Militant leader shot dead in Bataan

ABUCAY, Bataan — Two unidentified motorcycle-riding armed men shot dead a 43-year-old militant leader in Barangay Gabon here yesterday morning.

Superintendent Arnold Gunnacao, Bataan deputy police director, identified the fatality as Cathy Alcantara, 43, secretary general of Kilusang Pambansang Demokrasya (KPD)-Bataan chapter and a resident of Barangay Sta. Lucia, Samal town.

Gunnacao told The STAR that the victim was on her way out of the Abucay Country Resort at around 9 a.m. when the suspects, armed with .45 caliber automatic pistols, fired at her at close range. Alcantara sustained four gunshot wounds in different parts of the body.

Alcantara had just attended a two-day seminar-workshop for youths, farmers and fisherfolks in Central Luzon and was reportedly walking towards a waiting shed to get a ride to Balanga City when the shooting occurred. Alcantara was rushed to the Bataan General Hospital by the seminar participants but was pronounced dead on arrival.

Police recovered four empty shells and one slug at the crime scene. Police teams were immediately dispatched to apprehend the suspects believed to members of a breakaway rebel groups.

KPD, a national political organization engaged in the struggle for political and democratic rights and sectoral issues, strongly condemned Alcantara’s murder.

"The sacrifice of Cathy Alcantara and scores of freedom loving people who died will only embolden the KPD and the Filipino people to intensify efforts to bring down the repressive and fascist Arroyo regime," it said in a statement.

According to the KPD, Alcantara had participated in various people’s struggle both in Bataan and Central Luzon, especially against the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant.

Recently, Alcantara organized a contingent of Bataan students and women to join a protest rally last Nov. 23 to call for justice for the Filipina allegedly raped by American soldiers in Subic.

KPD said its 10,000 members "will not rest until perpetrators of Alcantara’s killing are punished."

Although the gunmen are unidentified, Alcantara’s murder is similar to past killings of militant leaders in Central Luzon.

KPD believes that it is part of a scheme to terrorize the people and silence legitimate dissent.

Earlier, militant group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) accused Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan, commander of the 7th infantry division, of involvement in the killing of militant leaders in Central Luzon.

Millet Morante, national KPD secretary general, said it was another attempt of Palparan to clamp down militant peasant groups in the region. — With Ding Cervantes, Ric Sapnu, James Mananghaya, AP