Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 20) — Senator Imee Marcos has criticized the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) for instilling fear among onion farmers following the revelation that some opted to take their own lives due to the dire agricultural situation.
The lawmaker on Thursday shared official documents that NTF-ELCAC asked DILG to verify the suicide reports in Bayambang, Pangasinan that was reported during a Senate hearing.
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Upon DILG’s orders, the regional police then went to the home of Nanay Merly (not her real name), who testified on Jan. 16 that her husband took his own life in 2022 after their farm went bankrupt when army worms killed their crops.
Marcos questioned why government security forces are harassing the farmers, likening the treatment to how NTF-ELCAC targetted communist rebels.
“Natatakot na ang mga magsasaka ng sibuyas sa biglaang pagkakatok ng pulis kagabi hanggang ngayong umaga upang papirmahin ng sinumpaang salaysay na nagbabaliktad sa kanilang ibinunyag sa Senado nung Martes,” the senator said in a statement.
“Utos raw ng DILG at ng NTF-ELCAC,” she also said. “CPP- NPA ba ang turing natin sa maliliit na magsasaka sa liblib?”
[Translation: Our onion farmers are scared when police suddenly knocked on their doors and ask them to sign papers to reverse their testimony in the Senate. This was reportedly ordered by the DILG and NTF-ELCAC. Is this how we’re treating our farmers from the rural area, like they’re members of the Communist Party of the Philippines – New People’s Army?]
Marcos, the sister of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. who leads the Department of Agriculture, told authorities to keep their hands off the witnesses who are only telling the cold, hard truth.
In a statement shared by Marcos’ office on Friday, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr. said he has directed the police provincial director (PD) to personally visit Nanay Merly “to assure her and the family that the PNP will not be part of the harassment being alluded to.”
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“Likewise, I told PD to ensure also the family of Nanay Merly that the PNP will not be part of the recantation of the statements made by Nanay Merly,” he said.
During the same hearing, municipal agriculturist Romel Calingasan of San Jose, Occidental Mindoro revealed that farmers in the town were forced to sell their onions for ₱8 to ₱15 per kilo during the harvest season in 2022 due to a cold storage shortage.
