Another Bayan Muna leader killed in Batangas

A Batangas-based coordinator of the left-leaning Bayan Muna party-list group was killed Wednesday by an unidentified motorcycle-riding man, GMA 7's DZBB reported Thursday. Initial reports reaching the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters in Camp Crame identified the latest victim of political killings as Andro Dimaculangan, Bayan Muna coordinator in Padre Garcia town in Batangas. Figures from the human rights group Karapatan indicated that Dimaculangan is the 696th victim of extrajudicial killings since Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo assumed the presidency in 2001. He is the 113th Bayan Muna member to be killed in the same period. Arnel Antarillo, secretary general of Bayan-Southern Tagalog, was quoted by DZBB as saying the victim was manning his sari-sari (retail) store in Banaba village when the gunman shot him at close range. The gunman fled on board a motorcycle. The killer was supposedly backed by a van, which allegedly had an undetermined number of firearm-wielding men as passengers.-GMANews.TV