Saturday, July 16, 2005
Militant farmers ransack Agriculture office
MANILA -- Militant farmers protesting government policies forced their way into the Department of Agriculture Friday, smashing glass doors and ransacking offices before police moved in, cleared them out and detained them, officials said.
About 300 members of a left-wing farmers' group overpowered security guards and sent scared government employees fleeing at the Agriculture Department offices in Quezon City, police said.
About an hour later, police evicted them from the building.
Demands
The protesters from the Movement of Farmers of the Philippines and allied groups carried streamers demanding comprehensive agrarian and fisheries reform, and a new government, police officer Ramil de Mesa said.
The break-in occurred amid the ongoing political crisis over allegations President Arroyo rigged last year's elections.
Opposition groups have been holding almost daily rallies calling on Arroyo to resign.
The protest was timed just before former Agriculture secretary Arthur Yap, who resigned last month to fight tax evasion charges, was to hand over the office to his successor, Domingo Panganiban.
Metropolitan Manila Police Chief Vidal Querol called the rebel farmers "anarchists."
Criminal act
"Definitely there should be sanity, and these people who have committed transgression will be held responsible," he said.
"That is a criminal act and they have to face up to the consequence of that criminal act."
Meanwhile, Panganiban has set the machinery in motion for the reorganization of his department along the lines of his programs to increase agricultural productivity and enhance global competitiveness.
Transparency
In his speech during the turnover ceremonies Friday, Panganiban said planned changes would be anchored on the principles of transparency, accountability, consistency, people participation and partnership.
The new secretary lamented the fact that the operational systems of the DA suffer from persistent top-down approach, lack of transparency and accountability and a highly politicized and unstable organization.
He said this requires the overhauling of the department. (Manila Standard Today/Sunnex)
(July 16, 2005 issue)
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