On Mar 30, almost 5,000 farmers, all members of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), staged a protest in Kidapawan City, North Cotabato.
Many of the farmers were said to have brought along their children, as they could not leave them unattended in their homes situated in the hinterlands.
Tense situation
It may be recalled that North Cotabato was placed under a state of calamity in January due to the dry spell brought about by El Niño. As such, the farmers were asking North Cotabato Governor Emmylou “Lala” Taliño Mendoza for, among other things, rice and other financial subsidy which were allegedly promised to victims of El Niño.
The rally ended up being dispersed violently, with three dead and 116 hurt. Initial reports had said that one farmer had died on the spot.
READ: 1 North Cotabato farmer dead, several injured in violent dispersal of protest
Various reports said that the police were specifically ordered to protect the National Food Authority (NFA) compount, where sacks of rice were held.
Miscommunication?
In a Philippine Daily Inquirer report, Kidapawan City Mayor Joseph Evangelista said the leaders of the protesters did not show up when it was time for them to face Mendoza, who rushed home from Manila on Mar 30. But Norma Capuyan, one of the protest leaders, said they would have wanted to meet Mendoza at the protest line and not in Evangelista’s office. Capuyan was quoted as saying, “We will disperse only if she (Mendoza) faces us here (in the protest area).”
Mendoza had supposedly demanded that protest leaders submit to her office the names and addresses of farmers hit by El Niño. The farmers said they wouold only comply with Mendoza’s requirement if she met with them in their chosen location.
Meanwhile, a GMA News Online report cited Superintendent Bernard Tayong, spokesperson for the Cotabato Police Provincial Office (CPPO), who claimed that rice was being reserved by the provincial government. “The provincial government is reserving available resources for the future as El Niño will continue until June this year,” he said.
Duterte camp blocked, but Robin Padilla donates rice
Making the issue more complicated, a Sun.Star Davao report pointed out that Governor Mendoza was “fuming” when she faced the media in a press conference on Sat morning, Apr 2. A video clip of the press conference shows Mendoza addressing other politicians who have attempted to donate rice to the farmers. She said: “Huwag niyong gawing staging ground for propaganda ang North Cotabato (Don’t turn North Cotabato into a staging ground for your propaganda).” (See video below.)
Various reports confirmed that one of the politicians that Mendoza was slamming was Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, whose camp gathered around 30 sacks of rice for the Kidapawan farmers. The rice had come from donors who had responded to the Duterte camp’s call for rice donations.
In a phone interview with Sun.Star Davao, Duterte Presidential Campaign Team head Peter Laviña had this to say about Mendoza’s statement: “That is the statement of a guilty politician who isn’t able to perform her duties.” It must be noted that Mendoza is a member of the Liberal Party (LP), whose bet in the presidential elections is Mar Roxas.
But Laviña clarified that “Duterte advised that they would not interfere with the ongoing trouble in Cotabato.”
Actor Robin Padilla, a known Duterte supporter, was reported to have donated 200 sacks fo rice to the farmers.
The investigation on the violent incident in Kidapawan City is ongoing.
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