AFP sees 'internal row' in strike leader's ambush

LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines  – The military dismissed as baseless the insinuation of the Pinagkaisang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operator Nationwide (PISTON) that “government elements” had a hand in the ambush of a leader of a jeepney drivers’ association in Bicol during the nationwide transport strike last Monday.

“Our assets in the leftist transport organization told us that there is (a squabble in) the ranks of PISTON in Bicol,” said Lt. Col. Neneveigh Alco­vindas, assistant chief of staff for civil-military operations of the Army’s 9th Infantry Division based at Camp Elias Angeles in Pili, Camarines Sur.

A lone attacker shot transport leader Joel Ascutia, 42, president of the PISTON affiliate Concerned Drivers and Operators for Reform, while organizing the transport strike in Daraga, Albay.

“There are several issues hounding the leadership of Ascutia because some members of PISTON in Bicol are questioning his leadership because he does not come from the transport sector but a member of the peasant group ‘Para Uma and Para Sira (Farmers and Fishermen Group)’ who led the protest against the Australian mining firm on Rapu-Rapu Island in Albay,” Alcovindas said.

But police said they were exploring all angles in the slay try.

Superintendent Antonio Freyra, Daraga police chief, said the gunman was not a professional as only one of the five shots that he fired from a 9-mm pistol hit Ascutia.   – With Dennis Carcamo and Cecille Suerte Felipe