BACOLOD CITY – A police manhunt is on for a man shown in a viral video firing his gun in the direction of agrarian reform beneficiaries in Talisay City, Negros Occidental on Friday morning, Jan. 31.
Lt. Col. Salvador Trono Jr., Talisay police chief, said they are searching for the man who will face charges for violation of the Commission on Elections gun ban, grave threats and illegal discharge of a firearm.
“The motive for the incident is a land dispute,” he said.
READ: 2 agrarian reform beneficiaries hurt in Capiz shooting
The man could not be found in the addresses given to the police but their operations are ongoing to locate and arrest him.
The video shows an angry man fire his gun at a woman holding up a cellular phone as other agrarian reform beneficiaries shout.
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He was in the company of five others in civilian clothing, one of whom was also visibly holding a gun.
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Four of the women had gone to the Talisay Police Station on Friday to complain and a manhunt is on for the gunman, Trono said.
They said they were weeding when the armed men arrived.
Negros Occidental Provincial Election Supervisor Ian Lee Ananoria said he also requested the police to investigate the matter for violation of the Comelec gunban.
Lani Factor, Task Force Mapalad deputy national coordinator, said a “goon,” being linked to an influential landlord/lessee in Talisay City, Negros Occidental, aimed a gun against defenseless female peasants” at a sugar plantation in Barangay Dos Hermanas on Friday morning.
Unfazed at gunpoint, the women held smartphones against the armed men.
The 50-hectare Hacienda San Antonio Dos had been awarded to the agrarian reform beneficiaries in 2001 when the Department of Agrarian Reform issued them their certificates of land ownership award (CLOA).
Factor said the awardees leased back part of their land to a certain Paul Chang and want to regain control of the land.
She said “leaseholder Chang has no more rights as his lease contract expired and proposals for extension were rejected by the CLOA holders.”
However, a source said Chang claims the agrarian reform beneficiaries sold the property to him and he has a certificate of sale.
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“This standoff has been ongoing for more than a week now,” Factor said.
