SAN NICOLAS – The slain lead of the Tignay Dagiti Mannalon a Mangwaya-waya ti Agno (Timmawa) was buried at the municipal cemetery last Saturday following necrological rites at the municipal hall here.

Before the interment however, the slain Jose Doton, 61, chairman of TIMMAWA, was honored by the town as a leader working to advance the interest of the farmers in his personal capacity.

Mayor Leoncio Saldivar II, in a talk over a radio station, said Doton was an outstanding citizen of San Nicolas being president of the town’s farmers federation and the San Nicolas Gold Panners, Inc. who have greatly helped small farmers.

Saying that Doton was his friend who helped him bring about change in San Nicolas, Saldivar said he appointed the leader of Timmawa as vice chairman of a Special task Force on Livelihood for gold panners affected by the construction of the San Roque dam.

Saldivar said through the efforts of Doton, the San Roque dam management is set to release soon P3 million worth of livelihood projects for local gold panners pending submission by them of a comprehensive livelihood plan.

In a press statement Tuesday, TIMMAWA condemned the slaying of Doton and called on authorities to exert their utmost efforts in finding the perpetrators in order to give justice to their leader and his family.

Wounded with Doton in the May 16 ambush by motorcycle-riding gunmen was his younger brother Diosdado alias “Cancio’, 57, who is now recuperating from his two wounds suffered in that incident at the Family Clinic Hospital in Tayug.

Doton strongly opposed the construction and later operation of the San Roque dam which he then believed would affect the livelihood of farmers as well as gold panners of the Agno rivers who are known locally as “agsay-sayyo”.