PHILIPPINES: Murder of activists condemned

On May 19, former University of the Philippines president Francisco Nemenzo, now chairperson of the left coalition Laban ng Masa (Struggle of the masses), denounced the murder of Movement for National Democracy (KDP) leader Analiza Gandia in Balanga, Bataan on May 18. This was the tenth murder of a left activist in two weeks, and the "third time in five months that a KDP organiser was killed in the same town in a style that bears the imprint of paramilitary thugs. Last month a Laban ng Masa national council member was slain in Davao using the same style." Nemenzo said there is a "clear pattern in these cowardly acts. Unable to beat the armed rebels in combat", loyalists to the president Gloria Arroyo are "hitting non-combatants to stop the swelling movement for her ouster. The idealistic young officers should live up to their avowed duty as defenders of the people and take the necessary steps to gain a heroic image for their profession."

From Green Left Weekly, June 7, 2006.

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From GLW issue 670