HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
Jensen Cristobal: Workers' Advocate Killed
The brutal murder of Jensen Cristobal,
head of the Public Information Office (PIO) of the Santa Rosa City
Government and Bayan Muna (People First) Partylist member has brought to
83 the total death toll for the progressive party-list group since 2001.
“No one will opt to have him silenced
except those who oppose his principles and commitment,” said Luz Baculo,
secretary-general of the Pagkakaisa ng Manggagawa sa Timog Katagalugan (Pamantik
or Solidarity of Workers in Southern Tagalog).
BY DENNIS ESPADA
Bulatlat
SANTA ROSA CITY,
Laguna – The brutal murder of Jensen Cristobal, head of the Public
Information Office (PIO) of the Santa Rosa City Government and Bayan
Muna (People First) Partylist member has brought to 83 the total death
toll for the progressive party-list group since 2001.
Cristobal, 30 and
single, was shot to death by unidentified men in the morning of Feb. 18
near the Honda Cars building in Paseo de Magallanes, Makati City. He
obtained six bullet wounds from .38 and .45 caliber guns. The assassins
fled on board a black sedan car with plate number UHD 416. He was
supposedly on his way to meet his girlfriend that day, according to
Melvie Cristobal, the victim’s mother.
PIO staff Marian
Navarrete said they are still waiting for the police report on the case.
His remains have been buried in Ligao City, Albay – his hometown.
Cristobal also took
up law and worked in the office of human rights lawyer Pura Calleja. For
militant labor unions, his ability has aided troubled workers in their
legal actions.
“No one will opt to
have him silenced except those who oppose his principles and
commitment,” said Luz Baculo, secretary-general of the Pagkakaisa ng
Manggagawa sa Timog Katagalugan (Pamantik or Solidarity of Workers in
Southern Tagalog).
At the University
of the Philippines in Los Baños, Laguna (UPLB) where Cristobal finished
his Chemical Engineering course, he was elected student council chairman
in 1997. By the late 1990s, he was chairman of the National Union of
Students of the Philippines-Southern Tagalog Chapter (NUSP-ST). He also
served as a staff member of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan or New
Patriotic Alliance) in Southern Tagalog.
Gabriela Krista Dalena, a former colleague in UPLB, remembered him as
being very frank and critical. “He leaves an impression of being
intimidating and over-confident,” she reminisced. “He has a tendency to
play devil's advocate, possibly to make discussions livelier. But I
think he is actually sensitive and pensive. He would apologize later on
and make amends.”
In addition,
parallel incidents took place in Quezon – a rustic province recently
torn by
successive
hot-pursuit operations by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP)
against the communist-led New People’s Army (NPA).
Last February 8,
Anakpawis (Toiling Masses) Partylist member Romeo Lleovet was abducted
by suspected elements of the Philippine Army’s 74th Infantry Battalion
along with two other peasants in Barangay Burgos in Mulanay town and was
found dead the next day. Less than a month ago, Tritran Bus Lines’ union
officer Robert dela Cruz was slain by motorcycle-riding men in Lucena
City. Both were tagged – but never proved by the military – to be NPA
guerrillas.
Congressman Crispin
Beltran of Anakpawis Partylist condemned the murders. He said that all
these killings of activists are alarming in their frequency and
brazenness, for which Malacanang, up to now, has maintained its “ominous
silence.” Bulatlat
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