PORAC, Pampanga – One of the three farmers who were shot in Hacienda Dolores here last Sunday died the other day at a hospital in San Fernando, even as the provincial police reported yesterday the arrest of three security guards who had confronted them amid land reform controversies in the area.
Alyansang Magbubukid ng Gitnang Luzon (AMGL) Chairman Joseph Canlas confirmed yesterday the death of
farmer Arman Padino who sustained a bullet wound in his head during last Sunday dawn confrontation between some 30 farmers and security men of LLL Holdings Co. who had blocked them from reaching their farms.
Pampanga police director Senior Supt. Oscar Albayalde named two of the security guards as Fernando de Vera and Elorde Sagun. An Armscor shotgun with bullets was recovered from De Vera. The third suspect was not immediately identified.
Canlas insisted, however, that Padino died from a head wound inflicted by a .45 calibre pistol, not a shotgun.
He said Padino was declared dead at about 2 p.m. Monday at the Jose Lingad Memorial Hospital in the City of San Fernando. “It seems that there is an effort to twist this case,” he said, as he expressed doubt on the impartiality of both the police and local officials.
In a report, Albayalde said the security guards were believed to have fired the shots that critically wounded farmers Padino, Noel Tumali and Arman Lomibao, all members of the Aniban ng Nagkakaisang Mamamayan sa Hacienda Dolores (Aniban), a group asserting the rights of hacienda farmers over lands being claimed by LLL Holdings and two other private corporations.
Tumali and Lomibao remained in serious condition at the Jose B. LIngad Memorial Hospital in San Fernando.
The police report identified barangay Hacienda Dolores chairman Antonio Tolentino and security guard Larry Sabado as being also injured. Sabado was reported to have sustained hacks from a bolo. Canlas noted that
Tolentino, who is also a member of Aniban, was arrested by the police and remained in the police headquarters
in Porac yesterday.
He said the police fabricated charges of malicious mischief and “carnapping” of a motorcycle allegedly belonging to LLL Holdings against the chairman. Albayalde cited police report saying that a confrontation arose at about 4:30 a.m. last Sunday after some 30 farmers ignored LLL Holdings security men who had warned them not to proceed to their farms in an area being claimed by the company.
