'Dig deeper into Sumilao slay'

MANILA, Philippines – A farmers’ legal support group urged the Philippine National Police (PNP) yesterday to dig deeper into last Friday’s killing of Rene Peñas, a peasant leader from Sumilao, Bukidnon.

Lawyer Normie Batula, executive director of BALAOD-Mindanaw, warned the police not to make an arrested suspect a scapegoat and conduct a thorough investigation into the killing of Peñas, vice chairman of the peasant organization Pakisama.

The other day, police reported the arrest of one Alipio Tumangdang as a key suspect, saying that old grudge probably motivated the slay.

A fact-finding team created by BALAOD-Mindanaw though cited several inconsistencies in the initial police report on Peñas’ murder.

For one, it said police recovered four empty shells from a shotgun when only three gunshots were heard.

BALAOD-Mindanaw added that the police report showed that Peñas suffered gunshot wounds in the left shoulder and left chest, when the peasant leader actually had bullets wounds in the right arm and right chest.

Batula said they refuse to believe that Peñas was slain was due to an old grudge, adding that police should investigate other possible motives, including the victim’s active participation in the agrarian reform struggle.

The BALAOD-Mindanaw fact-finding team interviewed relatives of Peñas, including his nephew, Eleazer Peñas, and Tumangdang.

Eleazer and one Samson Dollete were with Peñas during the attack, and both were wounded.

Tumangdang, according to Batula, denied the charges against him and claimed that he was in his house the whole day at the time Peñas was attacked.

He told the fact-finding team that at the time of the incident, he heard a male voice calling for help, but that he was unable to respond out of fear. 

Peñas led the renowned 60-day “Walk for Justice” protest march of Sumilao farmers in 2007. 

The farmers walked from Sumilao to Manila to dramatize their 10-year-old demand for the government to give them back their land. – With Christina Mendez