office building will be dawned by her presence where she reigns as the current Chairperson of CFARBEMCO.
As she turns 64 years old this year, she has never deviated from her daily routine since she became one of the agrarian reform beneficiaries of Checkered Farms Incorporated (CFI), save for the few times that she needed to attend to other matters that are akin to her tasks as a leader of their cooperative.
Eleuteria or Mother Lily as she is fondly called and who hails from Negros Oriental, had a first brush with the rudiments of banana farm operations as one of the pioneer laborers of CFI at the tender age of sixteen years old, and barely a few months after failing to finish high school. At the age of nineteen and heavy with her first child, Mother Lily did not allow her pregnancy to make her falter and instead, continued to render field work. When the scorching sun tries to derail her momentum, she covers her big tummy with a wet towel to protect it from the heat.
Her assiduous work demeanor was left unnoticed by the management of Checkered Farms Incorporated, and she was assigned to do supervisory work in one of its packing plants. Soon enough, she found herself being exposed to land reform issues, and in no time, was actively participating in union activities, and called for the implementation of land reform in the banana farms. It came as no surprise that she was soon tagged as a fearless union leader in the banana community of Panabo.
Before long, news spread among the banana workers that the farms would be placed under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, and that finally in November 1995, the land of Checkered Farms, Inc. was awarded to one hundred seventy-three members of CFARBEMPCO, with Chacon as its first Vice-Chairperson and shortly thereafter, as Chairperson.
Like any other businesses, they experienced growing pains as a new cooperative. “It was a constant struggle. We were very ignorant of farming business, especially on the financial aspect and in protecting our stake in our business contract with the banana investor”, Mother Lily recalls.
Chacon added that for the first two years of their cooperative existence, they were blinded by the impression that their financial situation was steadily growing but that on the contrary, they were losing by as much as 13 Million Pesos from the advance loans offered by the investor.
“We were tied to an onerous contract, and if we did not strengthen our resolve to demand for what should be equitable, our financial woes would have continued to grow”, Chacon quips.
With her past experience as a union leader and backed with the unanimous support from the members, CFARBEMPCO together with four other banana ARB cooperatives, declared a “work stoppage” in December 1997 and refused to deliver their produce to the investor. The farmer beneficiaries collectively staged rallies along the major roads of the plantations, with each member alternately joining the picket lines while not disrupting farm operations. The investor finally reached out and a compromise agreement was reached after just eight months. Chacon recalls, “The decision not to disrupt farm operations proved to be a good strategy as when we finally resolved the conflict with our investor, we were able to deliver what was expected from us.”
Indeed, Mother Lily and her fellow members were able to weather the storm and subsequently enjoyed more economical gains. In just a period of eighteen years, the land amortizations due to the Land Bank of the Philippines was fully settled.
More recently, CFARBEMPCO was one of the ARB organizations who were subjected to an assessment in terms of level of development through a system called Information Technology-Enabled Maturity Assessment of ITEMA and emerged among the top 100 ranks nationwide and claimed the top spot for Davao Region. “The DAR has always been there for us, through our struggles and hardships, and as we continue to strive for progress not only for ourselves and our families, but also for the entire community, we are confident that DAR will not leave us behind”, Chacon beams with pride.
At present, she once again sits as Chairperson of CFARBEMPCO, her second time since its inception in 1995. Committed to sustain the gains of the cooperative, she leaves no room to procastinate at work even with the death of her husband in 2005 that left her being a single parent to four growing children. “I never allow myself to surrender to life’s struggles and I am willing to accept any challenges that may come, to persevere and be more motivated”, Mother Lily says. RSM
