I strongly condemn the killing of the nine (9) farmers, including four (4) women and two (2) minors, in Hacienda Nene in Sagay City, Negros Occidental last Saturday night. The reports say that the victims just started their “bungkalan” activity wherein peasants occupy and cultivate idle portions of private lands when the shooting happened.
This was also a grim reflection of the decades-old failure of the government’s agrarian reform program to extricate poor Filipino farmers from vicious and degrading cycle of poverty.
Nakakagalit at nakakalungkot na humantong tayo sa sitwasyong kamatayan ang tugon sa pagsusumikap ng ating mga magsasakang pagyamanin ang lupa, ibsan ang kanilang gutom at ipaglaban ang kanilang karapatan.
At sino ba ang naghikayat at nagpauso sa mga nangyayaring patayan ngayon sa ating bayan? Hindi ba mismong Si Presidente Duterte at ang kanyang war on drugs?
This is impunity in one of its worst forms wherein helpless farmers, just striving to survive were reportedly gunned down by forty (40) armed assailants! An impartial and thorough investigation is in order!
Just like the thousands of deaths under Duterte’s war on drugs, we cannot be numb and lose these kinds of incidents from our collective memory. Instead, we must continue to demand for justice and accountability of perpetrators including those who encouraged such dastardly acts.