Anakpawis member killed in Davao City

DAVAO CITY – An organizer and campaigner of a progressive partylist was shot dead by unidentified assailants here, two days after President Rodrigo Roa Duterte formally ended the talks with Communists.

In an interview yesterday, human rights activist Jay Apiag of Karapatan disclosed that 64-year-old Apolonio Maranan of the Anakpawis Partylist was shot dead by motorcycle-riding hitmen in Barangay Mandug, Buhangin District here on Saturday evening.

Apiag was told by Maranan’s wife that her husband had just gone out to buy dinner in DDF Village around 7:49 p.m. when he was shot dead.

“Five minutes later after her husband left, the wife heard a series of gunfire,” he said.

Maranan’s killing is the 55th case tallied by human rights group Karapatan in the Davao region since July 2016.

Apiag said that, before the incident, Maranan told his wife that some men talked to him and identified themselves as intelligence assets of the military.

“The men told Maranan that they knew him, that they have heard of his name and asked him if he has seen his comrades in the New People’s Army (NPA),” he said.

Apiag said Maranan was also told that if his “comrades want to surrender,” he should refer them to the intelligence group.

Tony Salubre, spokesperson of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) shared that Maranan went underground and joined the NPA during the 1980s.

“He was arrested in the 80s and was released some time in 1994,” he said.

After his release, Salubre said Maranan became active in organizing banana plantation workers and farmers in Mandug. “He was also a campaigner of Anakpawis Partylist in the elections last year,” he said.

Sr. Insp. Teresita Gaspan, spokesperson of the Davao City Police Office (DCPO), told The Manila Bulletin that the investigation on the killing of Maranan was already under way.

Gaspan said they have not yet established the motive behind the killing.

President Duterte officially terminated the peace talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) on Thursday after issuing Proclamation No. 360.