Villar calls for probe into death of Sumilao farmer

Senator Manuel Villar, Nacionalista president, today called on the Philippine National Police to immediately solve the killing of peasant leader Rene Penas of Sumilao, Bukidnon, and arrest those behind the dastardly act.

"The PNP should investigate and solve this killing immediately. Let the perpetrators of this cowardly act face the bar of justice," Villar said.

He said "it is the height of cowardice to kill a poor man who struggled for more than a decade to help the community realize a dream of having their own land to till."

Villar, who prides himself as someone who also rose from poverty, said he identified with the struggle of the Sumilao farmers.

"I understand their struggle because I too have been like them before," he maintained.

"I am one with the Catholic church, the civil society and all who believe in justice in condemning in the strongest possible terms the assassination of Ka Rene," Villar said.

Gunmen ambushed Penas on Friday evening while he was on his way home.

"Ka Rene lived a life fighting for their land in Sumilao, for social justice and for the extended agrarian reform program, which we supported in the Senate," Villar said.

The legislator added that he admired the commitment of Penas and the Sumilao farmers when they first staged a hunger strike in 1997 to press for the implementation of agrarian reform.

The farmers' hunger strike had brought the issue of farmers to the attention of the country.