TANDAG, SURIGAO DEL SUR—In a small nipa house located in the middle of a pineapple plantation owned by Dodong Ledesma in Sitio Magroyong, Barangay Tina, San Miguel town, in this province, last December 2, 2007 at around 2 o'clock in the afternoon; Dodong, Deodato Pame and eight other individuals were discussing ancestral domain plans.

An hour after, while some of the group members were about to leave the place, a gun shot hit Deodato Pame on his back part of his right arm while still discussing with his seatmate and friend Dodong.

Dodong and the rest of the group carried Deodato Pame to the nearest highway but he did not survive. No one saw the triggerman but based on the initial investigation report, the triggerman was about 60 meters away.

Dodong Pame was a fighter in Surigao del Sur against illegal logging, mining and corruption in the last 30 years. He was a front liner of some of the community and church led advocacies. He was known for his anti-large scale mining stand in the province. He was also one of the complainants of the case filed against a logging company in Surigao del Sur in relation to indigenous peoples' rights. He also filed recently ombudsman cases against influential officials in the province for facilitating development projects that are detrimental to indigenous people and settler communities.

For a time, he even placed a streamer in front of his house which reads, "Ang nagpuyo dinhi sa balay, supak sa mina (Residing in this house is anti-mining)." His untimely death is a big loss to the struggle of communities in Surigao del Sur to stop large-scale mining and logging in the province.

Report from Carl Cesar Rebuta, Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center, Inc—Cagayan de Oro Office

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