The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) yesterday blamed the Aquino administration for the killing of Dutch environmentalist Willem Geertman in Pampanga on Tuesday, as it condemned the government for the unabated extrajudicial killings of activists in the country.
The CPP, in a statement, blamed that the killing of Geertman and that of Romualdo Palispis in Aurora province, with only a few days interval, to the Aquino administration and its military death squads.
“The successive killings of Palispis and Geertman highlight the continuing campaign of terror and extrajudicial killings being carried out by the reactionary armed forces through its death squads under the Aquino regime’s Oplan Bayanihan campaign of suppression,” said the CPP.
“The murders of Geertman and Palispis call our attention to the fact that extra-judicial killings by death squads of the AFP continue unabated under the Aquino regime,” said the CPP.
Human rights monitors have documented at least 80 cases of extrajudicial killings of progressive activists, many of whom are peasant and anti-mining activists.
The CPP claimed that on the average, at least one activist opposed to the antipeople, undemocratic and pro-imperialist policies of the Aquino regime was killed by armed agents of the reactionary state every 10 days over the past two years.
The Army leadership, however, branded such accusation as irresponsible and baseless.
Maj. Harold Cabunoc, Army spokesman, maintained the Army will not hesitate to throw the book and filed charges against any personnel found involved in the killing of Geertman, executive director of the Alay Bayan Inc., a non-government organization affiliated with farmers groups at the Hacienda Luisita.
On the other hand, Palispis, who is an active member of Bayan Muna in Aurora province, was gunned down Saturday in front of his residence in Maria Aurora town.
Immediately after Geertman’s killing in front of ABI office in Barangay Telabastagan in San Fernando, Pampanga, Fernando Hicap of the militant groups Pamalakaya and Anakpawis, tagged the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for the killing.
For his part, ABI chairman Joseph Canlas, while admitting he has no idea who could have killed Geertman, noted that military personnel had supposedly been acting as postmen, delivering letters to the ABI office.
“That is an irresponsible accusation which is not based on evidence. If they have proofs that our soldiers are behind this killing, we will not hesitate to let the accused soldiers answer the charges in a court of law,” said Cabunoc.
“Extrajudicial killing is not practiced by our soldiers. We join the efforts of all human rights advocates to stop all these extra legal killings, including those summary executions owned up by the NPA’s death squad the Special Partisan Unit (Sparu),” added Cabunoc.
Cabunoc stressed that the Army is in the forefront in promotion and adherence of human rights under its internal peace and security plan “Bayanihan.”
“Human rights protection is one of the primary advocacies of the Army soldiers as we carry out ‘Bayanihan’ activities,” said Cabunoc.
Clemente Bautista, national coordinator of the Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment (Kalikasan-PNE), called for investigation of the military for the killing of Geertman as he denounced the latest extrajudicial killing.
“We strongly denounce the murder of Geertman, who was a very active advocate against large-scale mining in Pampanga and Zambales provinces. The military forces in the area should be immediately investigated as there are several complaints and records of them involved in human rights violations against anti-mining activists like Geertman,” said Geertman, 67, is the second European missionary killed under the two-year administration of President Aquino. In 2011 Fr. Fausto Tentorio was also killed in Arakan, North Cotabato for allegedly opposing hydropower project in Pulangui River.
Mario J. Mallari, Daily Tribune
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