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Saturday, March 03, 2007
Militant union leader killed in Digos
By Nilo Cobrado and Jeffrey M. Tupas
DAVAO CITY -- A militant leader in Digos City was shot dead in broad daylight Friday, making him the 78th victim of extrajudicial killing in the country since 2001 and first in Southern Mindanao for 2007.
The victim was identified as Renato Torrecampo Pacaide, 53, provincial coordinator of the militant group Anakpawis in Davao del Sur.
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Anakpawis, or "toiling masses," is part of Bayan, the country's biggest left-wing alliance. The Anakpawis party, which espouses Marxist views, has one member in the House of Representatives.
Pacaide was killed at past 10 a.m. by two armed men in the corner of Rizal and Lim Streets in Digos City.
Southern Mindanao Police Director Andres Caro said the victim was walking with his daughter when motorcycle-riding gunmen shoot him down.
The driver had a helmet on while the gunman brazenly shot the victim even without any covering on his face.
The victim was shot on his right ear that caused his instant death. Pacaide was a familiar figure in protest rallies in Digos.
In a text message, Caro said the victim was "organizing a union in the Nakayama Corp. in Digos that is expected to lay off around 80 laborers at the end of March."
The human rights group Karapatan blamed the death of Pacaide on the "unwillingness of the Arroyo administration to give justice to the victims of all extrajudicial killings."
"Nobody has the interest to topple down progressive groups but the government and its security agents. The government is resorting to a lot of ways to eliminate progressive groups and individuals and party-list groups. And this is one of the moves of the Arroyo administration," said Kelly Delgado, secretary general of the Karapatan-Southern Mindanao.
"The government and its agents, however, cannot stop the unwavering desire and strength of the people to see change and have justice," Delgado added.
Pacaide was also active against all forms of developmental aggression. He was always vocal about his opposition to large-scale mining and the establishment of a hydroelectric power plant in the Tudaya waterfalls in Sibulan, Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur.
"We hold the Arroyo government and the Armed Forces of the Philippines responsible for the killing of Pacaide," said Editha "Inday" Duterte, Anakpawis-Southern Mindanao spokesperson.
Duterte alleged that at the onset of the May elections, soldiers from the military's 39th Infantry Battalion under the command of Lt. Gerard Ho have been campaigning against Anakpawis and its allied party-lists in Davao del Sur.
The military, she said, has accused Anakpawis as being a front of the armed revolutionary movement.
"Such maneuvers of the (military) have put our lives in peril. By relentlessly linking us with the (communist New People's Army), the (military) under the aegis of the Arroyo government is giving outright license to kill our members and leaders," Duterte pointed out.
Anakpawis maintains that despite the continuous denial of Arroyo and her "lapdogs" in Malacanang, like Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales, and retired Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan, to the initial findings of the Melo Commission and United Nations Commission on Human Rights Special Rapporteur Philip Alston, they cannot hide the truth from the people.
"We demand justice for Pacaide! We dare the AFP and the Arroyo government to face responsibility for the political killings," Duterte said. (JMT/With press release)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Zamboanga. (March 3, 2007 issue)
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