Philippine E-Journals

At the Crossroads of Industrialization: A Peasant Village Reacts to Project Calabarzon

Julius O. Dasmariñas

Discipline: Social Science, Development, Social Studies

 

Abstract:

The article examines the manifestations of peasant response to a government development project based on the experience of some70 farmers in General Trias, Cavite. Two distinct types of peasant resistance are bared: the first employs the formation of village level organizations that exert legal claims to the state, while the second applies tactics of subterfuge that are highly individualized and spontaneous. Nonresistance, meanwhile, is revealed through farmers' collaboration with government and their indifference toward land conversion. The intervention of nongovernment and people's organizations (POs) is argued to bear impact on the quality of rural struggles. Some theoretical implications are discussed.