Farmers in Mindanao also demand change

The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) has led a four-day campout in the President’s home turf, Davao City, to demand the promised “change” for farmers.

“We are mounting these mass actions in President Duterte’s home city to show that the condition of farmers have not changed for the better.

Hunger, landlessness and rights abuses still plague the entire Mindanao and the country, and farmers are the most affected,” said Antonio Flores, secretary general of KMP, in a statement.

Flores said those joining the protests were farmers affected by last year’s drought, recent flooding in Mindanao and those who are victims of massive land grabbing and militarization.

“We are raising gut issues that President Duterte has failed to decisively address because of his one-tracked and deranged pursuance of the war against drugs,” Flores added. —JAYMEE T. GAMIL