Negros peasant leader shot dead

A farmer-leader of Task Force Mapalad was gunned down in La Castellana, Negros Occidental last Wednesday morning, bringing to eight the number of members of the peasant group slain this year.

The victim was identified as Mario Domingo, 35, chairman of the Hacienda Cambuktot Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Association.

"Domingo’s murder is the latest testament to the sorry state of the implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, which the government proclaims to be a flagship program for poverty alleviation," Task Force Mapalad said in a statement.

Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman has formed a group of legal and field operations personnel to look into the incident.

Pangandaman also ordered the group to investigate local agrarian reform officials who has been accused of not doing anything to address the plight of Hacienda Cambuktot’s farmer-beneficiaries, who have been holders of certificates of land ownership award (CLOAs) since 1991. — Katherine Adraneda