Another leftwing activist slain in Bicol 

INQUIRER.net, Associated Press
Last updated 03:20pm (Mla time) 01/01/2007


(UPDATE) A LEFTWING activist was fatally shot in what his colleagues thought could be a government plot to weaken his political party ahead of congressional and local elections in May, a lawmaker said Monday.

Rodolfo “Pong” Alvarado, a regional coordinator of the Bayan Muna political party in Bicol, was driving on Sunday when one of three men on a motorcycle shot him eight times, police said.

“The AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) and (President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo) death squads are the only ones with the means, motive and opportunity to kill Bayan Muna leaders like Pong,” Bayan Muna Representative Teodoro Casiño said.

"The killing of Alvarado is part and parcel of the (Arroyo) regime's moves to cripple our party for the 2007 elections," Casiño said.

Representative Satur Ocampo gave assurances this attempt by the administration would not succeed.

“We will make sure Bayan Muna wins anew in 2007 polls despite the violence unleashed against us and with Pong and other martyrs as inspiration,” he said.

“People’s will prevail over violence of desperate (President Arroyo),” Ocampo added.

National police chief Director General Oscar Calderon has ordered an investigation into the latest in a wave of attacks on political activists that has been condemned by international and local human rights groups.

Alvarado was the highest officer of Bayan Muna, a prominent left-wing party strongly critical of Arroyo's government, to be killed so far. More than 120 members have been slain in attacks blamed by the party on soldiers or police since 2001, Casino said.

Military and police officials have denied such allegations and challenged accusers to produce evidence and file charges in court.

Alvarado was a potential candidate of Bayan Muna for seats in the House of Representatives, where the group has three incumbent representatives, including Casino, he said. Some officials have accused Bayan Muna of acting as a front for communist guerrillas, who have been waging a rural-based rebellion for 38 years.

The party overwhelmingly won in vote-rich Albay, about 340 kilometers (210 miles) southeast of Manila, during the 2001 and 2004 elections, Casino said.

International human rights groups, including London-based Amnesty International, have expressed grave concern over the rising number of the apparent political killings.

In an unprecedented move in November, the American, Australian, New Zealand, Canadian, European, Japanese and South Korean business chambers issued a joint statement condemning the killings, saying "such violence has no place in a modern democratic state."

Arroyo also has denounced the killings and has created a fact-finding body to investigate them.

Maila Ager, INQUIRER.net  


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