Cavite union leader shot dead

The president of a Cavite factory’s labor union, who was one of the founding members of the provincial chapter of the party-list group Partido ng Manggagawa, was gunned down by two still unidentified assailants in Imus town last Monday.

Authorities said Emmanuel Cosme Ibe, 35, who headed the 1,300-strong workers’ union of Liwayway Manufacturing, the maker of Oishi prawn crackers, was in front of the factory gates, preparing to go home, when he was attacked at about 7 p.m.

Ibe suffered two gunshot wounds in the head. He died while being rushed to the La Salle Dasmariñas Hospital.

The Partido ng Manggagawa, in a statement, said Ibe was their second leader slain in three months. The first was Popoy Lagman who was killed inside the University of the Philippines campus in Quezon City last Feb. 6.

The group said Ibe figured prominently in their successful provincewide motorcade and chapter founding assembly last Sunday.

Police were still investigating the incident, but witnesses claimed that Ibe apparently knew his assailants, who were reportedly riding in his passenger-type jeepney.

Police theorized though that a labor dispute might have motivated the killing, saying that Ibe had received death threats.

Days prior to the killing, Ibe reportedly turned down moves by the factory’s supervisors to settle an impending strike.

Cavite Gov. Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr. has ordered the police to "leave no stone unturned in looking for (Ibe’s) killers."

He urged Cavite’s workers to band together to ensure that they are not drawn again into a "reign of terror." "I know labor will not be cowed by attempts to roll back the gains they have worked for these past years," he added.

The Partido’s Cavite chapter plans to hold mass actions to demand the swift arrest of Ibe’s killers.

"The perpetrators of this grisly act are undoubtedly enemies of the working class. Dark and sinister forces want to derail the (Partido ng Manggagawa) as they feel threatened by labor’s active participation in mainstream politics," said Renato Magtubo, the party-list group’s national chairman.