Bayan Muna coordinator Larry Villegas was rushed to the hospital Sunday morning after an unidentified assailant shot him using a short firearm after breaking into his home in General Santos City. Villegas’s present condition has yet to be confirmed but initial reports showed that he sustained multiple gunshot wounds in his leg.
Villegas is currently an active community organizer in General Santos City. Aside from being a local Bayan Muna coordinator, he is also serving as the chairperson of the transport group PISTON’s local chapter. The National Task Force Against Local Communist Armed Conflict has been red-tagging PISTON and Bayan Muna, alleging without basis that the progressive groups are “legal fronts” of the New People’s Army.
Bayan Muna Party-list Rep. Carlos Zarate condemned the incident, pointing out that Villegas was a victim of red-tagging due to his critical stances against the policies of the Duterte administration, particularly on its inaction on curbing oil price hikes. Villegas has been leading the calls in General Santos to junk the Oil Deregulation Law and fuel excise tax amid the rising oil prices in the country.
Zarate added that the attacks against progressives have been intensifying in the run-up to the elections, especially since Villegas is among the volunteers who have been preparing for the campaign rally of Vice President Leni Robredo in General Santos on Tuesday.
Just last March 10, 12 volunteers of Anakpawis Party-list in Bacoor and Silang, Cavite were illegally detained by the police without a warrant of arrest. The series of raids in Cavite was conducted following Rep. Boying Remulla and presidential candidate Sen. Panfilo Lacon’s unsubstantiated allegations linking the attendees of Robredo’s campaign rally in Cavite with the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).
The CPP has denied that it has conducted talks on forming a coalition government with Robredo or any of the presidential candidates.
Similar to Villegas, Jory Porquia, a Bayan Muna Iloilo coordinator, was murdered last April 2020 by unidentified armed men in his home in Iloilo City. Almost a year later, Emmanuel Asuncion of progressive alliance BAYAN Cavite was among the activists killed by state forces during the Bloody Sunday Massacre in Southern Tagalog last March 2021.
“The undemocratic forces behind these attacks clearly want the status quo to continue and the candidates who will carry on these policies to win,” Zarate said while demanding that an independent investigation must be conducted to hold the perpetrators in the incident accountable.
BAYAN SOCSKSCARGEN, in a statement, echoed Bayan Muna’s calls for an investigation, alleging that the attack against Villegas is part of the state-backed crackdown against activists and community organizers.
“We call on the people to expose and oppose this futile and devilish ploy by Duterte attack dogs to silence dissent amid a worsening political and economic crisis,” BAYAN SOCSKSCARGEN said. “This scheme, however, will further enrage the people against this brutal, corrupt and bankrupt regime.” ●
