One week after police and SWAT opened fire at a farmers’ barricade in Kidapawan, progressive groups led by Bagong Alyansang Makabayan took to the streets of Manila leading to the Malacañang Palace to demand full responsibility for the grievous incident.
One week after the Kidapawan shooting where two died and tens were injured, the Philippine president Benigno Aquino III remained silent on the issue.
Various groups also hit Aquino’s criminal neglect on the issue of calamity and aid, as well as his family’s record of massacres of farmers: Mendiola massacre in 1987, Hacienda Luisita in 2004 and Kidapawan in 2016.
Fact-finding mission confirms carnage
The national fact-finding and humanitarian mission (NFFHM) held Aquino and other heads of government agencies culpable for the conditions leading to the death of two farmers and injuries among hundred others. The NFFHM assisted the farmers to look for their family members or neighbors who “went missing” after the shooting started. The NHFFM was able to account two dead, 10 injured confined in various hospitals in Kidapawan and at least 70 illegally detained. The medical mission part of the NHFMM served 369 patients, from which 42 were surgical cases.
The NFFHM also tagged Department of Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala and Philippine National Police Director (PNP) General Ricardo Marquez responsible for the April 1 violence of Kidapawan.
The woes of the farmers with the drought started months ago but was inefficiently addressed to the point that the farmers have nothing left to eat from the land in their towns.
The NFFHM also demanded accountability from the top leaders of the PNP.
“With the magnitude of the protest, it is impossible that Marquez would be out of the loop, considering that an important figure of the current regime, vice-presidential candidate Mar Roxas, was in Cotabato City in the hours leading to the killings,” Karapatan Secretary General and head of the NFFHM Cristina Palabay surmised.
The NFFHM, conducted from April 4 to 6, was led by Karapatan, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan and Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas and participated by various progressive and religious groups and NGOs.
Finger pointing and hand washing in Senate hearing
In the Senate hearing on April 7 on the incident, no one took full responsibility for the dispersal and the firing of automatic weapons on unarmed protesters.
North Cotabato Provincial Director Senior Supt. Alexander Tagum showed a drone video taken by the PNP. It mainly showed the protesters throwing stones at the police.
Senator Alan Peter Cayetano questioned why the video only showed the protesters actions but did not show how the police opened fire on protesters. Senators in the hearing also asked why police brought “long firearms” to the protest.
Tagum also showed photos of protesters placards to claim that the protest was not about demand for food subsidy or hunger. Senators rebutted this saying the police director failed to show that the biggest banner in the protest demanded for food and rice.
PNP Director General Marquez relieved from Tagum from his post. It was made publicly-known on April 7 but Marquez told reporters in Camp Crame that it took effect on Wednesday, April 6.
Governor Emmylou “Lala” Taliño-Mendoza excused herself from accountability for the violent dispersal, saying that it was up to the police to determine when the dispersal would be carried out. She offered obstruction of traffic in a major highway as reason to clear the highway the farmers’ barricade occupied.
Mendoza also denied blocking donations and thanked people who have given donations to her constituents. It was a statement opposite to one she made the first few days after the shooting.
The question who ordered the dispersal and shooting remained unanswered.
Call for justice far from over
Supporters of the victims of Kidapawan shooting gathered in Quiapo Church for a solidarity mass. They then marched from Quiapo to Mendiola, under sweltering heat, to cry for justice for the farmers.
Farmers’ demands and needs have not been met.
The farmers’ demands included the release of 15,000 sacks of rice as calamity assistance, food to tide them over the drought that PAGASA projected to last until June 2016; subsidy of rice, seedlings, fertilizers, and pesticides until the drought ends; increase of farm gate prices of agricultural products; and, the pullout of military troops in their communities.
Following the Kidapawan shooting, NFFHM also recommended the following:
(1) immediately release the calamity fund to the individual farmer beneficiaries;
(2) investigate Gov. Mendoza, for misappropriation of the Calamity Fund;
(3) investigate and prosecute Pres. Benigno Aquino and Sec. Proceso Alcala for their negligence and failure to put up appropriate measures to mitigate the effects of El Niño;
(4) indict and prosecute police operatives on the ground responsible for killings and other criminal acts committed during and after the dispersal;
(5) and, the release of all detained, pull-out of police units assigned to monitor and restrict the interactions of the injured farmers recovering in hospitals and a written agreement that no retaliatory action shall be undertaken by the PNP, Philippine Army, personnel of Gov. Emmylou Mendoza, and other parties allied to the aforementioned groups, against the farmers who participated in the barricade, and the support groups and individuals who came to their aid.
“We ought to make accountable the local actors in the killings, but their puppet masters as well, and their assistants in the theater of terror last April 1. Only so can we provide justice for the farmers,” Palabay declared.
Award-winning and internationally-renowned actresses Nora Aunor and Monique Wilson joined the protest.
“Matagal ko na pong sinabi noong una po akong nakasama ninyo at nagsalita rin po sa entablado, para dito sa mga namumuno po sa ating bayan na dapat po ay bumaba na sila. Dahil wala naman po silang nagagawang kabutihan para sa mamamayan, lalo na sa mga mahihirap na tao [I have said before when I first joined you and spoke on the stage, to the leaders of the land that they should resign. Because they do no good for the people, especially the poor people],” said acclaimed actress Nora Aunor.
Protests in other parts of the country and the world would be held today in solidarity to the farmers of North Cotabato and the victims of the Kidapawan shooting.
