We salute their perseverance and iron will.
“The 71 members of the Kilus Magniniyog (KM 71) movement arrived in Lucena at 3 p.m. on Friday, November 14, the 54th day of their 71-day protest march from Davao City to Malacañan Palace,” reports Delfin T. Mallari Jr. in Philippine Daily Inquirer.
The report noted: “The KM 71 marchers were welcomed in Barangay Talipan in Pagbilao town by more than 1,500 farmers from Coalition of Coconut Farmers (Coco Farm) in Quezon and neighboring provinces.”
The marchers were also met at the gymnasium by Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala, Agrarian Secretary Virgilio de los Reyes, former Philippine Coconut Authority chair Oscar Santos, and Lucena Mayor Roderick Alcala.
The protest marchers left Davao on Sep 21 to walk 1,772 kilometers to Malacañan Palace, at an average of 30 kilometers a day. They are expected to reach Metro Manila by the last week of November.
The report explained: “The marchers are asking President Noynoy Aquino to issue an executive order creating a Coconut Farmers’ Trust Fund (CFTF) from the recovered coconut levy fund and certify as urgent the initiative bill version that they filed in both Houses of Congress.”
The report likewise indicated that “the estimated PHP71-billion coco levy fund now in the hands of the government is expected to benefit more than 20 million coconut farmers and their families from more than 21,000 coconut-producing villages across the country.”
