Bayan Muna’s Isabela head gunned down

ILAGAN, Isabela — A woman activist who replaced the provincial secretary-general of the party-list group Bayan Muna, who was slain last May, was herself gunned down in Echague town yesterday morning.

The victim, Madonna Castillo, 27, was shot thrice in the abdomen and legs by two motorcycle-riding men in front of a cellular phone shop near the Isabela State University in Barangay San Fabian, Echague town at about 7:30 a.m.

Castillo was with her daughter and the latter’s classmate when the incident happened, said Senior Superintendent Jude Santos, provincial police director.

Castillo, who took over the post of slain Bayan leader Elena Mendiola, died at about 6:15 p.m. at the provincial hospital here where Gov. Grace Padaca had her transferred for further treatment.

Padaca condemned the attack and described the gunmen as "cowards (who) could not fight her fair and square."

"It is cowardice to (try to) kill enemies this way. Madonna was surely smaller than the men who shot her or maybe even those who ordered her shot. But they could not even fight her fair and square," she said.

Castillo, who hailed from Nueva Ecija, took over the provincial leadership of Bayan Muna after Mendiola, together with her husband, was gunned down last May.

Castillo was one of the founders of the Samahan ng mga Nagkakaisang Magsasaka ng Echague, a municipal chapter of the Danggayan Dagiti Mannalon iti Isabela, an alliance of farmers’ groups in the province.

Castillo also served as provincial spokeswoman of Anakpawis, another party-list group, last year.

Last month, another Bayan Muna leader, Markus Bangit of Kalinga, was shot dead at a bus stop also in Echague town.

Militant leaders have blamed the military for the spate of assaults on known militants across the country. The Armed Forces, however, has denied the charges. — With Artemio Dumlao