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Friday, July 28, 2006
Militant gunned down in Misamis Oriental
By Danilo V. Adorador III
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY -- An unidentified gunman shot and killed a member of the militant group Bayan Muna in the Misamis Oriental town of Salay Wednesday evening.
Ernesto Ladica, 43, a farmer, was gunned down at close range while taking coffee just outside his residence in Barangay Lo-oc at around 6:30 p.m., said Bayan Muna Northern Mindanao spokesperson Henry Rogelio, quoting witnesses and the victim's relatives.
Ladica, described by colleagues as an active community leader and organizer, became the first militant murdered in Northern Mindanao in a series of violent killings involving leftist personalities in the country.
Militants immediately blamed Ladica's death on the 8th Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Army based in the eastern part of province where communist rebels maintain presence.
Beverly Musni, head of the human rights group Karapatan in Northern Mindanao, said Ladica's death was politically motivated, saying they have enough reason to believe that the intelligence branch of the 8IB had carried out the killing.
Three unidentified motorcycle-riding men were involved in the killing, but only one of the suspects alighted and shot Ladica three times -- inflicting fatal wounds in the left shoulder, left ear, and at the upper neck portion, Rogelio said, quoting Ladica's 44-year-old wife Liza and police reports.
"After the gunman fired his first shot, he (Ladica) was able to run for a few meters, but the gunman caught up with him and pumped two bullets on his body causing his immediate death," Rogelio said.
Rogelio also criticized Salay law enforcement authorities for the slow response, alleging that the police came an hour after the incident was first reported. Sun.Star tried but failed to get the Salay police's side on the issue.
Ladica's wife, who serves as secretary of the Misamis Oriental Farmers Association (Mofas) where her husband was also a member, said she recognized the gunman as he and his two other companions didn't even bother to wear a mask, Rogelio said.
"She (Liza) recognized the suspect by his face and from recollection, she is fairly certain that she saw the same person in one of 8IB's detachments near their farm in Tinagaan," he said, referring to a village in Salay.
He added: "She can positively identify the assailant if she faces him again."
The 8th IB command, headed by Colonel Andrelino Colina, maintains a number of detachments in some of the province's eastern towns, but a spokesman for the Fourth Infantry Division (4ID) could not say if the group has a detachment in Salay.
In a text message, Retired Colonel Francisco Simbajon, 4ID spokesman, said the 8IB has not received a report on the killing as of afternoon Thursday.
Nonetheless, Simbajon denied the military's involvement in Ladica's death, saying such accusation did not come as a surprise anymore "since we have been always blamed for similar incidents before."
"We are not surprised about the accusation. They are always twisting the facts," Simbajon said.
Musni said Ladica's death was proof of "the ongoing campaign against the militant bloc in the entire country."
"We believe this is a political killing. This incident only proves there is a concrete, operational campaign to wipe out dissent, especially from progressive sectors," she said. "This only strengthens our resolve to stop repression and advance people's rights."
Rogelio blamed President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for "lionizing" and "exonerating" military hawks such as General Jovito Palparan in her recent State of the Nation Address. Human rights groups accuse Palparan of having "masterminded" a number of militant killings in Luzon and Visayas areas. (Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro/Sunnex)
(July 28, 2006 issue)
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