Another Bicol militant killed

SORSOGON CITY — Another member of the militant party-list group Bayan Muna was gunned down by two motorcycle-riding men at noon the other day in Gubat, Sorsogon, police said.

Senior Superintendent Joel Regondola, Sorsogon police director, said the victim, Ruben Ermino, 52, had just alighted from a tricycle near his house in Barangay Padi when he was shot with caliber .45 pistols.

Regondola said they have launched a manhunt for Ermino’s killers.

The killing occurred at least two weeks after Rodolfo Regalado, Albay chairman of Bayan Muna, was killed in an ambush in Barangay Guilid in Ligao City, Albay.

At least four more Bayan Muna members were slain late last year in Sorsogon, including brothers Cris and Max Frivaldo of Irosin town.

Militant and human rights groups blamed the government for the Bicol killings in a rally in front of Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City yesterday.

Besides the killing of Ermino, they accused the government of having a hand in the killings of Ananias Burce, a barangay captain in Tabaco, Albay last Sunday, and Demetrio Imperial, 26, of Castilla, Albay.

The human rights group Karapatan said the Bicol incidents brought to 824 the number of political killings since President Arroyo took power.

The government has repeatedly denied being behind the killings, forming Task Force Usig and the Melo Commission to probe the murders of militants as well as journalists.