Jaime "Ka Jimmy" Tadeo (born March 28, 1938) is a

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

peasant A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasants ...

and

organic farming Organic farming, also known as ecological farming or biological farming,Labelling, article 30 o''Regulation (EU) 2018/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 on organic production and labelling of organic products and re ...

activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

."Jaime Tadeo." EDSA Stories. Focus on the Global South-Philippines. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0CFAiP1zV8

Biography

Tadeo was born in

Bocaue Bocaue, officially the Municipality of Bocaue ( tgl, Bayan ng Bocaue), is a 1st class municipality in the province of Bulacan, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 141,412 people. With the continuous expansion of Met ...

Bulacan Bulacan, officially the Province of Bulacan ( tl, Lalawigan ng Bulacan), is a province in the Philippines located in the Central Luzon region. Its capital is the city of Malolos. Bulacan was established on August 15, 1578, and part of the Metr ...

. He obtained a bachelor's degree in Agriculture from the

Araneta University De La Salle Araneta University, also referred to by its acronym (Araneta U or DLSAU), is a private Catholic Lasallian co-educational basic and higher education institution supervised by the Philippine District of the De La Salle Christian Brother ...

in 1960 and worked for different government agencies from 1962 to 1981. Tadeo was formerly one of the leaders of the

militant The English word ''militant'' is both an adjective and a noun, and it is generally used to mean vigorously active, combative and/or aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in "militant reformers". It comes from the 15th century Latin " ...

''Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas'' (the KMP, or Peasant Movement of the Philippines), formed amid the

1986 People Power Revolution The People Power Revolution, also known as the EDSA Revolution or the February Revolution, was a series of popular Demonstration (people), demonstrations in the Philippines, mostly in Metro Manila, from February 22 to 25, 1986. There was a ...

in order to push for

agrarian reform Agrarian reform can refer either, narrowly, to government-initiated or government-backed redistribution of agricultural land (see land reform) or, broadly, to an overall redirection of the agrarian system of the country, which often includes land re ...

, until the peasant movement split into multiple groups in the 1990s. Shortly after the fall of the

Marcos dictatorship At 7:17 pm on September 23, 1972, President Ferdinand Marcos announced on television that he had placed the entirety of the Philippines under martial law. This marked the beginning of a 14-year period of one-man rule that would effectively last ...

, Tadeo was appointed to be part of the 1986 Constitutional Commission where he was the sole peasant representative. In January 1987, Tadeo figured prominently in the demonstrations which led to the Mendiola massacre, a violent dispersal of peasants, workers, and students by state security forces which left 13 dead. According to Tadeo, most of the 13 were part of a "composite team" purposely put to protect him from gunfire. In 1990, Tadeo was arrested and taken to the maximum security

National Penitentiary The New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa, Metro Manila is the main insular prison designed to house the prison population of the Philippines. It is maintained by the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) under the Department of Justice. As of Octob ...

Muntinlupa Muntinlupa, officially the City of Muntinlupa ( fil, Lungsod ng Muntinlupa), is a 1st class Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Metro Manila, National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the ...

, which supporters claim was due to his outspoken criticism of

Corazon Aquino Maria Corazon "Cory" Sumulong Cojuangco-Aquino (; ; January 25, 1933 – August 1, 2009) was a Filipina politician who served as the 11th president of the Philippines from 1986 to 1992. She was the most prominent figure of the 1986 People P ...

's executive order on agrarian reform. Asked about his views on the president, he remarked that she " asrunning the country like her own ''hacienda,''" and retorted "I asked Cory Aquino for land for the peasants and she gave me 'Muntinlupa' (in Tagalog, 'smallest piece of land')." At present, Tadeo leads a small group of Bulakenyo and

Central Luzon Central Luzon ( pam, (Reyun ning) Kalibudtarang Luzon, pag, (Rehiyon na) Pegley na Luzon, tgl, (Rehiyon ng) Gitnang Luzon, ilo, (Rehion/Deppaar ti) Tengnga ti Luzon), designated as Region III, is an administrative region in the Philippines, ...

farmers through the organization Paragos-Pilipinas. Scholar

James Putzel James Putzel is a Professor of Development Studies and Director of the Crisis States Research Centre at the LSE. He was educated at McGill and Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 202 ...

took the title of his book, ''A Captive Land: The Politics of Agrarian Reform in the Philippines'' (1992) on the history of

land reform in the Philippines Land reform in the Philippines has long been a contentious issue rooted in the Philippines's History of the Philippines (1521–1898), Spanish Colonial Period. Some efforts began during the American Colonial Period with renewed efforts during the ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

' role in it, from Tadeo's remark that the Philippines is a "foreign dominated economy," captive to American interests.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tadeo, Jaime 1938 births Living people 20th-century Filipino people 21st-century Filipino people Filipino activists Farmers' rights activists Members of the Philippine Constitutional Commission of 1986 People from Bulacan