HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

Farewell to ‘God and People’s Servant’

Noel “Noli” Capulong, 51, is the 136th victim of politically-motivated assassinations in the Southern Tagalog region to date. He was gunned down by bonnet-wearing men riding in motorcycles while driving his owner-type jeepney in Parian village just before dusk on May 27. Mourners ask: who would want to silence a good man who consistently exposes and denounces environmental degradation, human rights abuses, corruption and anti-people policies like charter change?

BY DENNIS ESPADA

Bulatlat

Calamba City, Laguna (52 kms. south of Manila) – Alongside prayers and bereavement, the bells of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) here tolled for yet another slain church worker whose life – his kin, friends and colleagues say – embody what it means to serve God by serving the people.

Noel “Noli” Capulong, 51, is the 136th victim of politically-motivated assassinations in the Southern Tagalog region to date.

Capulong was gunned down by bonnet-wearing men riding in motorcycles while driving his owner-type jeepney in Parian village just before dusk on May 27. He succumbed to four bullet wounds in the jaw, chest and left side while he being rushed to the St. John Hospital, also in Calamba.

He was then on his way home at barangay (village) Poblacion Tres after he met with residents who are facing eviction from a contested property in nearby Belarmino Subdivision. Several days before, he was engaged in setting up a “botika ng bayan” (people’s pharmacy) project under the auspices of Bayan Muna (People First) Rep. Satur Ocampo to help indigents in Linga village.

An activist since the 1980s, Capulong was the deputy secretary-general of Bayan Muna’s Southern Tagalog chapter, secretariat staff of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan or New Patriotic Alliance) in Southern Tagalog and spokesperson for broad alliances such as the Southern Tagalog Environmental Action Movement (StEAM) and the Movement of Concerned Citizens for Civil Liberties (MCCCL).

Following the necrological service on May 31, his remains were brought for cremation to the Eternal Gardens Memorial Park in Biñan town, escorted by hundreds of people who were chanting slogans that demand justice.

Whitewashing?

Colleagues from militant groups said the killing was carried out with such precision as it points to a brazen pattern of murder similar to the fate of labor leader Diosdado Fortuna and other slain activists. They denounced the Philippine National Police (PNP)’s attempts to cover-up the real perpetrators by hatching “baseless” speculations that the victim may have been killed by his fellow comrades.

After forming a task force, PNP Calabarzon Chief Gen. Prospero Noble has implicated Migrante-Southern Tagalog member Charlie Garcia in the killing and then placed a P50,000 ($(51.84 based on a $1:P52.53 exchange rate as of June 2) bounty on his head. In a statement, Garcia denied the allegations.

“It’s an old and stale defense strategy of the PNP and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP),” saidd Bayan-ST secretary-general Arman Albarillo. “A desperate attempt to discredit progressive people’s organizations and to deceive the people. Have they conducted an investigation? No one (in the family) believes Gen. Noble’s statements.”

Capulong’s wife Doyet says her husband never had personal enemies.

Slain In Sequence

As a former staff of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) and as chair of UCCP-Calamba’s Christian Witness and Service Committee at the time he was murdered, Capulong was instrumental in promoting ecumenical work that led to the formation of the Southern Tagalog Regional Ecumenical Council, the Christian Movement for Good Government and the Kapatirang Simbahan para sa Bayan (Kasimbayan or Church Fraternity for the People).

A high-ranking officer of the NCCP strongly condemned the killing of their brethrens Capulong, Rev. Jemias Tinambacan, Pastor Andy Pawikan and Jose Doton – all slaughtered within the past three weeks in sequence.

“There is no place in this land for a government which claims adherence to democracy yet tacitly approves the killing of those who stand for principled and legitimate dissent, or worse, conveniently finds excuse by pointing a finger at someone else,” says NCCP secretary-general Sharon Rose Joy Ruiz-Duremdes in a statement. “Such is the behavior of a government that is oppressive, repressive and concerned only with its own political survival – an utter disgrace to the dignity of the people it claims to serve.”

Mourners ask: who would want to silence a good man who consistently exposes and denounces environmental degradation, human rights abuses, corruption and anti-people policies like charter change? Bulatlat 

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