MANILA. Militant labor groups were one in condemning the ambush-slaying on yesterday of Alaska Corp. union leader Andrew "Bok" Iñoza in San Pedro, Laguna.

"A cowardly act by enemies of labor," was how Gerry Rivera, Partido Manggagawa (PM) national vice chair, described the killing. "We can think of no motive behind his killing than to silence a defender of labor and terrorize the workers of Laguna."

"This only proves that one of the major targets of political killings is the labor sector," said Kilusang Mayo Uno national chair Elmer Labog, who said Iñoza was the 73rd labor leader or labor rights activist slain under President Macapagal-Arroyo's administration.

The Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) said Iñoza, who was a member of its Laguna council, was the 11th labor leader killed in the Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) area.

A tally of the Quezon City-based Center for Trade and Human Rights showed Iñoza is the 30th victim of killings this year and the 73rd during Arroyo's term. He was the fourth labor leader slain in Laguna.

His murder came only a week after foreign businesses called the attention of the government to the killings of labor leaders and a week before the celebration of Andres Bonifacio Day, for which protest rallies in the Calabarzon and Metro Manila areas are being planned.

"It's absolutely enraging that those who strive for humane wages, jobs and conditions at the workplace are the ones who become victims of violence and oppression," Labog said.

Iñoza, president of the PM's chapter in Laguna's first congressional district, was on board a motorcycle on his way to work from his home in Barangay Landayan when he was waylaid by unidentified gunmen.

The slain labor leader had been president of the Alaska milk company union for 11 years.

BMP-Southern Tagalog chair Ronnie Luna described Iñoza "as one of the dedicated and promising" labor leaders in the region.

"His death is probably meant to threaten other labor leaders in the region by sending a chilling message that the Calabarzon area has indeed become a killing zone with the most number of labor leaders killed under the Arroyo regime," he added.

Luna, Labog and Rivera said they could only blame military "death squads" for the killing. They said the government's inaction on political killings was goading the enemies of labor "to act with impunity."

"The vicious agenda of this harassment is clear -- to strike fear in the hearts of workers and terrorize them against political involvement," Rivera said. "With a terrorized and docile labor, it will be easier to cheapen the price of labor power."

Workers in Calabarzon under the BMP and PM would be paying daily tributes to Iñoza and will be holding mass actions in the region to demand justice, said.

"We will miss Bok in our future actions but he will always be here with us in the continuing quest for labor justice and social change in this country," Luna said.

"Calabarzon has been notorious in terms of violation of labor rights especially in the economic zones," the BMP said.