Slain Bayan leader buried

DAGUPAN CITY — The slain provincial secretary-general of the militant group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) was laid to rest yesterday in San Nicolas town, with his colleagues claiming that the killing is part of a crackdown on members of progressive groups.

But Cancio Doton, brother of slain Bayan leader Jose Doton, 62, said in a sworn statement to the police Task Force Doton that politics might have motivated the killing of his elder brother.

The Dotons were waylaid last May 16 along Anong Road in Barangay Camanggaan, San Nicolas town. Cancio was wounded in the attack.

The victim was a former ally of the past San Nicolas administration but shifted support to the town’s incumbent leadership.

Doton also led the San Nicolas Gold Panners Federation which has opposed the San Roque multi-purpose project in San Manuel town.

"Although the (probe) is focused on the political angle, the task force is also eyeing liquidation by the leftist group since Doton had manifested that (he wanted to lie low) from the group," Superintendent Noli Taliño, head of Task Force Doton, said in his report.

But a Bayan fact-finding mission believes that Doton’s killing is a "widespread harassment of and threats to progressive groups and legitimate fighters of the people’s cause," said Fr. Tery Revollido, Bayan’s provincial chairman.

Doton was laid to rest at the public cemetery in San Nicolas town yesterday morning after a short program of a farmers’ federation.

Revollido, who belongs to the Aglipayan Church, however, said their fact-finding group "has no deep findings yet and has only found basic facts about Doton’s death."