Farmers storm antipoverty office

Militant groups climb over the fences of the Dept. of Agriculture in Quezon City as they forced their way through the office to call for the return of the coco levy funds since the Marcos regime. INQUIRER/ MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

Hundreds of protesting farmers stormed the offices of the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) in Quezon City Thursday, clashing with riot policemen who tried to stop them with fire extinguishers.

Led by the leftist Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), the farmers from the Bicol region and Quezon, Aurora and Cagayan provinces forced their way into the NAPC headquarters to demand that the agency be stopped from touching the controversial “coco levy” funds for its poverty alleviation projects.

At least one police officer, identified as Colonel Pedro Sanchez, was hurt during the clash. But KMP campaign officer Jim Fernando said the farmers retaliated only when the policeman acted violently.

“The farmers were only defending themselves. He was too aggressive with his truncheon,” Fernando said.

KMP leaders said Quezon City policemen sprayed them with fire extinguishers to stop them from entering the compound, carrying placards and streamers. But they were able to barge in and occupy the lobby, where they voiced their grievances.

In a statement, KMP said the farmers were demanding the dismantling of what they described as the “coco levy fund mafia,” referring to the Malacañang-created Presidential Task Force on the Coco Levy Funds.

The task force, according to the KMP, was pushing for a five-year “Poverty Reduction Roadmap of the Coconut Industry,” a program that would cost the government some P11.17 billion, most of it to be taken from the coco levy funds.