As the whole of Christendom marked the death and eventual internment of the dead Messiah in a mountain sepulcher in Golgotha, rural organizer Rico Adeva seemed to have followed the Redeemer’s path, though the said circumstance was neither the consequence of his own resolve nor the calculated result of his own choosing. Rather, it was a fate that was imposed from outside, by men with ill-intent wanting nothing more than to purchase his silence at the price of blood.

This experience occurred on the afternoon of 15 April 2006-Black Saturday-as Adeva and his wife Nenita were on their way to the town proper of Talisay in Negros Occidental. At around 4:00pm, as the couple was crossing Imbang River, they were accosted by three men wearing jackets and armed with .45 caliber pistols who then ordered them to turn their backs and lie on the ground. After doing so, the assailants shot Adeva, with the victim sustaining seven gunshot wounds in the head, ears, hands and torso.

According to his wife and colleagues in Task Force Mapalad (TFM), Adeva’s murder was prompted by his involvement in the struggle for agrarian reform-of preaching the gospel of rural liberation and land redistribution.

By being faithful to his calling, Adeva has earned the ire of the landed gentry of Negros which, for the past centuries, have lorded over the people of the island-a lingering danger that we in the agrarian reform community collectively face, wherever we may be assigned. Indeed, the profession that we have decided to pursue is not for the faint-hearted.

But by dying on that holy date of Black Saturday, Adeva has also emphasized that our lives as agrarian advocates is also an act of imitating Christ-of surrendering ourselves to others so that we may be whole, of taking part in the fullness of creation, in affirming all that is just, neded and reasonable so we may be able to catch a glimpse of the Absolute.

And we who are left behind are tasked to continue his lifework by seeking justice for Adeva and his family, and all the tillers of Negros who are struggling for their own piece of land their humble place in the sun.

Ka Rico may no longer be physically present, but the life he led was a life well spent, for it was a life spent following the footsteps of the Redeemer. -END-