Gov. Mendoza to meet farmers holding protest in Kidapawan

KIDAPAWAN CITY– North Cotabato Governor Lala Mendoza has agreed to hold a meeting with leaders of the protesters doing a human barricade along the national highway here.Pedro Arnado, chair of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) Southern Mindanao, said he received an information from a very reliable source that the meeting will take place on Wednesday night or Thursday morning.The governor, he said Wednesday, was on her way to the city. But as to the venue of the meeting, Arnado has yet to find that out.He, however, wanted the meeting to be held inside the Spottswood Methodist Center, just few meters away from where the more than 5000 protesters were holding a barricade.Kidapawan City Mayor Joseph Evangelista, chair of the Crisis Management Committee (CMC) handling the crisis situation, said the governor has advised the rallyists to submit to her office their names and addresses to she could facilitate the utilization of the calamity fund of the provincial government in the different municipalities. Most of the protesters were farmers coming from the hinterland towns of Arakan, Antipas, President Roxas, Magpet, and some barangays in Kidapawan City. They started to march from Spottswood Methodist Center, around 5 a.m., on Wednesday.They allegedly wanted to hold their protests outside the NFA warehouse, according to Superintendent Bernard Tayong, spokesperson for the North Cotabato Police Provincial Office (CPPO). But members of the CPPO, including personnel from different police stations in North Cotabato, were able to prevent the protesters from entering the building where thousands of sacks of rice are being stored. Because the protesters failed to enter the warehouse, they immediately blocked the highway and held human barricades,” said Tayong. The protesters demanded from the provincial government some 15,000 bags of rice to be distributed to hundreds of thousands of poor farmers now affected by long dry spell. The provincial LGU needs at least P22.5 million to purchase such bags of rice. Earlier, Mendoza issued a statement, through the CPPO, that her office has no plans of using the LGU’s calamity fund for rice distribution as this would be preserved for future use since El Nino will continue until June this year.