On June 8 2019, 65-year-old land reform advocate Felipe Dacal-Dacal was shot dead in his home in Escalante City, Negros Occidental. The gunman was identified as a military agent. According to initial reports, the perpetrator visited Felipe’s house three times to “convince” him to stop joining rallies.
Felipe was a member of the National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW) and was a peasant leader who fought for free land distribution and genuine agrarian reform. Members of NFSW have been subjected to multiple incidents of red-tagging, among other forms of rights violations.