We raise our hopes and welcome the positive developments of the Duterte administration, but it is important not to lose sight and focus on substantive points, let us not allow the derailments of international and local reactionaries.
Last week our network, Magsasaka at Siyentipiko para sa Pag-Unlad ng Agrikultura, in partnership with the Ateneo de Davao University’s School of Business and Governance organized the National Climate Conference of Farmers, Scientists and NGO’s.
What happened in Kidapawan was utterly ugly. The turn of events further exposes the current administration’s neglect on our people’s right to food, what is uglier is that those who feed this nation cannot eat.
The government already knew about El Niño as early as last year, which they predicted to be the longest in the past 65 years. In fact, the government declared some provinces of Mindanao under the state of calamity.
Our farmlands continue to bleed. In Southern Mindanao region, three cases of extra-judicial killings happened in less than a week.