VARIOUS help poured in for the remaining 4,500 hungry farmers who are presently seeking refuge inside the Spottswood Methodist Center compound in Kidapawan City after their appeal for relief support was turned down by the Provincial Government.
The farmers originally composed of about 5,000 set up a human barricade along the Cotabato-Davao Highway in Kidapawan City starting last Wednesday but were dispersed on Friday after members from the Philippine National Police (PNP) allegedly fired their guns to the protesters, leaving five persons dead.
The farmers appealed to the Provincial Government for sacks of rice after they experienced hunger due to drought.
Anakpawis Party-list 1st Nominee Ariel Casilao, in a phone interview with Sun.Star Davao Saturday, said that various unnamed sympathizers extended their help to the farmers.
In a Facebook post, pictures of Kidapawan residents distributing ice candy, biscuits and coffee to the farmers inside the compound were being shared online.
Casilao said that actor Robin Padilla arrived in the Kidapawan City Saturday and extended packs of rice to the farmers while Bayan Muna Party-list Representative Neri Colmenares was also there to help.
Despite the statement of Cotabato Governor Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza on Saturday against politicos who vowed to help the farmers, many help came to the farmers in the form of rice supplies and other goods coming from the politicians.
Among those who had been cited to have expressed that they will extend help to the farmers are Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, Senator Allan Peter Cayetano, Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero, and Senator Grace Poe, according to Casilao.
Police searched the compound, where the farmers are currently staying on Saturday, as they reportedly suspected that there are armed members of the New People’s Army among the farmers, Casilao said.
Authorities searched the compound through a warrant issued by the Kidapawan City Regional Trial Court-Branch 17 dated April 1 for violation of Section 28 of Republic Act 10591(Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act).
“There is a probable cause and good reasons to believe that firearms are being kept inside the building,” the search warrant reads. But police found nothing except a cap and a small sling bag.
Current scenario
Five persons were already confirmed dead as of Saturday, April 2. Three of them were identified as Rotello Daelto, Victor Lumandag, and Enrico Pabrica, while the two female fatalities are yet to be identified as of this posting, April 2, 2016.
Casilao said that some of the bodies were either at the Midway or Madonna hospital in Kidapawan City while one of the slain victim was also at the morgue of the Amas Provincial Hospital.
A total of 116 people were also wounded in the bloody dispersal; while 89 went missing after they fled from the scene, according to the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan.