Farmer gunned down in Bukidnon

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY –– Another farmer, who is affiliated with a progressive peasant movement, was gunned down in Bukidnon Wednesday night, Sept. 11, police said.

This is the 15th killing of a peasant activist in the province.

Chief Master Sergeant Ric Ogoy, investigator at the San Fernando town police, identified the victim as Leonides Bacong, 63, married, and a resident of Barangay Little Baguio.

Ogoy said two unidentified suspects posed as visitors in Bacong’s house where he lived with his family.

Bacong’s wife, whom police did not identify, told investigators that the two visitors only told her husband that they had something to tell him, hence, they were ushered into the house.

After a short conversation, three shots rang and the assailants hurriedly left, Bacong’s wife recalled.

One bullet hit Bacong’s neck. He was rushed to the nearest hospital but died along the way.

Bacong is a member of Kasama, the provincial chapter of the militant Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP).

“Brutal attacks against activists and rights advocates continue to intensify since Martial Law was imposed in Mindanao in 2017,” the KMP’s northern Mindanao chapter said in a statement.

Before Bacong’s murder, two attackers killed tribal leader Leah Tumbalang in Valencia City, Bukidnon last Aug. 23, the group noted.

Tumbalang, a member of the Tigwahanon tribe in San Fernando, was affiliated with the Kaugalingong Sistema Igpapasindog Tu Lumadnong Ogpaan, a lumad and farmers organization in the province. He was also an organizer of Bayan Muna partylist.

“Being a Lumad leader in their community, Tumbalang was at the forefront in fighting for their rights to ancestral land and self-determination,” KMP said./lzb