This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. VI, No. 6, March 17, 2006
Luisita Union Leader Shot
Dead
BY ABNER BOLOS Posted
10:30 a.m. March 17, 2006 TARLAC
CITY--Motorcycle-riding gun men shot and killed a union leader in Hacienda
Luisita shortly after midnight today, March 17, 2006. Tirso Cruz, 33, member of
board of directors of the United Luisita Workers’ Union [ULWU] was shot and
killed by gun men on board a Wave motorcycle at about 12:30 am today in Barangay
Pando, Concepcion inside Hacienda Luisita, according to Rodrigo Navarro, ULWU
officer. Navarro said Cruz was
immediately brought to a hospital but he was pronounced dead on arrival. Six [6]
empty bullet shells were found at the crime scene, Navarro said. Cruz, who is also a
barangay council member of Pando, is a victim and a key witness in the November
16, 2004 Hacienda Luisita massacre. The victim is the 14th Hacienda
Luisita martyr. He has received numerous death threats during the strike last
year up to the time of his death, ULWU president Rene Galang said Cruz is
actively involved in protests against the construction of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac
Expressway project [SCTEP] and the deployment of soldiers inside the hacienda. During the last few days,
he led union members and residents in “people power” protests calling for the
withdrawal of soldiers inside the hacienda and for the SCTEP construction to
stop. Galang said hacienda
residents are protesting the quarrying operations by contractors of the SCTEP in
Barangay Asturias and soldiers are being used to stop the protests. About 50 Cafgu (Citizens’
Armed Force Geographical Units) members and soldiers from the 71st ID
under Gen. Jovito Palparan are deployed in Barangay Pando and are presently
using the management office in the barangay as their headquarters. The soldiers
are being used to stop the protests, said Galang. “By all indications, this
may be another brutal handiwork of soldiers under the 71st Infantry
Division of the Northern Luzon Command who have been deployed in the hacienda
since March 2005,” Galang said. “ULWU holds the Arroyo
government responsible for the killing of Cruz and condemns this latest act of
brutality against the legitimate leaders of the hacienda people,” Galang
concluded. GLNS / Bulatlat © 2006 Bulatlat
■
Alipato Publications Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.
Gitnang Luzon
News Service / Bulatlat