The victim, Fatima Abubakar Sevilla, 41, was found dead Tuesday morning inside her hut in Bgy. San Gregorio in this city. She suffered a gunshot wound in her head. Police authorities said some neighbors saw four men going toward the direction of her hut the night she was killed.

Sevilla was at the forefront of pro-peace and democracy rallies in Laguna as well as in the neighboring province of Quezon exposing the atrocities of communist rebels and the modus operandi of their above-ground fronts.

Jesuit priest Romeo Intengan who provides spiritual guidance to Sambayanan denounced her brutal slaying saying he is morally convinced that she was a victim of politically motivated murder by the NPA. “We have no reason to believe otherwise, more so since local groups linked with the NPA are gloating over her killing” he said.

Intengan said her slaying was the price Sevilla paid for her political beliefs and her dedication to her advocacies.

The victim was a disillusioned local leader of Bayan Muna who left the extremist organization and joined Aksyon Sambayanan in 2004. She had since helped establish and federate 14 chapters of her new group in San Pablo City.

Intengan disclosed that Sambayanan leaders and members, particularly in Laguna, Quezon and Mindanao, have been increasingly harassed and threatened by NPAs.

A Muslim woman married to and separated from a Christian soldier, Sevilla lived alone in the city planting vegetable in a small patch of land.

- Philippine Democratic Socialist Party (PDSP)

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www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/11/06/18327281.php