LAUR, NUEVA ECIJA, Philippines?A lone gunman shot dead on Friday a leader of a farmers? group allied with the party-list group Anakpawis in front of his family members in their house in Barangay San Isidro here, police said.

Pascual Guevarra, 78, head of the local Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Association (Arba) and Alyansa ng mga Magbubukid na Nagkakaisa 3100 (Almana 3100), died from bullet wounds in the chest.

His grandson, Ronnel Viloria, 18, tried to help his grandfather but the gunman shot and wounded him, said Senior Insp. Almario Evaristo, the town police chief.

Guevarra was the second member of a militant group killed in the first 10 days of the Aquino administration, following the slaying of Fernando Baldomero, a leader of Bayan Muna in Aklan.

Lilibeth Guevarra, 30, said her father was repairing their kitchen at about 5 p.m. Friday when a man armed with a 9mm pistol arrived and without a word, shot him.

?When we saw my father fall to the ground, Ronnel and I grabbed the gunman but he shot my nephew, too,? Lilibeth said.

The gunman escaped aboard a motorcycle driven by another man.

Guevarra?s wife, Lolita, said she could not think of any reason for her husband to die this way.

?He died a very violent death,? said Lolita, 76. ?He did not abuse anyone. He devoted his whole life helping the poor.?

Guevarra?s group, Almana 3100, was formed to stop the Philippine Army from removing farmers from 3,100 hectares of land inside what used to be an Army reservation covering several villages, including Barangay San Isidro where the Guevarras live.

The lands were originally intended for victims of Mt. Pinatubo eruption in 1991, based on a proclamation issued by former President Corazon Aquino.

But since no Mt. Pinatubo victims decided to settle there, Guevarra?s group claimed that the proclamation allowed them to actually occupy or cultivate the land, supposedly as secondary beneficiaries.

Evaristo said investigators were looking at land dispute as a possible motive in the murder.

Joseph Canlas, chair of the Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luzon, said Guevarra was among farmer leaders in the region who pushed for the distribution of lands through the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.