KKKP’s Statement on Kidapawan Massacre

KKKP’s Statement on Kidapawan Massacre

Statement of Kalipunan ng Kristiyanong Kabataan sa Pilipinas (KKKP)

Kidapawan, Hacienda Luisita, Mendiola….. They asked for food, but got bullets and a bloody dispersal in return.
“What right have you to crush my people, and grinding the face of the poor?”– Isaiah 3:15

As Filipino youth, as peace and justice advocates, and as believers in the sanctity of the image of God in all of us, we condemn in the highest possible terms the shootings and the killings committed by the Philippine National Police (PNP) of farmers in Kidapawan last April 1, 2016.

Our farmers were rightfully asserting and demanding their right to life and food, and the police responded with brute force and violence. Our farmers have long fed our people, our farmers are the very reason why we have food on our tables, Our farmers are our salvation in times of crises, and yet they themselves are impoverished, they themselves are hungry. Is it rightful then for the farmers to demand food, and aid from the government when months of hunger haunt them because of drought? It is rightful then that the state responds with police in full battle gear, sowing fear, and bullets shooting them one by one?

In knowing the details of what happened in that violent dispersal in Kidapawan, we also remember the same violent response of the state police that has been unleashed on protesting farmers in the past.

We remember the poor landless peasants of Hacienda Luisita, and that bloody day of November 16, 2004, where 7 peasants including one youth were killed when they demanded their rightful ownership to the land. We remember the many lives after that incident that where bloodshed were even more intensified by gunning down Hacienda Luisita peasant leaders in their own backyards. We remember what happened in the Mendiola Massacre 28 years ago, where 13 farmers were brutally gunned down by the state.

There is a deep history of state brutality in our country against our famers, where the response to the just demands and deep cries of suffering are bullets and neglect, rather than food and understanding. These are historical low points in our history, and Kidapawan is another in the litany of suffering. However in a situation where successive governments have neglected agricultural and rural development, every day is a Calvary of suffering for our poor farmers and rural laborers.

When our farmers and indigenous people in Kidapawan legitimately protest that calamity relief that has been promised for more than three months sits idle in government bodega, the just response of government would be to talk about how it can be most effectively distributed. The response of a fascist state however prevailed and the hungry are fed bullets and death. We see how the government to cover up their crimes even now in the aftermath of this tragedy distorts the truth and tries to make the victims of this tragedy carry the blame for the crimes of the PNP.

As Christians we are called to remember, we remember the suffering of Jesus on the via dolorosa and we remember the historical suffering of our farmers and the heartlessness of government. Yet as people of faith we believe in the resurrection, when all the lies, bullets and violence of a heartless state will be transformed into a victory of the poor and oppressed.

As Christian youth, we believe in the sanctity of life, we believe in the struggle of our farmers who give and offer their lives so that we may live through the food they grow, yet they have nothing to eat themselves. We hold the Philippine National Police (PNP) and this government accountable for this bloody dispersal.

We seek the support of our fellow young people to join us in protest, indignation and prayer to stand with our farmers in seeking justice. We demand immediate relief for the farmers of Kidapawan and immediate pull out of Police in their area.

Bigas hindi Bala!