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Cebu Pacific Flight 387, a McDonnel Douglas DC 9-32 aircraft crashed on the slopes of Mt. Sumagaya in Claveria, Misamis Oriental killing all 99 passengers and five members of the crew.
Gana and Ollado were dead at 38 and 32, respectively.
The two were supposed “to personally talk to members of MAPALAD farmers in Sumilao as regards their case which was pending for resolution before the Supreme Court. It was at the time that the struggle of the MAPALAD was at its height,” a press statement from BALAOD, said. Sumilao farmers attended a mass for the two lawyers at Macanhan Chapel today. The farmers have camped out at the regional office of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to demand distribution of the 144-hectare land converted to agro-industrial purposes in 1996 and reverted to agricultural by President Arroyo in December 2007,
The Sumilao farmers in Bukidnon “shall perform a ritual to ask Bobby and Caloy for their continued support to their decade long of struggle, as well as to ask the spirits to gather broader support from the people,” the press statement read.
Three of the Sumilao farmers will also join Balay Mindanaw Group of NGOs to Claveria in Misamis Oriental for a reflection session “on the lives of Bobby and Caloy who have given up their life for the cause of the MAPALAD farmers who are still continuing their fight to reclaim the 144 hectares.”
On the 10th anniversary of the crash tomorrow (February 2), they will proceed to the Flight 387 Shrine situated in the boundary of Gingoog and Claveria. The Shrine was built to remember the 104 passengers and crew who perished in that crash.
From there, the group will proceed to Cagayan de Oro’s Oro Gardens. About 150 farmers from Sumilao will walk from the DAR regional office to the Oro Gardens. (MindaNews)
