Another Central Luzon activist slain

ANGELES CITY — A Nueva Ecija leader of the party-list group Bayan Muna has been killed, the second activist slain in Central Luzon this year.

The human rights group Karapatan-Central Luzon said the body of Armando Leabres, 42, a coordinator of Bayan Muna in Nueva Ecija, was found in San Ildefonso, Bulacan last Jan. 11, a day after he was abducted from his home in Barangay San Jose in Penaranda, Nueva Ecija.

Sr. Cecille Ruiz, who chairs Karapatan-CL, said Leabres, an employee of the Nueva Ecija Electric Cooperative II, earlier claimed that he had received threats from military men in his hometown.

Last Jan. 7, Nilo Villalon, a militant leader in San Miguel, Bulacan, was also shot dead.

Ruiz cited Karapatan-CL records showing that in 2005, 49 leaders of militant organizations were killed, seven were abducted and have remained missing, and 25 others were detained illegally.