Jose Unahan, a Higaonon peasant leader was shot dead on the 6th of June 2018. The author of the crime remains unknown, having fled aboard a motorcycle in Nasipit, in Agusan del Norte, in the Philippines.
Unahan, was an active defender of ancestral indigenous lands and member of the Unyon sa Mag-uuma sa Agusan del Norte (UMAN), a provincial formation of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) acting against the large-scale mining projects and other environmentally deleterious extractive projects within the region.
Unahan’s murder comes within an increasingly troubling context of violent aggression against indigenous and land rights defenders under the Duterte regime that sees little investigative justice.