KIDAPAWAN CITY—Suffering from drought brought about by the El Niño phenomenon, some 6,000 farmers blocked a portion of the Cotabato-Davao highway to dramatize their misery and to prod the government to action.
The protest stranded hundreds of vehicles and commuters on both sides of the 220-kilometer freeway connecting Cotabato and Davao.
The farmers, who positioned themselves in front of the National Food Authority warehouse situated along the highway, came from the remote villages of this city and the towns of Arakan, Antipas, President Roxas, Magpet, and Makilala, all in North Cotabato province.
Pedro Arnado, chair of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP)–North Cotabato chapter, said they were calling for Gov. Emmylou Mendoza to intervene swiftly to address their immediate needs.
The peasant are demanding free rice, food aid, a subsidy for vegetable seeds and drought-resistant root crops; an increase in the prices for local farm produce; and the suspension of military operations in the province.
The province has been suffering from drought since November, with damage to crops estimated at more than P1 billion.
Jessie Enid, executive assistant to the governor, said Mendoza refused to appear before the protesters because they had not made an appointment.
Hundreds of police and security personnel were deployed around the NFA compound to prevent any illegal intrusion.
The KMP said Wednesday it was supporting the protest action.
Antonio Flores, KMP secretary-general, said the farmers vowed that barricades would not be lifted until their demands were met.
“We are supporting the demand of North Cotabato farmers for food aid, financial and production subsidies, increase in the prices of their agricultural products like coconut, rubber, rice, and corn and the immediate pullout of AFP troops and demilitarization of peasant and lumad communities in the province,” Flores said.
“These kinds of daring protests and display of assertion are just and legitimate in the face of drought and hunger that is worsened by the incompetence of the haciendero [landowner] President in Malacañang,” he said.
Flores said the farmers’ barricade is just the start of a series of peasant-led actions in Mindanao to demand significant government response to farmers’ and people’s issues.
“We call on farmers nationwide to replicate these daring protests across the country,” Flores said.
The peasant leader said the Aquino administration’s response is not addressing the serious effects of drought to farmers and the local agriculture.
KMP also lambasted the Department of Agriculture for wasting public funds on an ineffective El Niño response plan.
“The DA’s cloud seeding operations are in fact designed for corruption. The cloud seeding, which costs a minimum of P45,000 per flight, is not concentrated in target areas in most need of rainwater,” Flores said.
In North Cotabato alone, he said, the drought has damaged more than P238 million worth of rice, corn, banana, rubber, coconut, oil palm and vegetable planted by small farmers in over 27,500 hectares in Kidapawan City and the towns of Arakan, Antipas, President Roxas, Magpet, Makilala, Tulunan, M’lang, Matalam and Kabacan.
Flores said data released by the DA showed losses incurred in the agriculture sector as of February, reached more than P5.32 billion, affecting 237,000 hectares of agriculture areas with an estimated production loss of 358,800 metric tons of rice, corn, high value crops, and livestock.