The Discourse that Silences: Beneficiaries' Ambivalence Towards Redistributive Land Reform in the Philippines

Abstract

This article argues that the persistence of non‐capitalist dimensions within land relations in the Philippines is basic to rural livelihood strategies, and has been a major but widely‐neglected factor in the failure of land reform programmes. Addressing the issue of non‐capitalist relationships brings into focus the indigenous or ‘customary’ land tenure relationships that exist in lowland land tenure arrangements, with the result that the conventional dichotomy between lowland and upland ‘cultural minority’ land relations becomes spurious. The article offers some suggestions as to why, for the major part of this century, the indigenous norms of lowlanders have been overlooked, with a discussion which links up to issues of national identity and nation building.