Militant leaders, teachers slain

BAYAN-USA Emergency News Update:

Attached is a photograph of some national council members of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers-Philippines taken at its 12th Congress held in St. Theresa's College in Quezon City in November 2002.

Napoleon Pornasdoro (standing, center), 54, a public school teacher of the Quezon National High School, was murdered by two gunmen on board a motorcycle last Monday, February 27 near the school where he taught in Lucena City, Quezon province. He sustained 5 gunshot wounds (1 in the head, 3 in the body, 1 in the leg) and died instantly.

Mr. Pornasdoro was the secretary-general of the Southern Tagalog Teachers for Development (STATEMENT), and a national council member of ACT-Philippines.

Also in the photograph is Vitoria Samonte (second from left). Ms. Samonte was stabbed dead by an unknown assailant in Bislig City, Surigao del Sur province on September 30, 2005. She was a faculty member of the Don Andres Soriano College, chairperson of ACT-Bislig City chapter, and a national council member of ACT-Philippines.

The deaths of Mr. Pornasdoro and Ms. Samonte belong to an ongoing series of extra-judicial killings targeting progressive activists who are critical of the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo government. ###

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http://news.inq7.net/regions/index.php?index=1&story_id=67861
First posted 10:33pm (Mla time) Mar 01, 2006
By Delfin Mallari Jr.
Inquirer

Militant leader slain amid crackdown

LUCENA CITY-A high school teacher and provincial chair of the left-wing Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) was shot dead by a lone assailant late Monday, a police report said yesterday.

Senior Insp. Ernesto Guinauli, chief of the Investigation and Intelligence Division of the city police, identified the victim as Napoleon Pornasdoro, 56, a faculty member of the Quezon National High School (QNHS) here.

Police said Pornasdoro was walking alone along Herta Road near the school in Barangay Ilayang Iyam when he was shot with a .45 cal. pistol by a still unidentified man, police said.

The killer escaped on a motorcycle driven by another man.

The victim died on the spot from several bullet wounds in different parts of the body.

Pornasdoro left behind a wife, also a teacher at the QNHS, and two children.

Leng Jucutan, chair of the human rights group Karapatan in Quezon, condemned the killing and quickly pointed to the military as the one responsible for it.

Jucutan noted that Pornasdoro had long been receiving death threats.

"Ka Nap attended our meeting last Sunday. We told him to always take care of himself, especially during these dangerous times," she said.

The victim's colleagues in Bayan said his murder was no different from those of local activist leaders Ronnie Almoete and Roberto de la Cruz.

"All of them were killed by fascist forces . to sow fear among legitimate dissenters," Jucutan said.

Almoete, a former Bayan Muna-Quezon chair, was killed in February last year, while De la Cruz, an Anakpawis coordinator in Lucena, was shot dead last month. Both killings have remained unsolved.

The killing of Pornasdoro came as the administration of President Macapagal-Arroyo started to crackdown on leaders and members of the Left and Right.

The campaign, her officials said, was in response to a purported coup plot against Ms Arroyo.###

BAYAN-USA is an alliance of progressive Filipino groups in the U.S. representing organizations of students, scholars, women, workers, and youth. As the only international chapter of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN-Philippines), BAYAN-USA serves as an information bureau for the national democratic movement of the Philippines and as a campaign center for anti-imperialist Filipinos in the U.S. Members of BAYAN-USA include: ANAKBAYAN (Los Angeles, Honolulu & Seattle), babae (San Francisco) Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines (Oakland & New York),
Habi-Arts (Los Angeles), League of Filipino Students (San Francisco), Pilipinos Organizing Workers for Empowerment and Respect (Los Angeles), and Critical Filipino and Filipino Studies Collective.