In Quezon: 2 Slain, 2 Declared Missing

Although the Commission on Elections (Comelec) did not declare it a “hotspot” in the May 10 national polls, Quezon - a province far south of Manila - has figured in election violence. In the past few weeks, there were three assassination attempts and at least two party activists were declared missing. All involved progressive party-list groups.

By Dabet Castańeda
Bulatlat.com

The indignation rally was being held outside the 417^th Provincial Mobile Group headquarters and near the municipal hall and town market to denounce the harassment and intimation of members of progressive party-list groups in the province. While this was going on, BM village coordinator Conrado “Ka Gado” Catigbak was gunned down in Barangay (village) Ikirin.

Catigbak, 45, was a utility personnel of the Rural Health Unit of Pagbilao and a village coordinator of Bayan Muna in Ikirin.  He, together with his wife, Sita actively campaigned for Bayan Muna in the just concluded national elections.

Kakay Tolentino, a member of the Southern Tagalog chapter of the multisectoral alliance Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) said Catigbak had to endure several cases of harassment after the death of Roger Perez, a local Bayan Muna leader. 

Tolentino, who headed a team which investigated the case, recalled that Sita received a call from a friend at around 12:20 p.m. saying that her husband was shot.

Mobile patrol, Army truck

Sita rushed to the site of the incident and saw her husband with his face on the ground.  She also saw a mobile patrol and a six-by-six army truck just a few meters away from the site of the incident. 

“Gusto ko sanang dalhin ang asawa ko sa ospital pero ayaw ipagalaw ng mga pulis” (I wanted to bring my husband to the hospital but the police didn’t allow me), Sita told the investigation team.  The team said Sita asked the police to help her bring her husband to the hospital but was refused. 

Sita said she was able to bring her husband later to the hospital by taking a tricycle but her husband was declared “dead on arrival.” 

Tolentino said the presence of the police and military at the scene of the crime was “suspicious” and suspected that the people behind the assassination of Catigbak were soldiers from the Southern Luzon Command (Solcom).  

Medical reports showed Catigbak sustained three gunshot wounds on the head, two on the chest and another two at the back.

Provincial board candidate

The May 13 indignation rally in particular also condemned the assassination attempt on peasant leader Peter “Tata Pido” Gonzales the day before.

On May 12 at around 6 p.m., Gonzales, who was also running for a seat in the Provincial Council of Quezon, was shot four times by alleged military men belonging to the Solcom. 

Gonzales was rushed to the Rosario District Hospital in Gumaca town in Quezon province. Tolentino said Gonzales was out of danger.

In a letter emailed to Bulatlat.com dated May 14, the multi-media group Southern Exposure (STEx) said, “(Gonzales) was able to raise his fist when friends visited him early that day.”  

Fisherfolk leader

On April 29, Perez, 48, a member of the Bayan Muna provincial council and vice-president of the fisherfolk group, Pamalakaya, came from a caucus of Nanding Guinto, a mayoralty candidate endorsed by Bayan Muna, in the town of Pagbilao, Quezon province. 

At around 9 p.m. while he was on his way home, Perez was shot by still unidentified men in Barangay Malikboy, Pagbilao town.  His wife, Tina Perez, 50, secretary general of Bayan Muna-Pagbilao, who was with him, also sustained gunshot wounds but survived the assassination. 

In a telephone interview with Tolentino, a member of the Southern Tagalog chapter of the multisectoral alliance Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), she alleged that the assassins were soldiers belonging to the Southern Luzon Command (Solcom). 

A week before the assassination of Perez, two members of the youth party-list group Anak ng Bayan were reportedly abducted in Barangay Mangilag, Candelaria town in Quezon. Reuel Adornado, 21, and Oliver Ostonal, 29 yrs., have been missing since. 

Tolentino said the two actively campaigned for Anak ng Bayan. Bulatlat.com

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