CDN PHOTO/MOREXETTE ERRAM
SEVERAL farmers from the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP)-Cebu gathered at Gorordo Avenue for a rally to condemn Wednesday’s dispersal of rallyists in front of the US Embassy in Manila where some of them suffered injuries.
They were accompanied by militant groups that came from the University of the Philippines Cebu (UP Cebu). A video that went viral showed a police van ramming the protesters back and forth.
The rallyists were demanding for an end to U.S military presence in the country.
Dick Abazolo, head of the KMP – Cebu, said they stand united to support their fellow farmers who were injured in the dispersal. The farmers also called on the Duterte administration to pass a new agrarian law.
Meanwhile, Anakbayan Cebu vice president Nino Olayvar told Cebu Daily News that yesterday’s dispersal was ‘ironic’. “It’s ironic, no? That the peaceful mobilisation done by our farmers was in support of President Rodrigo Duterte’s stand for independence from the U.S but people in his lower ranks are still the U.S’ tutas (puppies),” added Olayvar.
The rally earlier marked KMP Cebu’s 4th Congressional Meeting wherein they called for Duterte and his administration to have a genuine agrarian reform passed as law.