Manila: The administration of President Benigno Aquino III has been accused of deliberately hiding the truth about the effects of the El Niño weather phenomenon on the country’s agriculture sector.

Farm production slowed down in some provinces as a result of the El Nino in the South, causing massive hunger in some areas. The hardship has prompted protests and, last Friday, two people who were among a group of demonstrators that blockaded the Cotabato-Davao Highway in Kidapawan City were killed.

The demonstrators had been calling on the government to do take steps to cushion them against the effects of the El Nino to farm production.

According to Senator Francis Escudero, the government, for some reason is playing down the extent of damage from El Nino, a weather anomaly that causes prolonged dry seasons in some parts of the world, and excessively wet conditions elsewhere.

The lawmaker, who is running for vice-president in the coming May 9 general election, accused Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala of not taking action to avert the dire situation on farms in Central Mindanao.

“Secretary Alcala is known for sugar coating problems of the agriculture sector. Who would forget his much-publicised ‘rice self-sufficiency’ road map which turned out to be just a figment of his imagination?” Escudero pointed out.

“Every year, Alacala asked for funds from Congress to help farmers and we gave it to them. I find it difficult to accept that the farmers, who produce food, now have nothing to eat. Where did the money go?” asked Escudero, a former Senate Finance Committee chairman,

According to Escudero, the government has allotted a total of 91 billion pesos (Dh7.2 billion) for the agriculture sector, in 2016.

“Alcala is making himself look good at the expense of our poor farmers who suffer from the lack of support services from the government under his leadership,” Escudero said.

Agriculture officials have said, although the agriculture department had been allotted a budget for the sector, it is still the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) that releases the amount.

Agriculture Undersecretary Jose Reano recently said during an interview with journalists that, although there was a budget allocation for preparations to cushion the effects of the El Nino, the DBM had been unable to release the amount on time to combat the impact of the long dry spell.

“The amount that had been withheld (by the DBM) could have gone to cloud seeding operations, purchase of seedlings, and preparation of irrigation systems,” Reano said.

He added the preparation also includes providing alternative work to those who will be severely affected by the drought.

During the clash between protesters on Friday afternoon, two demonstrators were killed and scores were wounded including a number of policemen.

The presidential palace has ordered the Commission on Human Rights to conduct a probe into the incident to determine who was at fault.

Police and military said that among those who took part in the demonstrations were communist New Peoples’ Army rebels who had gone down from the mountains to take part in the mass action.

Reports said some 6,000 demonstrators took part in the protest.