NGO of Bohol farmers decry soldiers’ entry in rice mill
A farmers’ group complained of being harassed in Trinidad town, Bohol province by armed soldiers and a local official who allegedly forced their way into a private rice mill last Tuesday.
The incident was described as “trespassing” by Patrick Torres, executive director of the Farmers Development Center Inc. (Fardec) in a news conference in Cebu City yesterday.
He said 50 soldiers accompanied Liza Quirog, a department head of the Bohol provincial government, when they barged inside the mill owned by Fardec.
Torres said the inspection was a “form of trespassing” since Quirog did not secure prior permission.
He also questioned why the official, who acts as the province’s socio-economic and environment management (Seem) head, brought with her soldiers on board two military trucks.
The incident, he said, caused alarm in the community especially after one of Fardec’s board members and former Bayan Muna Bohol chapter president, Victor Olayvar, was gunned down by unidentified men in 2006.
“We have no idea why they did that. Probably, they suspect something from us again. It’s just insulting for NGOs to be subjected to this kind of treatment when all we are doing is help marginalized people,” said Torres.
The sudden inspection alarmed members of Trinidad-Talibon Integrated Farmers Association (TTIFA).
“If they had to visit the rice mill, they could have coordinated with our office in Tagbilaran,” said Carmilo Tabada, Fardec’s Bohol local center coordinator.
TTIFA is Fardec’s partner farmers’ association in the town whose members operate the mill.
Reyes said they have already requested Bohol Gov. Edgar Chatto to investigate the incident. There are also plans of the group to file charges against Quirog.
The mill’s caretaker, Rowena Busalanan, said Quirog and the soldiers arrived at 7:15 a.m. last July 22.
Busalanan said she tried to stop the official from entering the facility but was ignored.
The female official with four soldiers started a search around the area.
Some took photos of the mill while others rummaged through the sacks of rice piled “as if looking for something.”
“The children nearby were very scared with the presence of the military. They thought there’s war in the place,” she said.
According to Fardec, the rice mill is part of their Small Enterprise for Economic Development (Seed) project in Bohol.
The organization buys local farmers organically-grown rice above the market price and sells them to the cooperative in non rice-growing parts of Bohol and buyers in Cebu.
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