Victim Seen as Unlikely Target of Vengeance

Although Oscar Salvatierra worked for a newspaper bitterly critical of Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos, many in Los Angeles’ large Filipino-American community viewed him as someone who attempted to bridge the bitter chasm separating Marcos foes and supporters.

Salvatierra, 41, was gunned down in his Glendale home Wednesday, one day after receiving a mailed death threat that attacked the political stance of his employer, the Philippine News. Spokesmen for the paper, which had employed Salvatierra since last April, immediately charged that pro-Marcos hit men were responsible for the murder.

But Salvatierra, despite his title as the paper’s Los Angeles bureau chief, was in some ways an unlikely target for political vengeance. His primary responsibilities at the paper were described by his second title of marketing director, according to Ernie Paraiso, Los Angeles office manager.

“ ‘Why me?’ That was his exact words yesterday, when he showed me the letter,” Paraiso said Wednesday.

“He is not a big shot in the anti-Marcos movement,” Ernie Delfin, a columnist for the Los Angeles-based Philippine American News, commented Wednesday afternoon.

Cecile C. Ochoa, president of the Filipino American Press Club in Los Angeles, described Salvatierra as “one of the pillars of the Filipino community in Southern California.” He had been here for more than 15 years and was a certified public accountant.

Ochoa said that Salvatierra was an outspoken advocate of equal treatment of Filipinos in American society. “I certainly didn’t see him as very outspoken, radical anti-Marcos,” she said.

Salvatierra ran successfully in December for a seat on the board of directors of the Confederation of Philippine-U.S. Organizations (CONPUSO), an umbrella organization of Southern California Filipino groups founded in 1979 with the assistance of Philippine Consul Gen. Armando Fernandez. CONPUSO has generally been viewed as supporting Marcos.

In an interview with The Times on the day of the CONPUSO election, Salvatierra expressed the hope that the organization could play a greater role representing the interest of all Filipino-Americans. He stressed his interest in seeing the group press for equal professional rights in the United States for Filipinos trained in their homeland.

Leovigildo A. Anolin, acting Philippine consul general, Wednesday described Salvatierra as “a very friendly fellow.”

But Alex Esclamado, publisher of the Philippine News, charged Wednesday that Salvatierra’s election to the CONPUSO board may have made him a more likely target for violence. “I feel that they started to realize that he was a threat, by having been elected,” he said.