MANILA, Philippines -- A leftist farmers? group on Monday decried the "dehumanizing" sight of hundreds of people lining up daily outside the National Food Authority (NFA) Warehouse on Visayas Avenue, Quezon City, to buy a maximum of five kilos of government-subsidized rice.

Instead, the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP, Peasant Movement of the Philippines) urged the government to scrap its rice importation program and develop self-sufficiency.

Since "the country entered the World Trade Organization [WTO], we have been obliged to import rice through minimum access volume provisions that [have] paved the way to the systematic destruction of the local rice industry" said KMP secretary general Willy Marbella.

He added that the government should just use the funds for buying imported rice to purchase more local rice.

"The Arroyo government is full of lies and [is] actually destroying our food-producing capability by buying the more expensive imported rice and not buying those from local production," Marbella said.

KMP has promised to conduct weekly protests to condemn the long lines in NFA Warehouses.

"The people, buying their first five kilos of rice, turn to hide and try to get rid of the indelible ink put on their thumbs. It's really dehumanizing as if it looked like they're the ones doing something wrong, when all they want is to buy rice," Marbella said.