Five years ago today, at 8:30pm, suspected state agents shot dead peasant leader Alexander Ceballos near his house in Purok Tangke, Brgy. Pandanon Silos, Murcia, Negros Occidental. He was the first recorded extra-judicial killing among the ranks of activists in Negros under the Duterte regime.

In a statement, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas – Negros (KMP) decried the lack of justice for the murder of Ceballos and the many other peasants and peasant leaders killed by the Duterte regime.

Ceballos was an organizer for the National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW).

His work in mobilizing farmers in anti-feudal struggles earned him the ire of a political clan in the town of Don Salvador Benedicto, the De la Cruz family. Consequently, Ceballos was the recipient of many threats and intimidation from the said clan.

On July of 2015, Ceballos’ son, Alexander, survived an ambush by armed men and it was alleged that Alexander was the original target.

Eight days after Alexander’s murder, his wife received a death threat stating: “You, your comrades, and children already have spots in the cemetery.”

According to KMP – Negros, the killings have intensified through the militarization brought about by implementation of Memorandum 32, which declared Negros and a nearby provinces as in a ‘state of calamity’; this memorandum was a precedence for Executive Order 70 and the Anti-terror law.

Since Duterte sat in office, more than 100 deaths among peasants and peasant leaders have been recorded in Negros Island alone.

“Instead of addressing the historic landlessness in Negros through genuine land reform, the government of Duterte uses guns ang bullets on the toiling peasants,” the statement says.

Progressive groups will hold a rally to commemorate Alexander’s death as well as the 35th year since the Mendiola Massacre on January 21 at the Old City hall.