|
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Bayan Muna official seized in Koronadal
By Nelson C. Bagaforo
With Bong S. Sarmiento
DAVAO CITY -- Five armed men, some clad in police uniforms, seized the regional officer of the militant party-list Bayan Muna in the capital city of Koronadal in South Cotabato Wednesday morning.
South Cotabato police director Roberto Kiunisala identified the victim as Gilbert Rey "Jing" Cardiño, Bayan Muna's regional coordinator for Far South Mindanao.
Pinoy Votes: Sun.Star Election 2007 Coverage
View here the list of local winners
Cardiño, 26, is the youngest member of the party-list's National Council, the group's second-highest governing body and which is equivalent to the national directorates of major political parties.
The victim's wife, Sheila Mae, appealed to her husband's abductors to release him as soon as possible.
She said her husband has no enemies.
"To those who are holding my husband, please release him. We have a five-year-old kid. He is not bad," Sheila Mae said.
Police said Cardiño was onboard a tricycle on his way home to Barangay New Pangasinan when armed men blocked his way along Barangay Santo Niño at around 11 a.m.
Citing witnesses, Kiunisala said, the kidnappers forced Cardiño into a white Mitsubishi L-300 van, without a plate number and which went in the direction of General Santos City.
"We have alerted our policemen in nearby towns. Some kidnappers wore police uniforms," Kuinisala said.
The tricycle driver who was transporting Cardiño is currently held for questioning.
The victim, according to a report posted on gmanews.tv, has been receiving threats prior to the kidnapping.
"Some men had been monitored tailing him. In fact, some men even take photos of our office in Koronadal City," the report quoted Roy Gabriel Sande, secretary general of Bayan Muna in General Santos, as saying.
Sheila Mae confirmed that her husband had been receiving threats. "He told me that there's a group of men tailing him," she said.
Members of the family of Cardiño pointed to military agents as behind the abduction.
"We suspect military agents are behind the abduction of my brother. We are asking them to free him. Although he is an activist, he has never been involved in any kind of trouble," Cardiño's brother Alejandro said.
House Deputy Minority Leader and Bayan Muna Representative Satur C. Ocampo immediately called on government forces to surface the victim.
"We condemn the abduction of Jing, and join his family in demanding that he be surfaced immediately and without any preconditions," Ocampo said in a statement.
"The state security forces are the principal suspects in Jing's enforced disappearance. The AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) and the PNP (Philippine National Police) have long considered Bayan Muna members as enemies of the state under the counterinsurgency Operation Plan Bantay Laya," said Ocampo.
According to the Bayan Muna website, a total of 856 members of activist and people's organizations have been killed from January 20, 2001 to May 4 this year.
The period falls under the incumbency of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Bayan Muna claims at least 131 of its members have died because of political killings. (Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Dumaguete. (June 7, 2007 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
|
|
[return to top]
[home]
|
|
Poll body declares failure of polls in Maguindanao