Old woman accused of assaulting cops

DETAINEE Valentina Berlin, 78, of Barangay Maria Caridad in Arakan, North Cotabato province, holds up her sworn statement at the Kidapawan City Convention Center, where she and 40 others are being detained for their alleged participation in a rally of drought-stricken farmers on April 1. WILLIAMOR A. MAGBANUA/INQUIRER MINDANAO

KIDAPAWAN CITY—At 78, Valentina Berlin portrays the life of a widowed farmer struggling to survive in her small field rendered nearly barren by a lingering drought in Arakan, North Cotabato province.

Her skin browned by the daily toil of trying to grow corn and other crops, Berlin said the drought had been depleting her source of food and draining her pocket. She could not ask help from her five children, who are also farmers suffering from the dry spell.

So when she and her 12 neighbors in Barangay Maria Caridad were told that they could get rice assistance in Kidapawan City, she was overjoyed. “I did not think twice about coming with them,” she told the Inquirer at the Kidapawan City Convention Center here.

Their hopes vanished following the violent police dispersal of hundreds of drought-stricken farmers who had barricaded the national highway for a week to demand immediate assistance from the government. At least three protesters were killed and dozens suffered injuries during the scuffle on April 1.

3 minors

Worse, Berlin, two other elderly persons and three minors were arrested along with over 70 others on charges of direct assault of policemen.

According to authorities, 38 of those charged had already been “committed” to the North Cotabato District Jail and the Kidapawan City Jail. Among them is Arnel Takyawan, 45, who was wounded in the dispersal.

Forty-one others, like Berlin and Jovita Debalid, 65, of Barangay Temporan in Magpet town, are still detained at the convention center because each of them could not produce the P12,000 bail for temporary freedom. The complaints against them were being processed, they were told.

Berlin, speaking in Hiligaynon and wearing a faded pair of shorts, shirt and long sleeves, said she could not understand why she was being held. “At our age, do you think we still have enough strength to put up a fight against the policemen?” she asked.

Hiding from chaos

She said she and two other companions were on their way to the Methodist compound when the scuffle took place.

“We hid because there was chaos. There were guns being fired and we were scared. We ran inside the Methodist compound. When the trouble subsided, we went out of the compound only to be taken into custody by policemen. They told us they will bring us to a safe area, but then it turned out that we had been arrested,” Berlin said.

They were later informed that they were being charged with direct assault, along with several other protesters, Debalid said.

She said she could not blame anybody for the fate that befell them. All they wanted, she said, was to have something to eat as the drought devastated their farms.

Humanitarian grounds

Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate has called on authorities to immediately release on “humanitarian grounds” the elderly detainees, pregnant women and those with special cases.

“The detention of the pregnant, elderly and minors, and charging them as perpetrators of the violence in Kidapawan are both ludicrous and infuriating,” Zarate said. “Perhaps they were most defenseless and vulnerable against the violence of the police forces, that’s why they can easily throw them to jail.”

He said their detention “only proves the lies being peddled by the government and its apologists to cover up the carnage.”

“When we look at these people who the police claimed instigated and caused that bloodbath, we can see through the lies and black propaganda hurled against the hungry farmers. Are these the violent, armed rebels that the police harped on about? It is, again, ridiculous. No one with an iota of common sense would buy into that blatant lie,” he said.

Lorna Morales, the city social welfare and development officer, said the arrested minors had already been sent home to their families and were scheduled to undergo psychosocial intervention and counseling.

Paralegal aid

The militant human rights group Karapatan has extended paralegal assistance to secure the freedom of those arrested.

For Berlin and Debalid, that freedom—albeit temporary—could come only if they had already raised money for bail.

“Where to get it is my biggest problem,” Debalid said, adding that it was even difficult for them to buy food—which was why she joined the protest in the first place.