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Philippines
Friday, March 29, 2024

Kidapawan slays recalled

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THE Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas on Tuesday urged President-elect Rodrigo Duterte to give justice to the victims of the Kidapawan carnage, two months after the violent dispersal of protesting farmers in North Cotabato.

On April 1, police and military forces opened fire at thousands of drought-stricken farmers demanding food and production aid.

The severe El Niño that has struck the country has wrought more than P13-billion damage to agriculture and left milllions of farming families hungry. 

“Up until today, not a single perpetrator of the Kidapawan Massacre was brought to justice. We urge President-elect Duterte to pursue justice for farmers oppressed by the haciendero Aquino administration,” said KMP secretary-general Antonio Flores.

“Landlessness and rural poverty worsened in the past six years under the Aquino administration. Nine out of 10 farmers have no land to till. Vast lands are still under the control of haciendas and landlords. It is up to Duterte to live up to the challenge of reversing this situation,” Flores said.

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“Duterte’s policy on land reform will also be crucial in giving justice to farmers,” said Flores.

Flores said that “a genuine land reform program that entails free distribution of land to farmers and dismantling of land monopolies will be significant in achieving the change that Duterte promised.”

Duterte had said the government has been “impervious to the suffering of the people.”

Duterte said the blood of the victims was on President Benigno Aquino III’s hands and that he cannot escape blame and responsibility for the “barbaric” incident—alluding to other infamous events like the Mamasapano encounter, Hacienda Luisita clash and the so-called Mendiola massacre.

“It all the more becomes more tragic and despicable that the same bloodline that benefited from the TESDA 1986 revolt have soiled their hands with the blood and tears of the Filipino people that allowed them into power,” Duterte said as he called the Aquino-Cojuangco clan a symbol of the landlord class or ruling elite.

Duterte, however, called for sobriety saying both sides must remain calm so as not to fuel more animosity between the government and the farmers.

But he added that those involved in the shooting must be immediately disarmed, investigated and “dealt with the full might and extent of the law.”

He also called on the Commission on Human Rights to come to the aid of the victims.

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