Peasant activist slain, body stuffed in drum

MANILA, Philippines — The body of a missing peasant activist from Bulacan province, who is believed to have been summarily executed, has been found more than 100 kilometers away in Laguna province stuffed inside a plastic drum that was weighed down by concrete in a remote creek.

Police in Mabitac, Laguna, on Saturday said the family of Romeo “Rommy” Loyola Torres, identified his body after traveling from Bulacan to claim his remains.

Mabitac police chief Lt. Johnny Gatlabayan, citing an investigation report, said Torres had gunshot wounds in the mouth, chest and body.

Torres was hog-tied with a black shirt, stuffed in a plastic drum and covered with concrete, he said.

Property dispute

“When [a Mabitac resident found and] rolled over the plastic drum, the concrete cracked open and a foot jutted out. That was when they reported it to the village officials and the police,” Gatlabayan said in a phone interview.

Torres’ group, Samahang Magsasaka sa San Mateo (Sama-Sama), has been in a dispute with Royal Moluccan Realty Holdings Inc. over ownership of a 75.5-hectare property in Norzagaray town.

Sama-Sama said the land is covered by the government’s agrarian reform program. The family of Torres and many in his community had been living and tilling parts of the disputed land since the 1950s.

The militant Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) said the land dispute has been simmering since 2007 and Torres was among those opposing the farmers’ eviction from the property.

“We strongly condemn this unspeakable savagery and brutality—a farmer fighting land grabbing and asserting his rights for a parcel of land was brutally killed, stuffed in a drum and left to rot afar. Only monsters can commit this heinous crime!” KMP chair Danilo Ramos said in a statement on Saturday.

Torres was a “dutiful and good-humored farmer” who “despite being reserved and quiet during peasant association meetings, realized the importance of asserting and defending their right to the land they till,” Ramos said.

Gatlabayan said the body was found in a remote area of Barangay San Miguel on Thursday.

He said Torres’ shirt was printed with the name of someone that they ultimately identified as an official of Norzagaray. Checking with the town’s police, investigators found that Torres was on a list of missing persons.

“The family identified him first through photos (taken at the scene),” Gatlabayan said.

Harassed families

Ramos told the Inquirer that the 60 families and members of Sama-Sama, an affiliate of KMP, had been harassed and 37 of their houses were demolished in 2018.

KMP said that sometime in 2020, alleged “goons and security guards” of Royal Moluccan had fired shots at Torres after he entered the land that had been fenced off to harvest banana and root crops.

Officers of the company could not be reached for comment on Saturday.

In January, the independent news organization Kodao Productions reported that 14 Sama-Sama farmers, including Torres’ wife, Jovita, were charged with theft for taking coconuts and bananas. Six of them have been arrested but were freed on a P6,000 bail.

According to KMP, more than 300 farmers have been killed under the Duterte administration. —WITH A REPORT FROM DELFIN T. MALLARI JR.