Farmer with militant group shot dead in Negros Occidental

FILE PHOTO

BACOLOD CITY — Another member of a militant farmers’ organization was killed on Wednesday after he was shot by a still unidentified gunman in Calatrava town, Negros Occidental.

The death of Wenceslao Pacquiao, a member of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) came as the police had yet to make a breakthrough in identifying the gunman who killed the leader of the National Federation of Sugarcane Workers (NFSW) in Murcia, Negros Occidental, on Jan. 20.

Pacquiao, 48, was plowing his sugarcane field, with Rovico Pabu-aya, when he was shot several times by the gunman, who was armed with a .45-pistol, in Barangay San Benito, Calatrava.

He died on the spot.

Initial police investigation showed an existing land conflict between the KMP member and the family of the late SPO1 Agustilo Hulleza Jr., which was pending in court.

Four spent shells of a .45-pistol were recovered at the crime scene.

Land conflict was also suspected as the motive in the killing of Alexander Ceballos, the NFSW leader, in Barangay Pandanon Silos, Murcia town in Negros Occidental, last week.

Senior Inspector Hector Balbon, acting Murcia police chief, confirmed that Ceballos received threats to his life before he was killed on Jan. 20.

The National Democratic Front of the Philippines said Ceballos was the leader of some 50 NFSW members cultivating a piece of land in the adjacent Salvador Benedicto town claimed by the former town mayor who had reportedly sold the land to businessman Eduardo Cojuangco Jr.  SFM