Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Activist slain as rights groups claim rise in political killings (5:00 p.m.)
MANILA -- A left-wing activist was fatally shot on Wednesday, police said, as human rights groups called for a probe into an apparent rise in politically motivated slayings.
Orlando Rivera, 49, a member of the left-wing fishermen's association Pamalakaya, was shot repeatedly by two unidentified men in his home in Obando, a fishing town 20 kilometers (12 miles) northwest of Manila, said regional Police Chief Superintendent Ismael Rafanan.
Police were investigating the motive and possible suspects, Rafanan said.
Rivera's group has been protesting the operation of a garbage site and the passage of trash-laden barges along the Obando River, according to Rafanan and Ruth Cervantes, a spokeswoman for the local human rights group Karapatan.
Cervantes said Rivera was earlier reportedly summoned by security officials on suspicions that he was a communist rebel.
On Tuesday, the London-based human rights watchdog Amnesty International claimed a growing number of political killings in the Philippines could lead to spiraling violence as the government seeks to stamp out communist rebels.
There were 51 political killings in the first six months of this year compared to 66 for all of 2005, Amnesty said in a report.
The assault methods, the victims' left-wing profile and a "climate of impunity" that has apparently shielded the killers showed "that the attacks are not an unconnected series of criminal murders but constitute a politically motivated pattern of killings," it said.
Amnesty urged President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to create an independent body to oversee investigations into the murders.
Karapatan said since Arroyo came to power in 2001, more than 700 civilians, including at least 310 left-wing activists, have been killed by suspected security forces, who often refer to left-wing groups as fronts for communist rebels.(AP) |
