| Design: The anniversary
logo is an amalgam of elements embodying the spirit of the FFF peasant
movement. The two circles symbolize the Federation's rich yesteryears and
its promising future, both of which are linked together by a pathway as
a reminder that the collective wisdom the FFF shall employ in its renewed
journey finds strength in its historic struggles in the past. The palay
stands for the movement's progress, collective strength and prosperity
-- heralded by its broad membership base and the fertile structures it
has instituted for the betterment of the peasant sector. The handshake
symbolizes the spirit of cohesive brotherhood or kapatiran that pervades
the ranks of the farmer-members of FFF. The carabao, meanwhile, is the
animal reminiscent of fields and paddies, the farmer's workhorse-sturdy,
robust, and unfaltering like its master. Similarly, the plow is the farmer's
primary tool, exemplifying his drudgery and sweat in toiling for the nation.
The three mountains, representing Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, stands for
the expansive foothold of the federation throughout the Philippines. The
laurel is the emblem of knowledge, fashioned in a cradling position to
symbolize its nurturing role in the movement. Finally, the Crown and Cross,
which denote the FFF's foundation day on the Feast of Christ the King,
also evoke how deeply entrenched the movement's philosophy is in the social
canons of the Church.
The Federation of Free Farmers
(FFF) is an organization "of farmers, by farmers, and for farmers." It
was founded on the Feast Day of Christ the King, October 25, 1953, by a
group of lay Catholic leaders led by the late Dean Jeremias U. Montemayor.
From the ashes of the Huk
insurgency during the 1950s, the turbulent 1960s, the cataclysm of the
martial Law years, the extraordinary events of EDSA, and up to the present
day, the FFF has tirelessly fought for the rights of the small Filipino
farmer.
The FFF has been instrumental
in the continued enactment of laws and regulations that have progressively
lightened the bloody burden on the peasant's back. That agrarian reform
today, at least in principle, has been seconded in the consciousness and
conviction of the Filipino people is due in no small part to the efforts
of the FFF and other peasant groups. For this, they paid with their blood,
sweat, and tears
Today, the FFF has a mass
base of 200,000. It also has a cooperative arm, the Federation of Free
Farmers, Cooperative, Inc. (FFFCI), that has 40 active primary affiliates,
mostly on the provincial level, and under which operate approximately 400
barangay-based cooperative chapters. |
