NEWS FLASH
Bayan Muna Leader Assassinated; 13th
in Tarlac since November Massacre
By Abner Bolos
Bulatlat
Oct. 16, 2005
TARLAC CITY- The
secretary general of Bayan Muna party-list in Tarlac province was shot
dead by still unidentified men yesterday morning, Oct. 15, in his home in
Barangay (village) Tuec, Camiling, Tarlac.
The victim, Florante
Collantes, 51, was the 13th activist to be killed in the
province since Nov. 16 last year – the day seven striking cane workers
were killed in a massacre at their picketline in Hacienda Luisita, some
130 kms north of Manila.
His wife, Delia
Collantes, said two men on board a motorcyle stopped in front of their
retail store along the Romulo Highway at about 11 a.m. appearing to buy
cigarettes when one of them fired a single shot that killed the victim.
Collantes was tending the store when he was shot.
Dr. Saturnino Ferrer,
a government doctor who conducted the autopsy, said a single bullet
entered the base of the victim's skull near his left nape and exited
through his right cheek. Collantes died on the spot.
Pol Viuya, Bagong
Alyansang Makabayan-Tarlac secretary general said "only the military is to
blame for the killing." Collantes was elected Bayan Muna (people first)
provincial secretary general in 2001.
Viuya said Collantes
is also the 13th victim in a string of killings of members of
cause-oriented organizations in Central Luzon since Maj. Gen. Jovito
Palparan took command of the 7th Infantry Division which covers the region
less than two months ago. Palparan’s confirmation on his promotion to
major general has been on hold at the Commission on Appointments pending
investigation of alleged human rights violations.
The victim's wife
said she recognized the assassin, a burly man wearing a dark jacket who,
three days before the shooting, stopped by the store also on board a
motorcyle to buy cigarettes. She said she and her husband, who were both
in the store that morning, surmised any killer would do the same thing.
She said two former
military men whom she knew are residents of nearby barangays, drove past
their house on several occasions before the shooting apparently to case
the victim. She said the men, using different types of vehicles, "drove
slowly and cast hard looks on the house."
Leaders of Bayan Muna,
a progressive party list that topped the party-list elections in 2001 and
2004, have been the target of assassination allegedly by
government-organized death squads. Bulatlat
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