POLICE in full battle gear faced off once again with some 300 farmers in Kidapawan City on Sunday, just two days after they shot and killed two protesters in the same city while breaking up a protest to demand government food aid in dealing with a months-long drought.
Security forces blocked the farmers, who arrived aboard a rented truck from nearby Makilala town in North Cotabato, citing an order from authorities not to let anyone enter or exit the Methodist Center compound in Kidapawan.
The farmers had hoped to get their share of the 260 sacks of rice donated by actor Robin Padilla and residents of Davao City that were delivered to the Methodist Center, where protesters involved in Friday’s bloody dispersal sought refuge.
“Before lunch, more than 300 farmers wanted to get their share of the rice but the police are barring our entry to the Methodist Church,” said Antonio Flores, secretary-general of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng mga Pilipinas.
“When we insisted on entering the church compound, we had a heated confrontation with them because they claimed that their immediate supervisors disallowed anyone from entering the church compound,” Flores said.
North Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Mendoza, in a press briefing with Interior Secretary Mel Senen Sarmiento and Philippine National Police chief Ricardo Marquez, fumed about the “communist infiltration” of the protesters’ ranks.
She vowed to give rice only to legitimate residents of North Cotabato and would arrest all the others who were responsible for the protests.
“Don’t make North Cotabato a staging ground,” Mendoza said, referring to politicians who vowed to help the nearly 4,500 hungry farmers who blocked portions of the Cotabato-Davao Highway in Kidapawan City to demand food aid.
Kidapawan Mayor Joseph Evangelista said the farmers could have proceeded to their respective barangays instead of rushing to Kidapawan, where groups led by action star Robin Padilla and some supporters of presidential bet Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte donated sacks of rice to alleviate the hunger experienced by residents.
Flores slammed the local government’s claims, saying that the farmers would not have gone to Kidapawan City if there was rice in their respective barangays.
Flores demanded that the farmers be allowed to get their share of donated rice, and that those hiding inside the church be allowed to go back to their homes.
One of the 4,000 farmers who were forced by the provincial government to stay inside—Militon Awod, a Manobo farmer from the town of Arakan, said that he just wanted to go home and leave the Methodist Church, with or without rice.
Local government officials said they were not the ones forcing the farmers to remain inside the church, but the protest organizers who prevented them from leaving.
The tense standoff between farmers and police continued into Sunday evening as militant lawmakers led by Kabataan party-list Rep. Terry Ridon negotiated with local officials.