Bayan Muna coordinator in GenSan shot

From MindaNews (Mar 13, 2022): Bayan Muna coordinator in GenSan shot (By ALLEN V. ESTABILLO)

A leader of a local transport cooperative and coordinator of partylist group Bayan Muna was wounded in a gun attack Sunday morning in front of his home in a village here.

Larry Barnuevo Villegas, 64, chair of Rajah Buayan Transport Cooperative, was cleaning his tricycle at his home in Purok 1, Barangay Buayan past 6 a.m. when he was shot by an unidentified motorcycle-riding gunman, a police report said.

The victim, who sustained two gunshot wounds on the leg, is undergoing treatment at the city government-run Dr. Jorge P. Royeca Hospital.

Responding investigators from City Police Station Number 3 recovered at the scene two empty shells of a caliber 9mm handgun.

Sonia Eugenio, Bayan Socsksargen coordinator, said in a phone interview that Villegas was clearly targeted in the attack.

“It appeared to be head shots but he managed to bend over and was hit on the leg,” she said, citing accounts from the victim’s family.

As of 2 p.m., she said Villegas is conscious and will undergo operation within the day for his gunshot wounds.

She said the family is currently coordinating with the city police office in the investigation and security for the victim.

Eugenio said the Villegas shooting could be part of the continuing “coordinated attacks” against activists in the country.

She said the victim is at the forefront of the campaign against the oil price hike and has been leading local preparations for the nationally-coordinated transport strike on March 15.

Villegas, a known progressive transport group leader here, is the city coordinator of Bayan Muna and also chairs the Transport Integrated for Restructuring of Economic Services of Tires-Piston.

He previously served as coordinator for partylist group Anakpawis in the city.

“He was actually red-tagged by government agents. Uniformed soldiers visited him sometime in 2020 and was asked about his involvement in the movement,” she said.

In a Facebook alert, Bayan Socsksargen condemned the “brazen attack against Villegas.”

“We believe that the incident is part of the dirty scheme and crackdown against activists by the AFP, PNP and its death squads. We call on the people to expose and oppose this futile and devilish ploy by Duterte attack dogs to silence dissent amid worsening political and economic crisis,” it said.

The group said Villegas is active in the campaign and struggle of the transport sector and “strongly criticized the flawed policies of the Duterte regime, as well as the incessant oil price hikes.”

It said the attacks against activists in the region have intensified since last year. In August last year, two trucks managed by Disaster Response Center were torched by unidentified perpetrators in Koronadal City.

On September 15, 2021, lawyer Juan Macababbad, an activist lawyer, was gunned down by unknown gunmen in front of his house in Surallah, South Cotabato.

Rommelito Contreras, a former volunteer-teacher for Center for Lumad Advocacy, Networking and Services, Inc. or CLANS, was shot dead last December 17 by unidentified perpetrators in Barangay Lagao.

https://www.mindanews.com/top-stories/2022/03/bayan-muna-coordinator-in-gensan-shot/