Home | To bottom

Bayan Muna ask PNP chief to step up moves in Sanchez slay

BAGUIO CITY (Mar. 31) — Bayan Muna Partylist and the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CHRA) called on Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Arturo C. Lomibao to assist in their search for justice for Bayan Muna-Ilocos leader Romy C. Sanchez who was slain in the city market last March 9.

In a joint statement, Bayan Muna National Vice Chair Manuel Loste and CHRA Vice Chair Beverly Longid said that their organizations were prompted to seek the PNP chief’s help due to the “unusual circumstances” surrounding Sanchez’s death. Earlier, members, leaders and supporters of progressive organizations were gunned down by unidentified assassins, they said.

A day before Sanchez’s burial in La Union, human rights lawyer Atty. Charles Juloya was shot in Aringay town, but escaped death. Juloya is one of the lawyers of the Abra 14, a group of NGO and church workers implicated in the killing of Conrado Balweg in 1999.

Sanchez and a companion were the first to be abducted by military intelligence operatives. They suffered from extreme torture. The case was dropped two months after due to lack of evidence.

Bayan Muna and CHRA leaders said that before Sanchez’s death, harassment and death threats were prevalent among Ilocos’ progressive leaders and members. The Ilocos Human Rights Advocates (IHRA) relayed during Sanchez’s vigil in Baguio that surveillance among progressive leaders and members intensified in the Ilocos region since the Abra 14 case.

Due to the spate of killings nationwide, Bayan Muna and CHRA said that they cannot help but ask if there exists a national policy or even a “grand plan” to eliminate all members and supporters of their organizations.

On March 24, Lomibao, together with the Baguio City Police Office (BCPO) and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) announced the formation of Task Force Romy Sanchez to step up efforts to solve the Bayan Muna leader’s death. Lomibao said that the Sanchez family will have to file a complaint at the BCPO to facilitate the suspect’s warrant of arrest. In an article published by the Philippine Daily Inquirer on March 29, the Cordillera police claim to have identified the gunman as a certain Alvin Binuya.

“We welcome any positive development on Romy’s death. We only hope that these revelations are results of solid police work, and that the suspect is not just another fall guy”, Loste said.

He added that 32 abductions and killings have taken place this year’s first quarter, including journalists, and that the government seems unmindful of these events.

The Bayan Muna and CHRA representatives hoped that Lomibao will forward their concerns to President Gloria Arroyo.

Sanchez’s wife, Elvira, also wrote a separate letter to Lomibao expressing swift action in the PNP’s part. In her letter, Elvira belied insinuations that Romy’s death was due to conflicts within Bayan Muna. She said that it was Romy’s unconditional service to the poor and his patriotism that led his assassins to kill him.

“Ang asawa ko ay pinatay dahil siya ay walang takot na naninindigan para sa bayan. Pinatay siya dahil buong tapang siyang nakikilahok sa pagsulong ng karapatang panato”, she said.

Bayan Muna and its allied organizations will launch a nationally coordinated petition-signing on April 7 to condemn the killing and harassment of political activists and to have all perpetrators punished.

On March 23, the Justice for Romy Sanchez and All Victims of State Terrorism was organized. # via NORDIS

Home | Back to top