HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
Slain UCCP Pastor was
Holding His Child when Last Seen with Soldiers
Andy Pawecan, a
licentiate pastor of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP)
slain in Nueva Ecija last May, was last seen by witnesses being held by
soldiers. The killing of Pawecan is one of several cases to be heard in
March next year by the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT), where President
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is to be tried for violations of the Filipino
people’s individual and collective rights.
BY ALEXANDER MARTIN
REMOLLINO
Bulatlat
Andy Pawecan, a
licentiate pastor of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP)
slain in Nueva Ecija on May 21 this year, was last seen by witnesses being
held by government soldiers. Bulatlat gathered this from copies of
written testimonies by the witnesses, whose names are being withheld for
the meantime for security reasons, as well as with human rights lawyers.
Pawecan is one of the
783 victims of extra-judicial killings from January 2001 – when Arroyo was
catapulted to power through a popular uprising – to November 2006, based
on data from the human rights group Karapatan (Alliance for the
Advancement of People’s Rights). At least 330 of the victims are with
confirmed political affiliation, Karapatan data further showed.
Based on the account
of one of the witnesses, Pawecan had just concluded Sunday service in his
church at noon in Sitio (sub-village) Maluyon, Barangay (village) Fatima,
San Jose City and was on the way to take lunch with some devotees at the
house of one of his congregation members in Sitio Maasip, Barangay Tayabo,
Pantabangan. The witness was one of those with Pawecan.
“Humigit-kumulang
200 metro na lamang ang layo sa aming bahay nang harangin kami ng tatlong
sundalo sa daan at pinigilan kaming umuwi ng aming bahay at sinabihan kami
ng mga sundalo na: ‘Huwag muna kayong umuwi, baka magkaputukan e madamay
pa kayo,’ kaya kami ay huminto sa daan sa kainitan ng araw”
(More or less just 200 meters away from our house, we were stopped by
three soldiers and prevented from going home and were told: “Don’t go home
yet, an encounter may break out and you might be caught in it,” so we
stopped on the road amid the heat of the sun), the witness said.
“Umalis ang isang
sundalo at umakyat sa lugar na kinaroroonan ng aming bahay, pagdaan ng
humigit-kumulang 30 minuto ay bumalik sa aming kinatatayuan ang isang
sundalo at sinabihan kami na puwede na kaming umuwi pero pinaiwan si Andy
Pawecan na noo’y kilik pa ang kanyang walong-buwang anak”
One of the soldiers left and went to the
area where our house is and after more or less 30 minutes returned and
said we could go home except Andy Pawecan, who was still carrying his
eight-month-old daughter), the witness added. “Sinabi sa amin na
kakausapin lamang siya ng mga sundalo at pauuwiin din pagkatapos” (We
were told that the soldiers would just be talking to him and he would be
allowed to go home afterward.)
Also stopped by soldiers
Another witness, who
was in Maluyon at the time Pawecan and his congregation members were held,
said he was stopped by soldiers in front of a house morning that same day
while on his way to the local market for reasons unknown to him.
“Noong ika-21 ng
Mayo, 2006, ang oras ay ika-12 ng tanghali, ay pinahinto naman nila si Ptr.
Andy Pawecan na noon ay kasama ng kanyang asawa na si Dominga Pawecan”
(On May 21, 2006, at 12 noon,
they stopped Ptr. Andy Pawecan who was then with his wife Dominga Pawecan),
the witness said. “Noong mag-ikatatlo ng hapon, iyon ding araw na iyon,
Linggo, ika-21 ng Mayo, ako mismo ay narinig ko na ang magkasunud-sunod na
putok na iisang uri ng putok. Pagkatapos ng maraming putok ay mayroong
sumigaw nang ganito, ‘Lumaban y’ong maydala ng bata.’” (At 3 that
afternoon, that same day, May 21, 2006, I myself heard successive gunshots
which sounded the same. After several gunshots, someone shouted, “The one
carrying the baby fought back.”)
The first witness
quoted in this article saw a soldier carrying Pawecan’s baby a few minutes
after the burst of gunfire. She had a scratch on her face, the witness
said of the baby.
“Nang hapon ding
iyon ay nalaman naming patay na si Andy, sinabi ng mga sundalo na lumaban
daw siya kaya siya binaril”
(That same afternoon we learned that Andy was dead, the soldiers said he
fought back so he was shot), the first witness said.
The next day, Maluyon
residents went to claim Pawecan’s remains, and the witnesses said they
were told by the soldiers that the pastor was a member of the New People’s
Army (NPA) and that they recovered from him a SIM card marked “NPA,” which
was the reason he was suspected of being an NPA member. The residents
denied Pawecan was an NPA member, the witnesses said.
A fact sheet from
Karapatan-Nueva Ecija identified the soldiers involved in the killing as
belonging to the Philippine Army’s 48th Infantry Battalion, “D”
Coy, which is part of the 7th Infantry Division then headed by
Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan, Jr. Palparan retired from military service last
Sept. 11. Data obtained through military sources point to Lt. Milner
Taglinao as having direct command over the 48th Infantry
Battalion, “D” Coy.
Pawecan’s case is one
of those to be heard March next year by the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT)
in Den Haag, The Netherlands where President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is to
be tried for:
- Violations of
human rights, especially civil and political rights, with particular
focus on summary executions, disappearances, massacres, torture as well
as other vicious, brutal and systematic abuses and attacks on the basic
democratic rights of the people;
- Violations of
human rights, especially economic, social and cultural rights of the
Filipino people through the imposition of “free market” globalization to
exploit them; transgression of their economic sovereignty and national
patrimony; various forms of economic plunder and attacks on their
economic rights; and the destruction of the environment; and
- Violations of the
rights of the people to national self-determination and liberation
through the imposition of the U.S. war of terror; U.S. military
intervention; as well as the perpetration of crimes against humanity and
war crimes; misrepresentations of the people’s right to national
liberation and self-determination as terrorism and the baseless
“terrorist” listing of individuals, organizations and other entities by
the U.S. and other governments.
The PPT will be
hearing the cases based on the suit filed by the Bagong Alyansang
Makabayan (Bayan or New Patriotic Alliance), Samahan ng mga Ex-Detainee
Laban sa Detensyon at para sa Amnestiya (SELDA or Society of Ex-Detainees
Against Detention and for Amnesty), Desaparecidos, and HUSTISYA,
the organization of victims of the current administration's
human rights violations.
Former UN ad litem judge Romeo Capulong is the chief prosecutor and
lawyers Rachel Pastores and Amylyn Sato of the Public Interest Law Center
(PILC) will be part of the prosecution panel in the PPT session.
Bulatlat
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