Ugnayan ng mga Nagsasariling Lokal na Organisasyon sa Kanayunan (UNORKA-Pilipinas) - Partnership for Agrarian Reform and Rural Development Services (PARRDS) - Philippine Ecumenical Action for Community Empowerment Foundation (PEACE)
On 30 January 2007, Iloilo farmer-leader Joseph Matudling was assassinated by two (2) bonnet-wearing gunmen near his home in Barangay Manduawak in the town of San Dionisio, at around 10:00pm. A leader of a local farmer organization, Matudling is the 38th farmer-leader who was killed in the curse of their agrarian reform struggle since President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo assumed the presidency in 2001.
According to witnesses, Matudling was about to enter the gates of his house when a bonnet-wearing gunman suddenly approached him and shot him on his left leg. Falling from his wound, a second gunman appeared and shot him several times. Matudling died instantly after receiving seven (7) gunshot wounds on the chest at least one (1) gunshot wound on the neck.
His wife was also wounded on the waist and is now confined in Sara District Hospital. The police also recovered 14 cartridges from the .45 caliber pistols that were used. Matudling’s death came a week after he reported sighting two (2) unidentified men surrounding his home.
The victim is part of a group of farmers contesting the claim of the highly influential Lopez family over an 84-hectare land area in Barangay Manduawak. Part of this area is considered as private land, and the ownership of the said portion was transferred by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) from the Lopezes to the farmers when it gave Matudling and 19 other farmer-beneficiaries their respective Certificates of Land Ownership Award. However, the CLOA holders have yet to take actual possession of the land for the Lopezes have retained their control over the said property.
Moreover, an even larger segment of the landholding claimed by the Lopezes has been classified by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has classified as public land, and is therefore deemed as CARPable.
Prior to Matudling’s death, the Melo Commission conducted investigations on cases of agrarian-related killings, especially in Negros and Mindanao. However, though they have already submitted their 89-page report to the President in December of last year, the Commission has yet to release the said document to the public.
Matudling’s murder also occurred two (2) days after the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) issued a pastoral statement entitled The Dignity of the Poor—A Gospel Concern which condemned “the recent extra-judicial killings, perpetrated by groups from both the right and the left, of farmers whose only ‘crime’ is their continuing struggle for agrarian reform.” The said document further recommended that CARP, “be finally completed next year,” and, “if it is not sufficiently implemented by then, the program should be further extended and that the law itself must be reviewed and improved.”
With this in mind, we demand the following:
1. that a thorough, impartial and independent investigation on the Matudling murder be initiated, including those other cases involving agrarian-related human rights violations;
2. that those responsible for the killing of Matudling be identified and brought to justice;
3. that the Melo Commission, include the Matudling murder in its file of cases and that it release its findings to the public;
4. that the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extra-Judicial Killings Philip Alston investigate the murder of Comrade Matunding and other casesof agrarian-related killings and violence; and
5. that the government hasten the implementation of agrarian reform in the Lopez property in Iloilo and in other CARPable lands.
Contact Persons:
PARRDS Executive Director Belinda Formanes (926-1153) and/or
UNORKA Council Member Vangie Mendoza (0919-2075508)