Another militant killed in Eastern Samar — report

An unidentified gunman shot dead an activist and court sheriff in Balangiga town in Eastern Samar province, in what seems to be another extra-judicial killing under the Aquino administration.

Radio dzBB on Tuesday reported police are looking into the ties of victim Casiano Abing, 56, with the militant party list Bayan Muna as a possible motive in the killing last week.

The report said Abing, a court sheriff of the town, was gunned down inside his house, shortly after a man knocked on the door looking for him on August 25.

News site Bulatlat reported Abing was wounded but alive when his family found him. He reportedly told his family he saw his assailant who was unfamiliar to him.

Bulatlat also said the killing came days after the formal announcement by the military of the extension of the counterinsurgency program Oplan Bantay Laya (OBL).

It said the victim suffered five gunshot wounds, one of which hit his liver.

“Abing is the sixth activist killed since President Benigno S. Aquino III assumed power,” it said.

Lawyer Katrina Castillo, head of documentation and legal services of the Katungod-SB, local chapter of rights group Karapatan, deemed the killing as politically motivated.

Castillo said Casiano had been active in the campaigns for Bayan Muna leaders and senatorial candidates Satur Ocampo and Liza Maza during the last May elections.

“His killing is still in connection with the government’s campaign to neutralize progressive organizations and party list groups,” Castillo said.

She cited co-employees at the Regional Trial Court in Balangiga reported suspicious looking men asking about Abing’s whereabouts.

Castillo called for justice for Abing and the 120 other victims of extrajudicial killings in the Eastern Visayas region under the previous administration. — LBG, GMANews.TV