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Saturday, July 01, 2006
Summary executions bring back ‘ghosts of Martial Law’: priest
A priest waging a campaign against summary killings in Davao City described as “a legacy of Martial Law” the spate of killings in the country, particularly in the cities of Davao and Cebu.
“The ghost of the Marcos regime still lives with us,” Fr. Amado Picardal told fellow priests, nuns and professionals attending the Ligouri lectures at the St. Theresa’s College auditorium yesterday.
Cebu City has recorded 167 victims of the extra-judicial killings of suspected criminals and ex-convicts since December 2004.
Since 2001, at least 601 human rights activists have been killed in the country, non-government monitors have said. The number of journalists killed in the last five years, most of them vocal against corruption in the government, has hit 44.
“This is murder, an intrinsically evil act, and those that sponsored the effort have themselves become criminals,” said Picardal. He is a member of the Coalition Against Summary Executions in Davao City.
He added that the New People’s Army (NPA) is also guilty of the summary executions of members suspected to be deep penetration agents (DPA) of the military or the police.
The priest said the current situation suggests the attacks are state-sponsored executions of criminals and suspected subversives.
“We cannot achieve a good end with evil means. Human life is sacred from the moment of conception and every human has the right to life and that right is inalienable,” he said, adding that the government promotes a culture of death with summary executions.
Murders and capital punishment have not deterred criminality nor eradicated illegal drugs, Fr. Picardal said, but instead contributed to the rise in crime.
Picardal recalled his ordeal in the hands of his captors during Martial Law, and warned “that dark period” is back with the “sponsored” killings.
“Those sponsoring it did not only violate the international law on human rights.
They disregarded the fifth commandment of God,” he said. (AIV)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (July 1, 2006 issue)
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