Militant labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) expressed its support for the people of Mindanao who set up a barricade to condemn the Aquino government for its role in the devastation caused by typhoon “Pablo”.

KMU also condemned the Aquino administration’s failure in providing sufficient help to the thousands victims devastated by typhoon Pablo.

“The farmers and people of Southern Mindanao deserve the support of the Filipino people. They are correct in saying out that the devastation wrought by typhoon Pablo was made worse by the rampant mining and logging operations in their region,” said Elmer Labog, KMU chairperson.

Last Tuesday (February 15), nearly 5,000 people formed human barricades and blocked the Montevista National Highway in Compostela Valley for almost nine hours.  The protesters accused big mining and logging corporations of causing the massive destruction exacerbated by Pablo.

More than a thousand people were left dead by Pablo, while 844 were missing and six million people adversely affected. Most of them resided in the towns of Monkayo, Nabunturan, Compostela and Montevista in Compostela Valley province and the towns Baganga, Cateel and Trento in Davao Oriental.

The protesters also blamed local and national government for failing to give sufficient relief for the victims.

“Where are the aid given by other countries and organizations? Where is the P18 Million calamity fund for our province? Why are we not even feeling any help?” a driver from Baganga who lost his family’s house and still living in a makeshift tent said when interviewed by media.

KMU also expressed opposition to the calls for the revival of the banana and coconut industries in Southern Mindanao that were destroyed by typhoon Pablo.

“What the people of Mindanao need right now are food and other basic necessities. Restoring the for-export banana and coconut industries in the region would only result in continued hunger and poverty for the people there,” Labog said.

The labor leader stressed the need for reversal of governments’ land conversion policies.

“Land conversion policies in the region should be reversed to give way to the farming of food crops. Restoring the banana and coconut industries would further destroy the soil and make it more difficult for people to plant food crops,” he added.

Different groups from Mindanao earlier called on the Aquino government to cancel all logging permits covering 82,443.39 hectares that it granted to 16 logging companies such as the Matuguina Integrated Wood Products, Inc., Picop Resources, Inc., and La Fortuna Mahogany, Inc., aside from the approved 23 Mineral Production Sharing Agreements.

“The Aquino government continues to heed the dictates of big foreign capitalists and not the need of the farmers and people of Southern Mindanao. It continues to fuel unrest among the people in the region,” Labog said.

Instead of genuine humanitarian efforts, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) also accused the military of stepping up its counter-insurgency operations in typhoon ravaged communities and allegedly harassing victims of typhoon Pablo.

According to NDFP-Southern Mindanao, elements of the 67th Infantry Battalion allegedly arrested and detained civilian Pablito Gubaton, a purok chairman of Sitio Bangas, Barangay Mainit, Cateel.

The military accused Gubaton of receiving relief packs from the New People’s Army. He was released only after eight hours of tactical interrogation.

“The AFP has been using relief and rehabilitation’ as a smokescreen for its brutal and unremitting Oplan Bayanihan war of suppression,” the group stated