About 3,000 farmer-beneficiaries joined the funeral march for Rico Adeva, 39, at the Capitol Hall of Justice and the public plaza here prior to his burial at the Silay City public cemetery.
Three men shot Adeva at close range in Hacienda del Fuego 2, killing him on the spot. His wife, Nenita, was unharmed.
Mrs. Adeva could not provide a description of her husband’s killers who, she said, wore hats, thus making it difficult for her to see their faces.
Meanwhile, the Negros Occidental Federation of Farmers Association (NOFFA), an alliance of organized farmers in the province, also condemned the April 22 killing of Porfirio Maglasang, 42, in Barangay Tampalon, Kabankalan City.
Maglasang was the chairman of the Pambansang Katipunan ng Makabayang Magbubukid’s Kabankalan chapter.
NOFFA said Maglasang actively campaigned for the coverage and distribution of a 2,000-hectare public land in Tampalon.
Although Adeva was not involved in any controversial land dispute, NOFFA believes that his death — and Maglasang’s — was agrarian reform-related.
The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) itself has expressed alarm over the killings of peasant leaders.
In a statement, the DAR said it was saddened by the killings, the latest victim of which was Enrico Cabanit, secretary-general of the Ugnayan ng Nagsasariling Lokal na Organisasyon sa Kanayunan and a farmer-representative in the National Anti-Poverty Commission, in Panabo, Davao del Norte.
"This is very disturbing especially because we are now hastening the land distribution component of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program," said Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman. — Antonieta Lopez, Katherine Adraneda