NORDIS WEEKLY
July 2, 2006

 

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Church, media hit political killings, demand justice

BAGUIO CITY (June 30) — Church and media people here denounced the alarming spate of killings in the country and urged the government, especially the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), to stop extra-judicial killings and bring to justice all the perpetrators during a peace forum held last June 29 at the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) multi-purpose hall here. Representatives of the AFP, UCCP congregation and members of the tri-media joined the forum.

The Highland Conference (HC) and North Highland Associate Conference (NHAC) of the UCCP expressed alarm over the killings especially among church workers. The said conferences revealed that last May alone four UCCP church workers and lay leaders were killed, one barely survived and two are still missing. The survivor reportedly identified the alleged gunman to be a known asset of the military intelligence.

“Is there a policy to eliminate known dissenters and silence others from raising a prophetic voice? We believe that a healthy democracy ensures room for differing voices and views, and allows for a free market of ideas to compete in the public arena. If there is no such policy to silence dissent, we challenge the government, whose bounden duty is to safeguard the life, limb and liberty of its citizenry to seriously attend to this growing problem,” the HC and NHAC joint statement read.

According to Rev. Luna Dingayan, president of the Baguio-based Ecumenical Theological Seminary (ETS) and who addressed the forum, 15 of the 18 church workers killed belong to the UCCP. He said that to date, justice has not been served to these victims and their families. He added that even the identified military asset remains at large despite the assurance of the military to bring him to justice.

“The police always say that the investigation of these extra-judicial killings does not yield positive results because of lack of witnesses and cooperation from the families of the victims. How can they trust the AFP or the police when they are the primary suspects to these killings?” Luna said.

Robert Tabay, former president of the Baguio Correspondents and Broadcasters Club (BCBC) and member of National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) also condemned the spate of killings among the tri-media and demanded justice for the victims a stop to the killings. He said that journalists are just conveyors of information to the public and without them the people would not be updated about the issues and events.

According to Marilou Guieb of the Women’s Feature Service and Business Mirror, journalists also fear for their lives but they have to do their jobs to bring the news to the public.

According to NUJP, 82 journalists have been killed since 1986, after then President Ferdinand Marcos was ousted. The Philippines is also considered as the second most dangerous place for journalists worldwide, next to Iraq.

In response to concerns the church and media raised, the AFP presented a military briefing dubbed as “Order of Peace: What is happening to the organization, so the church may know”. According to one Col. Bautista, the briefing came from the “Knowing your Enemy” with additional inputs from some church people. The briefing is part of the on going anti-insurgency campaign of the AFP. Bautista said an earlier version of the briefing was presented to the house of congress and Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines on separate occasions but was met with violent reactions.

Col. Manuel Mariano, 503rd Brigade commander, said the forum was held to resolve some suspicions that the UCCP is a communist front. He said the military does not consider the church as an enemy but they know that it is infiltrated by the communists. He added that the communists have infiltrated various sectors aside from the church.

“They have legalized Bayan Muna but the NPA’s are still there,” Mariano said in Filipino. He further said that the members of the Batasan 5 are members of the central committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). Mariano said they are now in the political arena and working above ground.

Police Regional Office-Cordillera (PRO-Cor) Press Relation Officer Col. Joseph Adnol said being a communist is not a crime because the anti-subversion law was abolished.

Itogon resident Vergel Aniceto, a UCCP lay worker, testified before the forum in several incidents where civilian-clothed men stalked him and his colleagues. Aniceto was among those who foiled the expansion of Benguet Corporation’s open pit mining in the early 90s. He also figured in the Itogon opposition to the San Roque Dam Project. He is Bayan Muna coordinator for Itogon. Most of the church workers killed are also Bayan Muna leaders and members.

According to Dingayan, the briefing failed to answer the issues on political repression. He said that the HC and NHAC expected to get a clear response from the AFP and come to an agreement regarding the spate of killings and human rights violations against UCCP church workers. He added that the military briefing is dangerous because it was so vague.

Likewise, Bishop Emeritus Juan Marigza said, the church has its own stand on people’s issues such as poverty, repression among others, but it does not mean that if “we join protest rallies, we are communists, and therefore enemies of the state.”

Luna said killing the rebels will not solve rebellion problem in the country unless its root causes are addressed. He said poverty is not the only reason of rebellion in the country contrary to AFP claims. “The poor administration of justice system is one cause of rebellion. If the justice system fails to bring justice to the people, where would they go?” he said.

Luna also said that the military wrongly labeled the World Council of Churches (WCC) and National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) as under the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). He explained that the WCC is part of the ecumenical movement that is also concerned with social action. The NCCP is the local expression of the WCC, he said. UCCP is an NCCP member.

“The church will not criticize the state if it does not exploit and violate the rights of the people. We criticize the military because it is an instrument of the state to suppress the people,” Luna said. # Kim Quitasol for NORDIS

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