DAVAO CITY – Leaders of various church groups expressed condemnation of the violent dispersal of a farmers’ rally in Kidapawan City, North Cotabato province last Friday, April 1.
In a statement on Sunday, April 3 the Ecumenical Bishops Forum called the dispersal and the continuing harassment of the protesters as “deplorable”.
An estimate of 5,000 farmers affected by the drought assembled along the Quezon Avenue in Kidapawan City to demand for 15,000 sacks of rice, farm subsidies, increase in crop prices and the pull out of military forces in their communities.
On Friday, April 1 the barricade was violently dispersed with at least three dead, 116 wounded on both sides of the police and the protesters, 89 missing and two tortured on the side of the farmers.
The EBF said: “these demands are legitimate and are well within the power of the government to grant.”
“The farmers deserve support from their officials; they have nobody else to turn to,” it said.
The EBF statement was signed by its executive director, Bishop Elmer Bolocon of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP), co-chairperson Most. Rev. Deogracias Iñiguez, Jr.,D.D. and co-chairperson, Bishop Felixberto Calang of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente.
“Ironically, instead of listening to their pleas, they were violently dispersed by the Philippine National Police,” it said.
The Bishop, Clergy and Council of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente Diocese of Surigao also condemned the incident.
“This is too much an abuse and oppression against our farmers who toil for our foods! In other societies, farmers are protected and subsidized by their own government. In the Philippines, it is the government that oppressed and killed them,” the IFI said.
The statement was signed by IFI Secretary of Clergy Reverend Ariol Liquido, Council Secretary Rev. Joaquin Estoconing and Surigao Bishop, Rhee Timbang.
In a news release posted on the website of the Catholic Bishops Conference on Saturday, April 2, Archbishop Socrates Villegas, president of the CBCP, said “a death is always tragic, even more when violent death visits God’s poor.”
“We pray for our farmers in Kidapawan. May those who died find peace and happiness in heaven,” Villegas said.
Villegas also appealed to the protesters and the victims’ families to avoid vengeance.
“May their families not give in to the cycle of vengeance, but instead seek ways to restore peace,” he said. He also called on the police and military to “return to their mandate to preserve peace, protect the weak and serve justice.”
The EBF said they demand accountability on the part of the authorities who ordered the police to open fire. The church leaders are also calling for an independent investigation and punishment of those who will be found accountable for the incident. (davaotoday.com)
