TANGUB CITY, Misamis Occidental—Opposition United Nationalist Alliance presidential candidate Vice President Jejomar Binay on Wednesday held President Benigno Aquino III and the ruling Liberal Party liable for the death of two farmers in Kidapawan due to their “neglect and lack of compassion.”
Binay said the 6,000 farmers from Kidapawan in North Cotabato were compelled to protest and set up a barricade due to poverty and hunger.
“They saw it coming. But they did not prepare for the impact of climate change,” Binay said, adding that the Kidapawan incident was a testimony to the country’s real situation that “poverty is still a problem.”
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan secretary-general Renato Reyes Jr. said in Manila many of the farmers were deceived by the Philippine National Police into agreeing to lift the barricade on the false promise that they would be accorded a free ride home and food.
“They were promised a ride back to their communities and were even given food. It was only later that they were brought to a gym and a school where they were declared under arrest,” Reyes said.
The mass arrest, he said, included three pregnant women and six senior citizens and even minors. The minors have since been released.
Seven of the arrested were hospitalized for various injuries including gun shot wounds, Reyes said.
Volunteer nurses who were only trying to provide help for the farmers were also arrested, he said. They have since posted bail, according to human rights groups.
Bayan and the peasant group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas and Gabriela demanded the unconditional release of 71 illegally detained farmers.
Bayan and the KMP held a protest outside the Department of Justice Wednesday as they called for the immediate and unconditional release of all 71 detained Kidapawan farmers.
The farmers have been detained for 13 days now following the violent dispersal of protesters last April 1, which resulted in two (not three, as earlier reported) people dead.
“Each day that they spend in jail is an injustice. They were arrested without any warrant. They were not in the act of committing any crime. They were deceived by the PNP. They are being charged with direct assault and thus blamed for the violence that the police inflicted on protesting farmers. The Aquino government is utterly heartless and has shown no concern for the farmers,” Reyes said.
Last Monday, government prosecutors opposed a move to lower the bail of the detained farmers to just P2,000 each. They said that the amount was too low and that the farmers could easily jump bail.
“That shows how indifferent this regime is towards the poor farmers. They came to Kidapawan to ask for rice. Now they are being made to pay for their bail. They don’t even have money for food,” Reyes said.
Bayan said all charges against the farmers have no basis and that their rights were wantonly violated by the arresting officers.
Lawyers from Manila flew to Kidapawan Wednesday to provide legal assistance to the detained farmers and discuss the possibility of filing counter-charges against the officials involved in human rights violations, Reyes said.
“We call on the people to continue to stand with the farmers of North Cotabato. Let us press for the immediate and unconditional release of all detained farmers and the dropping of the trumped-up charges against them,” Reyes said.
Reyes identified the three pregnant women as Arlene Candiban, 25, six months pregnant; Eliza Candiban, 22, five months pregnant andRolinda Paonil, 34, two months pregnant.
The elderly were Dionisio Alagos, 60; Gerardo Pequero, 66; Crisanto Carlum, 72; Jovita Debalid, 68; Lolita Porras, 65; and Valentina Berden, 78.
The seven that were hospitalized included Alfie Awi, 33, with gunshot wound at the left leg, currently at the Madonna General Hospital; Victor Lumundang Jr., 18, with gunshot wounds at the neck and shoulders, previously confined at the Midway Hospital; Darwin Magyao, 18, with gunshot wounds on the right and left leg, currently confined at the Madonna General Hospital; Arnel Takyawan, 45, with gunshot wound on right foot, previously confined at the Midway Hospital;
Rodolfo Taño, 60, with gunshot wound on his thigh, previously confined at the Midway Hospital, currently detained at the Amas Provincial Jail; Mark Anthony Delgado, 33, gunshot wound on foot, currently confined at the Midway Hospital; and Mike Empit, gunshot wound on the right foot, previously confined at the Cotabato Provincial Hospital.
At the DOJ rally, the KMP also assailed DOJ secretary Emmanuel Caparas for his virtual consent on two state prosecutors, Eugene Seron and Ruby Salucedo, to file trumped up charges against the farmers, who have found themselves slapped with frustrated homicide and direct assault charges.
Human rights lawyers assisting the detainees appealed to the courts to reduce bail for those charged with direct assault from P12,000 to P2,000 each but was opposed by the prosecutors.
The trial court in Kidapawan on Wednesday reduced the bail for the farmers to P6,000 from the original P12,000.
“Prosecutors Seron, Salucedo, and the DOJ itself are very aware that the arrest and detention of the Kidapawan survivors are illegal. Unfortunately, both Seron and Salucedo, with the virtual blessings of the DOJ allowed themselves to become instruments of repression and injustice,” said KMP chairperson Rafael Mariano.
“The arrest of the starving Kidapawan farmers is illegal. We demand their immediate and unconditional release.”
“Worse, despite the starving farmers’ destitution the prosecutors have the gall to oppose the farmers’ plea for a reduction of bail. Likewise, it is absolutely callous for the court to milk cash from starving farmers who can’t even afford to buy a kilo of rice. The P6,000 bail ordered by the court is equivalent to at least three cavans of rice,” Mariano stressed.
“The prosecutors and the judge are without any sense of morality, much less justice. They are a disgrace to the legal profession,” the KMP leader. “This clearly shows that the courts and the justice system as a whole is an instrument of big landlords and bureaucrats in suppressing legitimate dissent.”
“Obviously, the prosecutors including the judge are beholden to the powers that be in North Cotabato. These prosecutors should be sacked,” Mariano said referring to North Cotabato Governor Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza and the local police.
“Mendoza and the police have used and abused the legal system to perpetuate harassment against farmers and deny them of their just and legitimate demand for food in the face of the prolonged drought” Mariano said.
“The impunity promoted by Aquino underscores his accountability on the Kidapawan carnage. The President is allowing farmers to starve and die of hunger. He is guilty of incompetence, criminal negligence, and genocide,” the peasant leader maintained.