Woman still fighting for life after shooting of land claimants

ILOILO CITY—A woman is fighting for her life after she was shot and wounded when violence erupted between armed men and a group of land reform beneficiaries in a disputed property in Capiz province on Saturday.

Melinda Eslana-Arroyo, 48, remains unconscious with a bullet lodged in her head at the intensive care unit of Western Visayas Medical Center here.

Doctors have not performed surgery because of the possibility that this will worsen her condition, according to Marianne Tanate, one of the lawyers of land beneficiaries involved in the dispute.

Three others—Ana Bocala, Nida Amo and Adel Vergara—were shot and wounded and taken to Bailan District Hospital in Pontevedra town in Capiz.

A fifth victim, Orlando Eslana, Melinda’s older brother, died when unidentified armed men fired at land reform beneficiaries during a confrontation in Barangay Culilang in President Roxas town.

Jesery Lachica, 47, a relative of Culilang village chief Ferdinand Bacanto, administrator of the disputed property, was hacked and wounded allegedly by Eslana.

About 60 farmers, who were issued with certificates of land ownership award (Cloa) in 1998 covering 198 hectares, occupied a 3-ha area of the property of Nemesio Tan on Feb. 6. They said they took over the property due to the failure of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to install them as owners even after they were given titles.

Gil Marie Alba, lawyer of land administrator Bacanto, said they were readying charges against the land beneficiaries who were staying in sections of the property owned by the heirs of Tan.

“Let the law take its course,” Alba told the Inquirer.

He said what the land beneficiaries did was “clearly illegal,” citing an injunction issued by the Capiz Regional Trial Court in 2000 barring the DAR from installing the beneficiaries.

Senior Insp. Rachel Garnica, President Roxas police chief, said the local police were readying complaints against three persons identified by survivors as the ones who shot them.

Alba and the land beneficiaries lamented the police’s supposed failure to prevent the violence and arrest those involved.

PO3 Rez Bermudez said policemen were spread out in the area because they responded to two confrontations shortly before the shooting happened. Only nine policemen were  assigned there during the incident.

“Our priority was to break up the confrontation and bring the wounded to the hospital,” he said.

At least 15 shots were fired, as shown by a video footage taken by one of the wounded, Nida Amo.

The low-resolution footage from a camera phone, running for two minutes and 50 seconds, showed people running toward a tractor where a confrontation was taking place. Shortly after, shouts were heard and then successive gunshots. —NESTOR P. BURGOS JR.