Escudero on Kidapawan farmers’ woes: When will gov’t officials grow up?

Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

“When will our government officials grow up and be responsible and accountable?”

Vice presidential Francis “Chiz” Escudero raised this question on Wednesday as he slammed reports that certain government forces were blocking the delivery of food and other donations to Kidapawan farmers.

READ: CHR plea: Lift food blockade

“It is incomprehensible that the Commission on Human Rights has stated that certain government forces are preventing the entry and distribution of assistance to Kidapawan farmers and agricultural workers,” Escudero said in a statement.

“What is the present administration telling us through these actions? When will our government officials grow up and be responsible and accountable?” he asked.

Police had reportedly blocked 300 farmers coming from the town of Makilala, about 11 kilometers from the capital of North Cotabato, to partake of the rice donations from civic organizations and celebrities to help ease the hunger of protesters.

READ: Police blocks 300 farmers from getting rice in Kidapawan

Three farmers died and dozens others were injured in the violent police dispersal of farmers blocking the Cotabato-Davao highway last week. The farmers were seeking immediate help for food aid and farm assistance from the government to cope with the harsh impact of the long-drawn drought on their crops.

READ: Cops, farmers clash in Kidapawan; 2 dead

“Can you picture the real situation here on the ground? These are farmers and agricultural workers whose jobs were to till the lands and nurture the soil to grow food. Now, they are the ones begging for food from us, from the national government, from the local government. And yet no substantial help is going their way. Are we killing them through starvation?” Escudero said.

“Food growers with no food to eat? This should not be happening in an agricultural country, whose economic growth rate being brandished by the incumbent government is one of Asia’s best. Where did the benefits from this economic growth rate go?”

Instead of blocking or hampering the arrival of food supplies and all forms of assistance to these affected farmers and agricultural workers, Escudero said the national government must do everything within its legal powers to immediately assist them.

He said the government should marshal all resources within its disposal to air lift food supplies to these people, if necessary.

“I am appealing to all men and women working for peace and justice to come together as Filipinos regardless of political and religious beliefs. We must help our fellow Filipinos now in Kidapawan,” Escudero said.

“We are talking here of thousands of Filipinos literally with nothing to eat, nor water to drink, exposed to the elements. What is unjust is that the groups severely affected are food growers who fed us through the years,” he added. CDG

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