Saturday, September 01, 2007

Politician Linked To Murder Of 2 Farmers In Southern Philippines

COMPOSTELA VALLEY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / 01 Sept) – Communist insurgents on Saturday accused a politician as behind the murder of two farmers in Compostela Valley’s Monkayo town in southern Philippines.

Authorities initially blamed the New People’s Army for the killings of the farmers late last month.

Aries Francisco, of the NPA’s Alejandro Lanaja Command, strongly denied the accusation and pointed to a politician as the alleged mastermind in the killings of the two farmers.

Both victims were opposed to the expansion of palm oil plantation that will affect many rice farmers in the province. It was unknown if the killings were connected to their cause.

The August 23 killings came barely two weeks after insurgents raided a hideout of suspected gunmen working for politicians and seized automatic rifles.

The NPA is fighting the past decades for a separate Maoist state in the Philippines and had broken off peace negotiations with Manila after accusing the Arroyo government as behind its inclusion in the terror lists of the United States and the European Union. (Mindanao Examiner)

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