Human Rights Watch

Slain Peasant Leader’s Wife Points to Soldier as Killer

The wife of a peasant leader slain in Misamis Oriental recognized one of his assailants as someone she had seen before in the Philippine Army’s 8^th Infantry Brigade (IB) whose camp is situated near their farm in Tinagaan village, Salay, Misamis Oriental, the leader of a progressive party-list group in Northern Mindanao said.

BY TYRONE VELEZ

Bulatlat

Ernesto Ladica, 43, an organizer of the Misamis Oriental Farmers Association, was shot by two unidentified men on board a motorcycle at 6:30 p.m. last July 27 near his home in Salay.

Ladica’s wife, Liza, told of having seen one of the assailants in the 8^th IB previous to the incident, said Henry Trugillo, spokesperson of Bayan Muna (People First)-Northern Mindanao.

Ladica's murder is the first political killing reported in Northern Mindanao, said Trugillo. Based on data from Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights), Ladica is the 713^th victim of extra-judicial killing since 2001 when Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo became president through a popular uprising.

Ladica’s relatives said that two men on board a motorcycle arrived near their house. One of them went close to Ladica and shot him in the back. The bullet entered Ladica’s right shoulder and exited on the left side of his abdomen.

Ladica managed to run towards the highway. The two assailants, however, caught up with him and fired two shots to his head and neck which instantly killed him.

Lawyer Beverly Selim-Musni, chairperson of Karapatan-Northern Mindanao, said that the killing was politically motivated and was carried out by the 8^th IB’s intelligence branch. The Army’s 4^th Infantry Division however claimed that the 8^th IB does not operate any detachments in Salay.

Trugillo denounced Arroyo's all-out war against militants as seen, he said, in her recognition of the efforts of Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan of the 7^th ID during her July 24 State of the Nation Address (SoNA).  Palparan is being accused by militant groups as the mastermind of killings of activists in the Visayas, Southern Luzon and Central Luzon. Bulatlat

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