This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com).
Vol. VI, No. 36,
Oct.
15-21, 2006
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
© 2006 Bulatlat ■ Alipato Media Center
Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.