GUINGONA CONDEMNS SLAY OF BUKIDNON FARMER-LEADER
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“I strongly condemn the slay of a fellow Bukidnon and peasant leader of Sumilao, Renato “Ka Rene” Penas. As a farmer leader, Ka Rene was involved in the Sumilao farmers’ struggle for the extension of Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program with reforms (CARPER). In this commitment to this struggle, he was marked for assassination.”
“Ka Rene embodies the fire that burns in every heart of millions of landless farmers all over the country: to have a land that they can call their own. That fire did not die with Ka Rene. It continues to burn in others for as long as this thirst for land goes unquenched.”
“The pattern of violence with impunity particularly here in Mindanao has once again, reared its ugly head. This time it claimed the life of a farmer-leader.”
“This unfortunate event merely confirms what the UN special rapporteur Philip Alston has recently reported to the Human Rights Council in Geneva: that the extrajudicial killings have not stopped. That the attacks on militant farmers, labor organizers, activists and journalists continue.
“The killers must be brought to justice. This comes as a challenge to the Arroyo administration which just recently, through the Regional Development Council, has approved the regional human rights plan here in Northern Mindanao. Otherwise, all statements vowing state compliance to the promotion and protection of human rights is nothing but pure hogwash.”
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