Gunmen shoot at protesting farmers, wound 2 women in Ecija

STO. DOMINGO, NUEVA ECIJA – Two women were wounded on Wednesday afternoon (April 25) when two men opened fire on a group of protesting farmers in front of a disputed property in Sitio (subvillage) Saranay in Baloc village here, a belated police report says.

Virginia Guiang, 65, and Maria Fe Magbanua, 46, were among the farmers asserting their rights over the Sangalang farmland at 3 p.m., when the armed men fired at them using a shotgun and a pistol, said Chief Insp. Abraham Atencio, Sto. Domingo police chief.

Guiang is being treated at a hospital in Talavera town while Magbanua has been released after receiving medical aid, he said.

Police chased and arrested suspects Jovy de Jesus, 23, and Anthony Jaucian, 32, inside the Sangalang compound.

Atencio said two counts of frustrated murder are being filed against the suspects.

Investigators said the owner of the Sangalang property identified the suspects as workers he hired to erect a perimeter fence, and insisted they acted on their own volition./lb