‘Killing of Bayan Muna Misamis Oriental Leader Part of Arroyo Election Plan’

Feb. 13, 2007

DAVAO CITY — The extrajudicial killings of Bayan Muna members continue.

We condemn the Arroyo administration and highly suspect the Armed Forces of the Philippines as the culprit of the murder of Dalmacio Gandinao, Bayan Muna Misamis Oriental provincial chair. No other entity has the means and motive to eliminate Bayan Muna leaders, Bayan Muna Rep. Joel Virador said.

Reports from Bayan Muna Northern Mindanao officials said that five armed men barged into Gandinao’s hut in Salay, Misamis Oriental at about 7 p.m. Thursday and shot dead the activist leader.

Tatay Daki, as he was called by many, was having dinner with his wife and three grandchildren when the gunmen struck. He is the 126th member of Bayan Muna to be killed under the Arroyo administration. It is the only a regime that desperately wants to eliminate those who oppose its anti-people policies and resorts to this ongoing killing spree, Virador said.

Gandinao, 39, who also heads the Misamis Oriental Farmers Association (MOFA) an affiliate of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), died of four gunshot wounds.

We firmly believe that along with the fake New Peoples Army (NPA) assassination plots on Joseph Estrada and Gloria Arroyo hatched by National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales, the continued killings of Bayan Muna members are part of the administrations strategy to cheat and win in the 2007 elections, Virador said.

He added: history and the people will not be kind to a regime once it comes to an end. Arroyo has done nothing to stop the extrajudicial killings that are largely blamed on the military. Arroyo, Gonzales and military generals cannot get away with murder forever. #

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