[ Manila Bulletin Online ] May 31, 2008
Slaying of farmer seen to trigger escalation of violence
By BONG REBLANDO
SULTAN KUDARAT — Four non-government organizations and a Church mission conducted yesterday a fact-finding inquiry on a brewing land feud in Senator Ninoy Aquino town that claimed the life of a farmer.
Also, the mission looked into the plight of the tribal communities in the area, some portions of which are ancestral lands but which are also being claimed by private persons.
Led by the Tri-People Concern for Peace, Progress and Development of Mindanao Inc. (Tricom), other NGOs are the HESED Foundation, Partners for First People Foundation, Rural Development Institute-PhilNet Sultan Kudarat, and the Social Action Center of the Diocese of Marbel.
Mayor Rafael Flauta of Senator Ninoy Aquino, the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples’ (NCIP) Kulaman Community Service Center, the League of Indigenous Peoples for Ancestral Domain in Mindanao, and the Kulaman Manobo Dulangan Organization also supported the fact-finding mission.
Flauta had earlier called for a deep probe on the incident in an effort to resolve the crisis gripping the natives and other persons claiming ownership of the supposed ancestral land.
The mayor and the municipal council are likely to pass a resolution calling for the temporary suspension of the case on the land claimed by Dela Peña. It will be sent to the DAR and DENR pending resolution of the conflict.
Jun Benitez, a Tricom volunteer, said the members of his group are seeking the assistance of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) in Region XII in the effort to seek justice for the relatives of the slain farmer and to protect the rights of lumads against those who are encroaching on their ancestral lands.
"We have decided to conduct a fact-finding mission to determine the circumstances that triggered a brewing escalation of violence at Sitio Blangas, Barangay Midtungok in Senator Ninoy Aquino where Robert Rodriguez was gunned down last May 16," Benitez said.
The 32-year-old Rodriguez was reportedly killed when armed escorts of Filipino-American land claimant Florence Case-dela Peña allegedly fired at a group of residents.
Reports reaching Tricom alleged that Dela Peña was escorted by heavily armed men clad in fatigue uniforms without name plates.
She went to Sitio Blangas together with personnel of the Department of Agrarian Reform and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ Land Management Services (Region XII) to conduct a perimeter survey of the 374-hectare land she is claiming.
"The mission will also focus on finding ways to help resolve the case and prevent an escalation of violence in the ancestral domain of the Manobo-Dulangan tribe, being claimed by Dela Peña," Benitez said.
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