Report: UN witness in killings gunned down

An unidentified gunman shot dead in Mindanao Saturday a political activist considered a "witness" of United Nations rapporteur Philip Alston's report on extra-judicial killings in the Philippines. Mindanao Examiner (www.mindanaoexaminer.com) newspaper reported Sunday night that the attack on Che-che Gandinao took place near an Army detachment in Salay town in Misamis Oriental province. Gandinao, 56, was a member of the militant party list group Bayan Muna. Her murder came barely a month after she testified in a UN probe headed by Alston on extra-judicial killings in Davao City. She was the 14th activist killed in the Philippines this year. She was shot at least four times to the body and head. Interestingly, Gandinao's father-in-law Dalmacio, a peasant leader, was killed in similar fashion last February. The Mindanao Examiner report said Gandinao’s killer fled on motorcycle after the attack, which occurred just several blocks away from the military detachment manned by militias. No group or individual claimed responsibility for the attack, but militant groups blamed the military for the killing. - GMANews.TV