Ricardo Ramos, head of the labor union at the centre of a bitter dispute at the Hacienda Luisita sugar mill owned by the family of former Philippine president Corazon Aquino, was shot twice by an unknown man while drinking with friends in his backyard in Tarlac City, north of Manila on Tuesday night.
Meanwhile Francisco Rivera, an activist with the left-wing Bayan Muna (Nation First) party, and two close friends were gunned down by a group of armed men while jogging near his home in Angeles City north of Manila early Wednesday morning.
In September Diosdado Fortuna,the Nestle union president and chairman of the regional branch of Kilusang Mayo Uno (May First Movement), was murdered.
"Of that number 47 were political activists and 69 civilians suspected of being supporters of the legal political left such as Bayan Muna or the illegal left ... Communist Party or its military wing the New People's Army," alliance spokeswoman Ruth Cervantes told AFP.
"The alarming pattern of killings and disappearances in this country is part of a policy of state repression aimed at silencing government critics and quelling dissent. It is the sign of a paranoid government."
The deputy secretary general of Bayan Muna, Roberto de Castro, told AFP: "These killings have to stop. So far this year 14 Bayan Muna party officials have been murdered ... 61 since President Gloria Arroyo came to power in 2001.
"It is clear that this is a systematic attack not only on Bayan Muna but on all progressive people's movements here in the Philippines by right-wing elements within the government and military."
Bayan Muna legislator Joel Virador was more direct, saying the recent spate of killings, all in the Central Luzon region, "is unmistakably the handiwork of Major General Jovito Palparan."
Palparan has been reassigned twice after human rights advocates, local officials and lawmakers accused him of grave human rights atrocities. He was assigned to Central Luzon in September.
Military spokesman Brigadier General Jose Honrado recently said Palparan "unconditionally respects human rights and abhors torture and ill treatment of suspects in custody."
According to a recent report in a daily broadsheet, during his stint as commander of the army's 204th infantry brigade in Oriental Mindoro from 2001 to 2004, "Palparan was accused of 326 cases of human rights violations including about 80 killings."
From February to May this year, human rights groups accused him of 199 cases of killing, disappearances, harassment, torture, arbitrary arrest and detention of civilians and rights advocates before being transferred again, the paper added.
Virador said: "summary executions and other human rights violations have occurred in areas where Palparan has been deployed. The trend is too obvious to simply dismiss as coincidence."
President Gloria Arroyo has ordered the Philippine National Police (PNP) Thursday to look into the killing of a labor leader who led striking workers at the Hacienda Luisita sugar estate in Tarlac owned by the family of former President Corazon Aquino.
Ricardo Ramos, head of the labor union at Hacienda Luisita, was shot twice by an unknown man while drinking with friends in his backyard in Tarlac City, police said.
Press Secretary Ignacio R. Bunye said in a statement, "The President wants a speedy, impartial and full blown investigation of these senseless killings and the perpetrators brought to justice."
"The PNP has been ordered to leave no stone unturned to establish the motive behind the brutal attacks, to prevent the reign of violence and to make the perpetrators pay for their crimes," Bunye said.
Leftists suspect an Army general accused of human rights abuses and killings in the past of masterminding Ramos' murder, the latest in a series of high-profile killings of left-wing activists that leftists and human rights advocates charge is part of a military-backed campaign.
Just early yesterday, Francisco Rivera, an activist with the left-wing Bayan Muna party, was gunned down along with two close friends by a group of armed men while jogging near his home in Angeles City, Pampanga.
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