Youth representatives in Bacolod, Baguio, Cebu, Davao and Manila today held a simultaneous flash mob around the headquarters and provincial strongholds of Presidential candidates. They are calling for an urgent response to the growing hunger of farmers and local communities suffering from El Niño, and to the need to secure the future of food for Filipinos.
Members of the #IAmHampasLupa Movement for Ecological Agriculture joined forces with dance groups from various parts of the country to stage a simultaneous dance mob to demand concrete actions from the Aquino government and the Presidential candidates to address the growing food emergency.
“We are witness to the current sad state of our famers who are already begging for food and assistance, whose families are caught in the middle of drought, starvation and food riots. The next President should have very clear plans to address this worsening food and agriculture crisis amid climate change,” said Paolo Martin Saberon, National Chair of the #IAmHampasLupa Movement.
“We chose dance as a unifying action by young people, in solidarity with farmers that are coming together to try and amplify their voices. Like a modern rain dance, we direct our plea to our next President: define and articulate concrete solutions to the problems faced by farmers now! In the last few day of the Aquino government, we urge them to stop feeding our farmers with bullets, and instead deliver what is right and what is just: food and appropriate support to our farmers,” Saberon added.
The #IAmHampasLupa Movement for Ecological Agriculture is composed of farmers, students and professionals aged 18-30 years old. This voting force aims to elect a next President who will transition the country to ecological farming, which adheres to safer, sustainable food production that puts farming back in the hands of the farmers instead of them being at the mercy of big agricultural corporations, lenders and rich landowners.
“The youth are stepping up. They are not the idle youngsters many perceive them to be. On the contrary, they are amplifying the voices of farmers and securing our future. Aquino and the next President must listen to their demands and take concrete actions for a sustainable and climate-resilient agriculture to secure safe food for our future,” said Virginia Benosa Llorin, Ecological Agriculture Campaigner of Greenpeace Philippines.
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