Soon, they saw fellow farmers scampering and so her group jumped into a swamp a few meters from the nipa hut.
“Mabuti po may lungkaw dun sa may likuran,” Eva, a resident of Barangay Bagting here said. They wanted to scream for help but keen observation on the pattern of the attackers prevented them from doing so.
“Natakot po kami pero hindi na po kami naghiyaw kasi po kapag may narinig po silang sigawan dun po nila niraratrat”” she noted.
Eva was among 21 residents of Barangay Bagting who joined only this year over 200 people from different parts of the province in cultivating portion of the controversial Lot 28 and Lot 29 in Barangay San Isidro believing that the the land will soon be distributed to landless farmers by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) based on a presidential proclamation issued by the late Pres. Corazon Aquino in 1992.
But her villagemates, Gaudencio Bagalay, 58, and Emerencia dela Rosa, 58, who were also hoping for a share of the government land were not lucky enough to survive the attack, reportedly by fi ve men armed with M-16 Armalite rifles.
Bagalay, dela Rosa and her sister, Violeta Mercado, 57, an overseas Filipino worker who only went with her that fateful day tried to find cover underneath a nipa hut but were fired at close range by the attackers.
Each sustained no less than 20 bullet wounds, according to initial reports.
Bagalay’s wife Angelita, 53, lamented that her husband joined the group in search of a safer place for them to live in. “He did not want us buried in this place should a landslide occur again,” she said.
Their far-from-decent house where Bagalay’s remains now lie sits on a small lot that started to erode during the onslaught of Typhoons Lando and Nona late last year.
“Nabalitaan niya pong may ipamimigay daw pong lupa at eto nga po malapit na ga po samin itong kabatuhan na po yan kaya naaawa po siya sa amin sa kagustuhan niya pong makatira po kami at makalayo po dito sa landslide po..”, Angelita said.
The fourth victim, widower Eligio Barbado, 53, also of Barangay Bagting was a bus driver who went to the place only to help build the huts for his neighbor.
Witnesses said he ran for safety, along with a teen-aged boy, from the busts of fi re but was hit by bullets in diff erent parts of his body. The boy sustained a slight wound on his ear.
His daughter, Evangeline, 21, who is pursuing vocational training at the Technical Education Skills Development Authority (TESDA) center through the help of her grand mother here cried for justice.
“Kasi po ang tatay ko po gusto lang po niyang tumulong pero bakit siya pa po yung nawala. Ang dami pa po naming pangarap sa tatay ko. Kasi po tatay ko mula po binata siya masyado na hirap niya. Parang gusto ko po may magbago sa kanya kaya po nagaaral po kami ng mabuti para sa kanya,” Evangeline cried.
Tomas Guevarra, leader of the Alyansa ng mga Magsasakang Nagkakaisa 3100 (Almana 3100) said his group invited the victims and other farmers heavily affected by the landslide. “Masyado nang nanganganib ang buhay nila sa Barangay Bagting at Calabasa dahil natitibag ang ilog na tinatayuan ng kanilang mga bahay,” Guevarra said.
Almana 3100 has been fi ghting for the land for several years.
The inclusion of calamity victims from this town in the group was declared in a dialogue with offi cials of of the provincial agrarian reform office (PARO) led by Romeo Cordero last August.
On Monday, Cordero said the screening committee has finished deliberating last week’s application of some farmers actually tilling the lands within Lot 29 and will be posting 329 names on two tarpaulins in the area as well as bond paper sized ones in barangay and municipal halls within this month.
This posting, Cordero said, will enable residents to air questions. When made final, he said, each farmer shall be given CLOA for the land they actually till based on their submitted claims or maximum of three hectares.
Cordero chairs the screening committee with the chairman of the farmers group provincial agrarian agrarian committee and the barangay agrarian reform councils of San Isidro, Nauzon and San Josef as members.
