Mabini “Tata” Beato, a Lumad of Bukidnon province in Northern Mindanao was gunned down on March 24 at about 9:00 a.m. He was a member of the Lumad group TINDOGA (Indigenous Group Tribal Indigenous Oppressed Group Association), an organization fighting for its members’ right to ancestral domain against the incursion of a landlord, Pablo “Poling” Lorenzo. The security personnel of Lorenzo fired at Beato and wounded two others, Jave Sam Bagna and Romeo Timtim.

TINDOGA is one of the legitimate claimants of ancestral land under the government’s Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) program. Some 622 hectares of the ancestral land claimed by TINDOGA was leased by the government to the Montalvan ranch, owned by Lorenzo. The contract, however, ended in 2009 but the Montalvan ranch continued to operate, with the use of its own security personnel and the support of the military and government agencies.