Sumilao farmer leader killed in Bukidnon

A peasant leader was killed Friday night by unidentified gunmen in Bukidnon province, the latest in a series of attacks against activists, police yesterday said.

Renato Penas, one of the Sumilao farmers who marched from Bukidnon to Manila some two years ago to demand the redistribution of the land they were tilling, died on the spot from gunshot wounds on his chest. His two other companions were wounded in the attack, police said.

Police added the three were on their way to a farm when two men blocked their motorcyle and opened fire on them with shotguns.

According to local human rights group Karapatan, there have been close to 1,000 political killings in the country since President Arroyo took over the presidency in 2001.

The peasant leader’s death came less than a week after United Nations Special Rapporteur to the Philippines Philip Alston blasted President Arroyo’s government for failing to put an end to extra-judicial killings.

While he said these political murders have decreased in recent years, he pointed out that these extra-judicial killings nevertheless continue due to lack of substantial measures to address the problem.

In his follow-up report to the 11th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, the UN Rapporteur stressed that “reforms directed at institutionalizing the reduction of killings of leftist activists and others, and in ensuring command responsibility for abuses have not been implemented.”

“The (Philippine) government has failed to make sufficient substantive progress and, in some cases, has made no progress at all,” Alston said, adding that “although the number of extra-judicial executions of members of civil society organizations has greatly diminished, too many cases continue to be reported and far too little accountability has been achieved for the perpetrators.”

According to Alston, the number of killings of leftist activists decreased dramatically shortly after his visit two years ago.

The highest documented numbers of executions of leftist activists were 94 in 2007 and 64 in 2008, compared with 220 in 2006, he said.

But while current levels are significantly lower than before, Alston said “they still remain a cause for great alarm, and reflect the failure to make the recommended structural reforms.” –Tribune wires