Another member of the party-list group Bayan Muna (people first) was shot dead around 9 a.m. Feb. 18 in Pasay City.  

The Pagkakaisa ng Manggagawa sa Timog Katagalugan-Kilusang Mayo Uno (Pamantik-KMU or Solidarity of Workers in Southern Tagalog-May First Movement) said that Jensen Cristobal, 31, single, just alighted from a passenger bus from Santa Rosa, Laguna when he was gunned down by four unidentified men in front of a Honda Center in Paseo de Magallanes, Pasay City.   

Cristobal sustained six bullet wounds from .38 and .45 cal. pistols.  The assassins, who were on aboard a Honda Civic with plate number UHD 416, immediately fled after the shooting. 

Cristobal was a member of Bayan Muna Partylist and the Santa Rosa city mayor’s public information officer. He was also a former staff of the militant Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan or New Patriotic Alliance) chapter in Laguna (43 kms. south of Manila). 

The Cristobal killing comes in the heels of reported intensified violence against the people of Laguna and neighboring provinces comprising the Southern Tagalog region, said Luz Baculo, Pamantik secretary general. 

“The murder of Jensen is not an isolated case.  His case is the same as that of Mely Carvajal, Diosdado Fortuna and Roberto dela Cruz.  It is but part of the political repression under the U.S.-Arroyo regime,” said Baculo. 

Gabriela member Mely Carvajal was shot dead in front of her house in August 2004 while Diosdado Fortuna, Pamantik chairman and union president in Nestlé Philippines Cabuyao, was ambushed on his way home last Sept. 22., 2005. Roberto dela Cruz, union officer in Tritran Bus Co. union officer, was murdered Jan. 25 this year. Bulatlat 

© 2006 Bulatlat ■  Alipato Publications

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