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Commentary: Murder is uncontrolled in Philippines

Jan. 9, 2006

NOTE: Photographs are available at http://umns.umc.org.

Editor's note: The Rev. Larry Hollon, top staff executive of United
Methodist Communications, was part of a denominational delegation on
human rights that visited the Philippines Jan. 3-7 to investigate the
killings of clergy, laity and human rights workers.

A UMNS Commentary
By the Rev. Larry Hollon*

MANILA - After hearing one story and then another of murder and mayhem,
the mind shuts down. It can take in no more.

The stories are told with simplicity, and those telling them are
disarmingly unassuming. A mother speaks of a son who wanted to make the
world a better place; a spouse tells of a hard-working father whose
"crime" was seeking better wages; a father recalls a daughter teaching
poor women simple, legal rights under law; a sister tells of her brother
clergyperson who taught people they are valuable in the embrace of God.
Each has been gunned down in circumstances more than merely
coincidental.

The victims are always clergy or laity working with the poor, human
rights educators teaching people their legal rights, workers pressing
for a living wage, women teaching poor women their rights, indigenous
people protesting the exploitation of native lands.

Sometimes murder is carried out by armed, masked men riding motorcycles.
They ambush their victims and speed off, mostly at night. However, one
assassination of a pastor was carried out in full daylight, around noon,
on the street in front of his house.

Sometimes it's done by persons whom the victims contend are in the
military. One father was an eyewitness to the murder of five fisher
folk, including his 18-year-old son, by a military squadron from the
Armed Forces of the Philippines. Their crime was living and working in
an area where terrorists have operated, but they were not terrorists.
They were poor, working people.

We met with high-level military commanders at the national military
headquarters, and they deny these charges.

There is a pattern to many of the executions. People told us military
personnel appear in a village, ask for a particular individual and that
individual disappears. Sometimes the body is found, sometimes not.

False charges are made against a person publicly. A poster might be
displayed saying the person is a wanted terrorist, subversive or
communist. The individual receives a death threat in the form of a note
slipped under the door, or receives a text message or a telephone call.
One priest who works with poor folk got a written note accompanied with
several bullets placed in the offering plate of his church during
worship on a Sunday morning.

Law and order are breaking down in parts of the Philippines. The
government, if not complicit in these executions, has not shown
commitment to investigate the murders and bring perpetrators to justice.
Neither has the administration of President Gloria Magapagal-Arroyo
halted the labeling of church workers and activists as enemies of the
state. This has led to murder with impunity.

Even a bishop of the church has been told he is listed as a subversive.
This is like painting a target on a person's back. It must be stopped.
The president must intercede to prevent legitimate humanitarian and
religious work among the poor of this country from being identified as
disloyal and unsavory.

The fabric of Philippine society depends upon the protection of basic
human rights, due process and rule of law. At the present time, the
fabric is being torn dangerously. Good, innocent people are at risk.
Lives have been lost, and tragedy has been visited upon people who
already live at great disadvantage and have limited options because of
poverty.

A healthy, democratic Philippines is at risk today. President Arroyo
must exercise the leadership necessary to preserve the rights that will
make the country strong and secure. She must stop the killing.

*This commentary was adapted from a posting at "Perspectives," the Rev.
Larry Hollon's personal Weblog, at
http://homepage.mac.com/larryhol/iblog/index.html.

News media contact: Tim Tanton, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.

********************

United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org

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