Youth Leader Slain in Bicol
BY
ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat
Posted
4:21 p.m. March 20, 2006
A national council member and Bicol regional coordinator of the militant League of Filipino Students (LFS) was shot dead last night in Bagumbayan village, Washington Drive, Legazpi City, Albay (550 kms. south of Manila).
Cris Hugo, 20, a fourth year journalism student from Bicol University (BU), was walking home with one of his teachers at 10:30 last night when he was shot by two unidentified assailants, local police Senior Insp. Rico Nocillado told media. The gunmen immediately fled the scene.
Hugo was rushed to the nearest hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival.
The LFS national leadership has condemned the killing. “Whoever did this to Cris must be punished,” LFS national chairperson Vencer Crisostomo said in a statement sent to media. “We believe that this killing is politically motivated and hold the Arroyo government accountable.”
Hugo is the 36th victim this year of what have been described as politically motivated killings, based on data from the human rights group Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights).
“We cannot allow Arroyo's minions to kill the students and the youth who are the future of this nation,” Crisostomo said.
Active in protests against tuition increases and other student campaigns, the LFS is among the progressive organizations tagged by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) as “enemies of the state.”
LFS members are set to hold a candle-lighting activity at 5:30 this afternoon to protest Hugo’s killing. Bulatlat
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