New York City — A woman community leader in Florida took the initiative of raising funds for farmers in Kidapawan who are starving from the drought but were instead dispersed in a rally recently in southern Philippines.
Jane Hernando, a Melbourne-based therapist and a contributor to OSM! online magazine set up a crowd funding site to solicit financial support for farmers. She connected with her sister in the Philippines who, like her was born and raised in Mindanao, in order to facilitate the assistance.
Her opening message reads: “Their demand was for the North Cotabato local government to release the relief aid after the province was declared a state of calamity due to the drought brought by El Nino.”
“I got so touched watching farmers who grew food for a living go hungry. Isn’t it ironic? I am not a politician. Just an ordinary citizen. No amount is too small if we put them all together. I will make sure the money will reach the farmers,” Jane said in the gofundme site.
https://www.gofundme.com/fzx25mr4
Meanwhile, the dispersal of the farmer’s rally in the morning of April 1 easily became a political issue in the Philippines. North Cotabato Governor Lala Mendoza refused to accept donations of sacks of rice for the farmers saying that the politicians who came from different political parties may be merely ‘politicking’ or insulting her administration.
On social media, the governor received the flak of criticism for remaining insensitive to the plight of farmers while failing to curb the impact of the drought on the villages. The call for ‘rice not bullets’ swept on social media, creating uproar to raise support for farmers and investigation into the dispersal.
Leni Robredo, a congressional representative running for Vice President in the May 9 elections under the Aquino administration ticket, in a press statement called for an investigation into the dispersal by police. Three rallyists died in the incident while hundreds of others were wounded.
Sen. Grace Poe, who is running for president, also issued a statement condemning the dispersal of farmers and lumad (indigenous people) and shooting of farmers in Kidapawan.
Los Angeles-based leader for the Grace Poe for President Movement Jun Caringal said, “We stand with Senator Grace Poe and condemn such police violence against the hungry and unarmed farmers in Mindanao.”
The drought in Mindanao reportedly started in January rendering farm lands unproductive for a long period of time.
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