Manila, Philippines – “We call on the peasant women including the fisherfolk women, women agricultural workers and indigenous people to come together and rise our voices to condemn Duterte’s crime for violating our rights to land and human rights, likewise for embracing neoliberal policies that primarily put us in constant hunger and poverty. Thus, calling for his ouster is just and urgent,” by Zenaida Soriano, Amihan National Chairperson stated in a press statement on the marking of the 34th anniversary of the People Power.
Amihan or the National Federation of Peasant Women stated that the legacy of the Edsa People Power should not be forgotten as the Filipino people through a massive mobilizations ended the era of Marcos dictatorship. At present, the Filipino people especially the poor farmers and peasant women who are primarily targets of Duterte’s facscist attack should be consolidated and aim for his ouster.
“In the countryside, peasant women and children have encountered injustice, agony and misery as the militarization continues in Mindanao, Negros, Eastern Visayas, Bicol, Isabela, Nueva Ecija, Mindoro, Quezon and many other provinces in the country. Government forces who usually occupy civilian establishments such as barangay halls, daycare center, house-to-house operations, usually perpetrate these abuses. Likewise, extra-judicial killings victimized 31 peasant women, 10 children, 29 elderly and 9 farmer couples, out of the total 247 victims coming from the peasant sector,” Soriano said.
She exclaimed that peasant women and their families face hunger and poverty as their lands have been landgrabbed, converted and devoted for plantation expansion, mining, and land use conversions under the export-orientation of Philippine agriculture. Likewise, the impact of RA 11203 Rice Liberalization Law is an addendum to their inhumane conditions under Duterte.
“Again, Duterte is guilty and must be held accountable for his crimes against peasant women and other rural based sectors. Thus, joining the protest today in marking the anniversary of the People Power in Mendiola is a solidarity to other sectors who have been subjected for various rights abuses under Duterte, ” Soriano ended. ###
