Groups condemn first extra-judicial killing of 2011

MANILA, Philippines – Peasant groups and rights advocates condemned the new year’s first extra-judicial killing of a peasant leader in Santa Rosa town, Nueva Ecija last Sunday (Jan. 2).

The victim was Oyi Villarosa, a peasant leader of Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luson (AMGL), the regional chapter of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP, Peasant Movement of the Philippines).

KMP and Peasant Network for Land, Justice and Human Rights (Tanggol Magsasaka) condemned the latest attack on peasants and criticized the Aquino government for its inaction to stop the continuing slaying of peasants.

“We condemn this latest brutal attack on the peasant movement and the Aquino government is equally liable as it is now on its implementation of Oplan Bayanihan, the goal of which is to repress the intensifying peasant struggle in the countryside,” Danilo Ramos, KMP Secretary-General, said in a statement.

“This is the first extra-judicial killing against peasants of the year, thus, proving the military and its hired killers are not observing the holidays and are on all-out attack against peasant activists,” Ramos added.

Tanggol Magsasaka said that based on initial reports of AMGL, Villarosa was on his way home from a day-long work on his farm when men riding a Honda XRM shot him dead with a .45 caliber pistol. The peasant leader succumbed to four gunshot wounds.

Prior to the incident, the assailants were seen by witnesses on a convoy with town police on a mobile car and a yellow-colored pick-up truck with plate number RBS-314 roaming around the farms.

“The latest killing shows the Aquino government is not serious about stopping extra-judicial killings in the country. The attack continues in the countryside targeting those who struggle for genuine agrarian reform,” said Antonio Flores, Tanggol Magsasaka co-convenor. –(philstar.com)