Peasant leader shot dead inside army area in N. Ecija

A 78-year-old leader of a local peasant group was gunned down Friday afternoon inside a military reservation in Central Luzon, and militants have pointed to the military as suspect.

Pascual Guevarra, a farmer, was shot dead around 4:45 p.m. on July 9 by two motorcycle-riding men who went inside his house in Brgy. San Isidro in Laur town, situated inside the Fort Magsaysay Military Reservation in Nueva Ecija province.

He was the second activist to be killed since President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III assumed power last June 30.

Guevarra’s grandson, Ronnel Viloria, 18, was wounded in the shooting.

“We strongly condemn the first killing of a peasant leader under the Aquino regime. We hold accountable the Armed Forces of the Philippines, particularly the 7th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army which controls Fort Magsaysay,” said Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) secretary-general Danilo Ramos in a statement Sunday.

Don’t look at us

The military denied involvement in the shooting, saying the killing of Guevarra could be due to a land dispute.

“We are not involved in that. It’s a mere rivalry between two factions which is the angle that is coming out,” said Lt. Col. Roger Mesias, spokesperson of the Army’s 7th Infantry Division.

According to Ramos, Guevarra was a senior leader of Alyansa ng mga Magbubukid na Nagkakaisa sa 3,100 Ektarya ng Fort Magsaysay, which is affiliated with KMP-Central Luzon and was active in pushing for land reform in the area.

The KMP said Guevarra’s group is composed of farmers pushing for their rights to the lands of Fort Magsaysay that were supposed to be up for distribution to landless farmers and residents displaced by the 1991 Mt. Pinatubo eruption under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

Police matter

Mesias said the killing is “entirely a police matter,” but the 7th ID is nevertheless participating in the investigation as it happened inside a military reservation.

“One angle that is being explored is the possible rivalry between two factions of claimants of land inside Fort Magsaysay. The 7th ID is coordinating with the [police] for the investigation,” Mesias said.

Down to 35,000 hectares from its original size of 73,000, Fort Magsaysay is the biggest military reservation in the country and is one of the key training areas of the Philippine Army.

Condemnation rally

The KMP is staging a condemnation rally in Mendiola in Monday to push President Aquino to stop extrajudicial killings in the country.

“We would seek justice resolutely and the Aquino government should punish those responsible,” said Ramos.

Human rights group Tanggol Magsasaka said 561 peasants were killed during the previous administration of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, while 129 peasants and organizer were victims of enforced disappearance.

Before Guevarra, or on July 5, Fernando Baldomero, 61, a coordinator for party-list group Bayan Muna, was shot dead in front of his 12-year-old child in Estancia village in Kalibo, Aklan.

Two days before the killing of Baldomero, 75-year-old Jose Daguio became the first journalist killed under the new administration when he was shot dead in Tabuk town in Kalinga province. – KBK, GMANews.TV