Food, not bullets!

Food, not bullets!

Statement of Philippine Task Force for Indigenous Peoples’ Rights on the Kidapawan Massacre

On March 30, 2016, around 5000 farmers occupied the streets of Kidapawan City in Cotabato to demand emergency food aid and seeds of drought-resistant crops from the government. Without an immediate response from the local government of Kidapawan, the province of Cotabato and the office of the National Food Authority, the same farmers continued their protest action until April 1, when the police opened fire and violently dispersed the protesters. Three farmers died and more than 100 were wounded as of the latest count. The Philippine Task Force for Indigenous Peoples’ Rights, express our sympathy and solidarity for the victims. We condemn the needless and unwarranted violence employed to stop the legitimate protest of farmers and indigenous peoples in Kidapawan.

The protest of the farmers in the streets of Kidapawan was brought about by the hunger their families felt due to the long dry spell associated with the El Nino phenomenon. The occurrence of this phenomenon has gone from bad to its worst as temperatures have peaked due to global warming brought about by climate change. The dire situation even pushed the local government to declare a state of calamity in the area, supposedly to allow the release of calamity funds to help the stricken farmers.

However, the calamity funds never reached the farmers. 15,000 sacks of rice requested as relief to feed the starving peasant families were withheld by the government; instead they promised a meager 3 kilos of rice per person for 3 months. In the first place, there should have been no protest action of this kind if the government had possessed the foresight to prepare for the El Nino phenomenon that is disastrous at a time of ongoing climate crisis. Food and seeds for drought resistant crops should have already been made available earlier in anticipation of the long dry spell and high temperature. The situation would not have escalated into a bloody tragedy if the government had admitted their lapses and heeded the call of the farmers. Just like typhoons, floods and earthquakes, El Nino brings disaster, requiring quick relief to be delivered to the most affected, in this case, the farmers.

This incident draws attention to a crisis that has been ignored and underestimated for a long time. There is a food crisis in Mindanao and the Philippines and the farmers and indigenous peoples are in the middle of it. The current and next set of leaders of this country must face this real and urgent challenge. There must be a policy shift in order to ensure food security instead of promoting destructive extractive industries, monocrop and industrial plantations and genetically modified crops. These unwanted projects must cease completely in favor of sustainable alternatives that strictly comply with stringent environmental and human rights standards.

Firing bullets to kill and maim hungry farmer victims of the El Nino phenomenon is a heinous atrocity. The farmers should be commended for their daring protest action instead of vilifying them and sentencing them to unjust punishment and suffering. The government should recognize that the participation of farmers and indigenous peoples in the development of agriculture and the national economy is essential. We should cherish our farmers and indigenous peoples, and harness their valuable labor and knowledge towards achieving self-determined development and food sovereignty.