The Federation of Free Farmers and Its Significance in the History of the Philippine Peasant Movement

Abstract

On June 9, 2002, Jeremias U. Montemayor, the founder and supreme leader of the Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) for half a century, passed away. The FFF was formed in 1953 when the communist-led peasant movement was defeated; it became the most dominant peasant organization in the 1960s; and it had remained one of the most influential until hisdeath.This article focuses on the FFF which can be considered to have been the most significant moderate organization of the Philippine peasant movement that emerged after the 1950s. It analyses the FFF's characteristics in terms of the specialized patron-client model instead of the class model which has usually been employed in studying peasant organizations. Based on the analysis, the paper also discusses the historical significance of the FFF and tries to present a new perspective of the history of the Philippine peasant movement from the 1950s to the 1990s.