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Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Aglipayan bishop slain in Tarlac
ANGELES CITY -- An Aglipayan prelate was stabbed dead by two unidentified men early Tuesday morning inside his church in Barangay Poblacion, Tarlac City.
The victim was identified as Bishop Maximo IX Alberto Romento, 69, parish priest of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) or Philippine Independent Church and a human rights activist.
Tarlac Police Provincial Director Nicanor Bartolome, said an aide, Archimedes Ferrer, found Ramento's bloodied body on the second floor of the convent.
Investigators found his empty wallet near his body and a convent staff was checking if items were stolen from the ransacked building, Bartolome said.
Ramento, 69, was also the provincial leader of the local human rights group Karapatan. He had received death threats from men believed to be elements of the military, Karapatan said in a statement.
Police said Ramento resisted the killers as he was being attacked.
While the robbers were trying to open the safety box where the donations and other cash are kept, the victim was awakened and tried to fight back with the robbers, said Bartolome. He said one of the robbers then started to stab the priest using a kitchen knife.
The police official said robbery could be the possible motive of the killing because several coins in different dominations were scattered at the bedroom of the victim and undetermined amount were missing.
Ramonte, a progressive religious leader, condemned attacks on leaders of activist groups since 2001, among them Fr. William Tadena of the IFI who was ambushed on March 13, 2005 by what activists now call as "death squads."
"We decry and express our outrage over this heinous killing against a peace and human rights advocate," said Karapatan deputy secretary general Jigs Clamor.
The Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) based in Central Luzon dubbed the killing as a "brazen attack on a peace-loving church leader," calling it further as a "damnable imprint of a dictatorship."
Bayan Central Luzon chairperson Roman Polintan said the killing of Ramento brings to 131 the number of victims of extrajudicial killings in the region since President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo assumed office in 2001.
"Our fear that this is another extra judicial killing is based on the fact that (Bishop) Ramento is a staunch defender of people's rights and welfare," Polintan said.
He also called for a thorough investigation of the incident by a "truly independent body."
Prior to his death, Ramento had been the chairperson of the IFI Supreme Council of Bishops; co-chairman of the Ecumenical Bishops Forum; Philippine Peace Center board member; Promotion of Church People's Response-Central Luzon chairman; Karapatan-Tarlac chairman; convener of the multi-sectoral groups Pilgrims for Peace, Movement of Citizens for Civil Liberties-Central Luzon, Peace Forum, Interfaith-Central Luzon and Church-Peasant Conference; and ardent supporter of Hacienda Luisita strikers. (DMF of Sun.Star Pampanga/Sunnex)
(October 4, 2006 issue)
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