Rosales slams killing of Sumilao farmer

MANILA, Philippines – Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales yesterday condemned the killing of one of the leaders of the farmer activists who walked all the way from Sumilao, Bukidnon in Mindanao to Manila in 2007 to seek justice.

Rene Peñas, 51, was with two other companions on their way home Friday night when an unidentified assailant fired at them with a shotgun, according to SPO4 Rey Vasquez, acting police chief of Sumilao town.

Peñas, a barangay councilman in San Vicente, died of gunshot wound on his left chest.

His two companions, Eliezer Peñas and Samson Dollete, suffered injuries but were sent home after being treated at the Provincial Hospital in Bukidnon.

“The assailants were on the left side of the road. Peñas tried to crawl but he was again shot,” according to GMANEWS.TV.

Two men were allegedly seen running away from the scene after the shooting.

Relatives of the slain farmer activist surmised that the killing could be related to a land issue he was handling.

Peñas had recently been consulted by certificate of land ownership award (CLOA) holder beneficiaries in another land claim here.

A CLOA is an award given by the Department of Agrarian Reform to farmer beneficiaries of the government’s Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

Peñas was one of the participants in the 1,770-kilometer “Walk for land, walk for justice” of Sumilao farmers in October 2007 to prod the government to award the land long denied them due to the manipulations of a landlord.

He was also one of the pioneers of the Mapalad Hunger Strike in 1997, and one of the leaders of the community organizers of the 444-kilometer walk of Banassi farmers in Ula, Camarines Sur.