Anti-mining farmer shot, wounded in ComVal

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

TAGUM CITY, Davao del Norte — Gunmen on a motorcycle shot and wounded a leader of a militant farmers’ group in Montevista, Compostela Valley, early Monday.

Jimmy Saypan was rushed to a local hospital after sustaining gunshot wound in the buttocks following the attack, according to Senior Insp. Rocky John Dalida, Montevista police station chief.

Saypan, the secretary general of Compostela Farmers’ Association (CFA), a progressive group of small-time banana growers and workers in Compostela Valley, was driving on his motorcycle along the national road in New Visayas village when shot by two gunmen riding on another motorcycle around 5:40 a.m., Dalida said.

“He was on his way to Compostela (town) when he was attacked. Initial investigation revealed the gunmen might have tailed the victim as he went out from his house,” Dalida told Philippine Daily Inquirer by mobile phone, adding the victim was rushed by responding police to a local hospital where he was undergoing treatment.

The CFA, along with the municipal government of Compostela, has been opposing the entry of a large mining company in the rice and banana growing town.

Agusan Petroleum and Mineral Corp. (AgPet) has applied for a mining exploration permit covering at least 12, 000 hectares of largely tribal lands in Compostela’s Ngan village.

Dalida said an investigation has started to identify the gunmen and determine their motives for attacking Saipan.

Monday’s attack was the latest against CFA officers. In 2015, rights group Karapatan-Southern Mindanao has accused the military’s 66th Infantry Battalion of firing at a cluster of houses in a community in Ngan, including that of CFA chair Bello Tindasan.

The Army’s 10th Infantry Division had belied Karapatan’s allegation.  SFM