Last April 24, just as I was attending the second and last day of the International Conference on ICT, colleagues and friends of Enrico Cabanit, a farmworker leader slain last year in Davao del Norte, flocked to the entrance gate of the Department of Agrarian Reform to commemorate his one year of death since April 24, 2006. A mass was said and a program ensued afterwards.
So sad I could not make a way to attend that activity. But I’m sure Ka Eric is happy in company with the Creator. I’m also sure that the attendees have kept the fire burning just as when they did the commemoration.
When I was outside the DAR premises yesterday (coming from the seminar on Church social teachings), I saw the streamer mounted by UNORKA on the DAR’s main signage. It was meant to commemorate Ka Eric’s death anniversary. The red shawl below the streamer is our symbol for Ka Eric and other farmers slain in line of their struggle for land. It stands at Ka Eric’s symbolic tomb.
Read my blog tribute to Ka Eric last year and another piece on killing of peasants.