One of the land reform movement's most charismatic leaders, Rene Peñas, 51, was assassinated in Sumilao, Bukidnon as he was returning home from yet another farmers' meeting about land.
The Go Organic Mindanao strongly condemns the dastardly killing of Renato Penas, farmer-leader of the Sumilao Farmers in Bukidnon who was treacherously shot last June 5 at almost midnight while going home from the collective farm recently awarded them after more than a decade of struggle under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP). He was ambushed and murdered by assassins who pumped at least eight bullets to his body.
Ka Rene as he is fondly called, led the struggle of farmers in Bukidnon against big landowners and became an immovable force in the campaign for CARP Extension with Reforms together with other farmers all over the country staging historical walks from Mindanao to Manila, momentous hunger strikes, rallies and campaigns, and all-round vigils to have the law passed by an impertinent Congress.
His death that happened hours after the House of Representatives voted to pass CARPER has only made the struggle for agrarian reform more meaningful and significant. His blood has made the soil more fertile and priceless for those who hunger for land and seek for justice.
We condole with his wife and four children who shared equally in his struggle and bear witness to the transformation of a modern hero of the masses. We are one with his community of farmers —MAPALAD, PANAW-Sumilao and PAKISAMA who have lost a trusted leader, a beacon of hope and an endearing friend.
We demand that justice be serve in the death of Ka Rene and countless other farmer-martyrs who met violent deaths fighting for their right to land and to life.
We commit ourselves to pursue further the cause that Ka Rene died fighting for the rights of the dispossessed, marginalized and oppressed. We will remain undaunted and united in the face of threats from big landowners, corporate agriculture, and a government impervious to the plight of small farmers.
08 June 2009
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Go Organic Mindanao is a coalition of organic agriculture
practitioners and advocates from the ranks of farmers,
non-government organizations, people’s organizations and
church-based groups in 14 provinces in Mindanao.
Lia Jasmin M. Esquillo
Executive Director
IDIS
Davao City, Philippines
www.dirtybananas. org
