DAY SIXTY-SIX
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Bayan Muna official killed in Kalinga, husband critical
By Villamor Visaya Inquirer
Last updated 01:36pm (Mla time) 07/31/2006

(UPDATE) QUEZON, Isabela — A Bayan Muna official in Kalinga was killed while her husband and child were wounded when masked armed men aboard a black van ambushed them early Monday along the national highway in Barangay (village) Bulanao in the town of Tabuk, in the province, police said.

Superintendent Pedro Ramos, Kalinga police director, said Bayan Muna-Kalinga chairman Dr. Constancio “Chandu” Claver, his wife Alice, Bayan Muna coordinator, and Sandy, 11, were attacked at 7 a.m. by two men armed with an Armalite and caliber .45 guns in front of the Saint Toni’s College.

They were brought to the Kalinga Provincial Hospital, according to Inquirer reports.

The same reports said that contrary to a statement by Ramos earlier on Monday that Alice was declared dead on arrival, the Bayan Muna coordinator was
still alive when she was brought to the hospital where she died at 12:45 p.m.

Gkachay Claver, a cousin of the Dr. Claver, gave a similar report to
INQ7.net following the shooting.

Constancio is in critical condition while Sandy has sustained a minor injury, the Inquirer reports said.

Ramos said the suspects alighted from their black van, without a plate number, and shot the Clavers.

With a report from Thea Alberto; Inquirer Northern Luzon Bureau

You all know how I feel about the political left.

I could go on for paragraphs, but for the interest of saving real estate in cyberspace, let me just say that left reminds me a lot of one of nature’s most enduring and sturdy survivors - the cockroach. Just like roaches, the left seems to be never fully exterminated no matter what measures are undertaken by the government.

The leftists seems to have had it with the current bias of ruling bodies in all countries to veer towards globalization - a potentially disastrous setup for the Philippines but one that is virtually inevitably inescapable. Whereas the opposition towards globalization and the status quo in general would’ve sufficed, people actually go the extra mile and align themselves with a far more obsolete concept in Communism. Aside from the fact that most formerly communist states have already turned their back on this outdated paradigm, aligning oneself on a much-maligned and charged ideology just draws attention from the powers that be. It’s nothing short of suicide.

That’s why when things like the one in the write up happen, most people hardly bat an eyelash. Seriously, can you feel the UP community up in arms about the abduction of two female senior college students from Bulacan? Is the UP College of Medicine simmering in its own wrath as news of a defenseless doctor’s family was gunned down?

No. Is it apathy? I really wouldn’t think so. Sure, people would feel bad the moment they read the propaganda poster on the wall, but after that, what would does people do? Do they take action? Hell no. Most people no that joining a leftist organization is an unnecessary burden to oneself. Why is opposition needed to be done in such a grandiose fashion? By joining such an organization, there is a calculated risk taken by the individual. You put your own safety (and your family’s) in jeopardy by doing so. Thinking that it wouldn’t is just plain naive.

Yes, I feel sorry for them.

But they had it coming.