We, consecrated men and women members of the Religious Discernment Group, strongly condemn the wicked, violent and unjust dispersal of the farmers and lumads in Kidapawan last March 30. Reeling from the effects of drought brought about by El Nino, these hungry farmers occupied the Kidapawan highway to demand from the government the immediate release of rice to tide them over until the drought breaks. Governor Mendoza called this blockade “criminal” justifying the illegal use of live ammunition by the police to break up a peaceful demonstration. Surely what is criminal is the government’s insensitivity to the impact of the drought on the farmers’ lives. In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus asks “Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread will give a stone?” (7:9). Not only did the Governor and the PNP give a stone but they also answered with water cannons and bullets. What is criminal is that rather than focusing on concrete and sustainable plans to improve production on farmers’ land and land security, the government is instead pushing for large scale industrial agribusiness (e.g. oil palm plantations) and mining, displacing the farmers and lumads and adding to climate change which increases the effects of the droughts.
We condole with the families and friends of the 3 farmers killed by the police and demand the perpetrators be punished. We demand the immediate release of the 79 detained protesters. We demand justice for the more than 116 persons reported injured in this cruel dispersal. We also condemn the harassment of the farmers taking refuge in the Methodist church compound and demand that this siege end so that the farmers may leave in safety.
We hold Governor Mendoza responsible for this terrible tragedy and call on her to release immediately the rice subsidy to the farmers. She has the authority, the Province having been declared in a state of calamity. We ask for an independent investigation into the incident and an end to impunity which allows such human rights violations to continue unabated. We call on President Aquino to condemn this atrocity – reminiscent of the Mendiola and Hacienda Luisita massacre under his mother’s term. In the long term we call on the government to take seriously the gospel imperative to give bread to the hungry by implementing Genuine Agrarian Reform.
