STREETWISE
A Cry for Justice
There was nothing worth
stealing from the bishop except the life he had dedicated to the fight for
truth, social justice, a better lot for the exploited and oppressed and
genuine peace. The authorities are not at all interested in finding out
who would have wanted and benefited from snuffing out such a life.
By Carol
Pagaduan-Araullo
Business World
Posted by Bulatlat
Once again, another victim of extrajudicial killings has fallen but this
time the assassins have done the unthinkable. They have murdered not just
a man of the cloth, but a bishop no less; one who had served as the Obispo
Maximo, or pope, of the Iglesia Filipina Independente (IFI). And they did
it right inside his parish church as he lay sleeping, utterly defenseless.
Why is it that Bp. Alberto Ramento's family, his fellow priests and most
of his flock, as well as his admirers and friends are one in saying that
they suspect his murder to be politically motivated? Why, on the other
hand, is the Philippine National Police (PNP) insistent that this is an
open and shut case of robbery with homicide?
We look for motive. Who would want Bishop Ramento dead?
It is clear from all the testimonials we have heard about him that the
good bishop was admired and highly respected as a church leader, not just
in the country but internationally.
He lived a modest life ministering to his flock that included impoverished
"street children" whom he fed and gave pocket money to so that they could
keep studying. He was assiduous in providing inspiration and support to
his beleaguered priests in Tarlac and nearby provinces; many of them had
been tagged "communists" or "communist sympathizers" as they persevered
working in highly militarized areas. He had no personal enemies.
But he went beyond works of charity and church ritual. The causes he
espoused and fought for ranged from human, civil and political rights,
social justice, freedom from neocolonial impositions, good and upright
governance to a just and lasting peace that addresses the root causes of
armed conflict.
Concretely, Bishop Ramento vigorously opposed government socio-economic
policies that spell poverty and misery for the majority of the people and
their continued exploitation by the elite. He took up the cudgels for
oppressed workers and
s especially those
who fought for their rights and were under attack such as the striking
farm and sugar mill workers of Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac.
He denounced the systematic fraud that attended the 2004 presidential
elections and called for Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to resign or be
ousted. He took an uncompromising but principled position rejecting Mrs.
Arroyo's push for Charter change. He courageously stood up against
military incursions into and abuse of civilian communities, political
killings of progressives and activists and other forms of state terrorism.
In short, he fit the Arroyo regime's description of "destabilizer" and
"enemy" to a tee. It did not surprise him therefore that he had been
included in the military's "order of battle," that he was on the receiving
end of numerous anonymous death threats and that he would be surveilled
and harassed in various ways obvious and subtle.
But like many other victims of summary executions, Bishop Ramento took no
extraordinary measures to protect himself. He remained vulnerable because
he did not have the means nor did he wish to hire bodyguards; he did not
have a well-secured office nor residence; and many times he commuted
through public transportation as he went about his pastoral duties. He
believed that his protection lay in fearlessly exposing and denouncing
political persecution and state terrorism wherever and whenever it took
place.
We in Bayan were hoping against hope that the local and international
uproar against the spate of political killings and other grievous human
rights violations under the Arroyo regime would stay the hand of the
fascists and the rabid anti-communists in Malacanang. Then the news came
about the brutal murder of the well-loved Bishop Ramento. This latest
outrage brings the political killings as well as their official cover-up
to a new and higher level.
What does the PNP posit as motive for his murder? According to the
investigators and even Task Force Usig, the case is simple and
straightforward: "robbery with homicide". They have the suspects and the
stolen goods to show for it. Case closed.
But why would petty criminals choose to rob Bishop Ramento when his parish
church is so obviously a poor man's church. The bishop's simple, even
frugal, lifestyle is well known in the community and is entirely
consistent with a cursory inspection of the church premises.
True, petty thieves had struck two previous times, on Sept. 11 and 23 of
this year. They got a DVD player and some cash; later, another DVD player
(a replacement for the one they stole) and a low-end cell phone but not
much else. The first time, the bishop was not around; the second time, he
was asleep and they left him unharmed.
In fact, one of the suspects that the police now accuse of robbing and
killing the bishop, was identified by witnesses to the theft that had
earlier taken place. Why would these thieves come back so soon, so
brazenly, a little more than a week later, knowing as they did, if indeed
they were the same felons, that there was nothing more of value that they
could get? And why did they attack the bishop, stabbing him seven times,
with obvious intent to kill?
The police want the public to believe that the purported thieves killed
Bishop Ramento in the unlikely scenario that he fought them off to protect
his earthly possessions, of which he had very little. Quite conveniently,
his body was found in the sala of his quarters and not in the bedroom. But
there were blood stains in the bedroom so the attack must have started
there. Curiously, the autopsy report didn't show that there had been a
struggle. Why don't the police have any theories about how he was killed?
Why were the police investigators led by Tarlac police director Senior
Supt. Nicanor Bartolome so precipitate in their conclusions? They didn't
they even secure the crime scene properly and allowed it to be
contaminated by the entry of so many people before and after their spot
investigation.
Why won't the PNP give any credence to the theory that Bishop Ramento's
slay could be another political killing. Mrs. Arroyo herself formed Task
Force Usig (Task Force Probe), then the much ballyhooed Melo Commission,
supposedly to look into accusations of political killings happening
nationwide. Why didn't they even make any sort of investigation along
these lines?
Why for example, didn't they follow up their lead about a motorcycle
sighted by an IFI priest outside the bishop's residence the day before the
killing. In fact they didn't even take any statements from the family and
the local priests but were content with an initial affidavit of the
victim's companion that could be interpreted to favor the robbery angle.
Where is the material evidence that would irrefutably place the suspects
on the scene of the crime? The PNP have nothing except "confessions" and
the alleged stolen items that the relatives and the bishop's staff have
yet to identify but which the police are quick to say was indeed the
bishop's.
After the hue and cry about the GMA regime's track record vis a vis the
political killings – her regime's complicity and the reigning impunity of
perpetrators – it would appear that the known pattern of gun-wielding,
motorcycle-riding assassins was avoided in this instance. The bishop is
made to appear a victim of a random, common crime.
Now the police in this country are notorious for doing sloppy
investigations, as a matter of habit or deliberately, and in coming up
with fall guys who they beat into "confessing". Worse, where state forces
such as the military or their surrogate death squads are involved under
the framework of the government's current counter-insurgency program,
Oplan Bantay Laya, (Oplan Freedom Watch), the police will have all the
necessary "evidence" to undertake another horrendous cover-up.
The public is not new to this. Didn't it take the PNP forever to find "Garci",
the elections official accused of engineering massive fraud to favor Mrs.
Arroyo in the last presidential elections? Didn't they cover up for the
military's intelligence arm, ISAFP, when the latter illegally raided the
apartment of defeated (some say, cheated) vice presidential candidate
Loren Legarda's handwriting expert? Didn't they arrest militant trade
union leader and now Congressman Crispin Beltran and attempted to do the
same to five other progressive parliamentarians on trumped-up charges
through an illegal arrest without warrant? Aren't they manufacturing
witnesses and spurious documentation for their campaign to run after Mrs.
Arroyo's political opponents?
The activist organizations under attack have experienced the suspected
military's breaking and entering offices in order to undertake theft of
documents and whatever "incriminating" material they can find, for
intelligence purposes as well as to further case their targets before
"neutralization". The police have dutifully recorded these in their
blotters as simple cases of "theft".
But there was nothing worth stealing from the bishop except the life he
had dedicated to the fight for truth, social justice, a better lot for the
exploited and oppressed and genuine peace. Clearly the authorities are not
at all interested in finding out who would have wanted and benefited from
snuffing out such a life.
Let us rage until justice is served for Bishop Alberto Ramento and all
victims of political killings under the Arroyo regime! Business World /
Posted by Bulatlat
*Published in Business World
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