Bayan Muna Party-list has filed a resolution urging the House Committee on Human Rights to investigate the shooting incident that interrupted Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM) presidential candidate Leodegario "Ka Leody" De Guzman’s sortie last April 19.
“This violence and the attacks against indigenous people (IP) have been ongoing with impunity for quite some time now without resolution and proper intervention by the government. Lumad families continue to mourn for their loved ones who were killed. The recent shooting incident that includes the party of Ka Leody de Guzman is emblematic of how our justice system continues to fail them, an act which members of Congress should not countenance,” read Bayan Muna’s House Resolution (HR) 2561.
Last Tuesday, April 19, gunmen fired on De Guzman; PLM Senate bets Roy Cabonegro, David D’Angelo; and Manobo-Pulangiyon IP leaders during a sortie in Quezon Municipality, Bukidnon Province.
De Guzman’s sortie was held to discuss the issue of land grabbing after ancestral lands of the Manobo-Pulangiyon people were seized by land developers in 2017; Bayan Muna’s resolution cites this incident and the events leading up to it.
“It can be recalled that on Feb. 3, 2017, Renato Anglao, a member of the Manobo-Pulangiyon tribe and official of the Tribal Indigenous Oppressed Group Association (TINDOGA) was also killed by unidentified men in Crossing Busco, Quezon, Bukidnon province. Anglao and his tribe have protected and defended their land against the land grabbing efforts of then vice-mayor, and now incumbent Quezon Mayor Pablo Lorenzo III, who also owns Rancho Montalvan, which aims to pave way for the expansion of sugarcane and pineapple plantations in the area,” the resolution continued.
“In 2017, the same year Anglao was killed, the Lumad community was forced out of their land near the banks of the Pulangi River and has since been living in the backroads without proper and adequate assistance from the concerned government,” Bayan Muna said.
Five attendees were injured in the April 19 shooting. Four were Lumad farmers, namely Bae Delsocorro, Datu Arroyo, Orlando Lingaolingao, and Eger Dabatianl; while one was an organizer for the farmer’s sector in Mindanao named Nanie Abella.
Abella was standing right beside De Guzman when she was shot.
Meanwhile, PLM candidates De Guzman, D’Angelo, and Cabonegro were unharmed.
Following the incident, rival presidential candidate Vice President Leni Robredo and her camp offered assistance to De Guzman and his group, while Malacañang and vice presidential candidates Senator Francis Pangilinan and Mayor Sara Duterte similarly condemned the shooting.