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After the death of Fr. Pops Tentorio in Mindanao, Geertman is the second European extra judicially killed under the administration of Benigno Simeon Aquino III. He is also the 17th environmental activist and sixth killed this year. Geertman is a non-government organization and community worker who lived 46 years in the Philippines.

Newspaper quoting police reports said: Willem Geertman, 67, a Dutch missionary was shot in front of his office on Tuesday (July 3) by still unidentified gunmen in an alleged robbery attack taking a bag with some P1.2 million the victim had just withdrawn from the bank.

Until his death, Geertman was a Dutch missionary and executive director of Alay Bayan-Luson Inc. (ABI), a non-government organization of peasants and poor rural folk in Central Luzon. He was also part of BATARIS, an organization that worked with the Agta-Dumagat tribes in Aurora Province. He was instrumental in the formation of Samahan ng mga Katutubo sa Sierra Madre (SKSM), an indigenous peoples’ organization. With him at the helm, his office campaigned for disaster risk reduction, environmental concerns, anti-mining plunder and was also waging an anti-malaria campaign in Central Luzon.

ABI facilitated the relief mission of the Bayanihan Alay sa Sambayanan (BALSA) led by Bayan and allied groups last year in Nueva Ecija and Aurora in the aftermath of Typhoon Pedring. Geertman was a very active advocate against large-scale mining in Pampanga and Zambales provinces.

Contrary to government allegations of robbery, the Church (the National Council of Churches of the Philippines and the Roman Catholic Church), human rights organizations and the various militant peoples’ organizations believe Geertman is a victim of extrajudicial killing because he worked for the interest of peasants and indigenous peoples and also opposed mining. They have immediately and strongly expressed their grief for the great loss, vehemently condemned the crime and called for a thorough and immediate investigation and arrest of the perpetrators. They strongly demanded justice for the slain friend, environmentalist, colleague and activist. They organized a fact-finding mission to look into the circumstances of the crime.

Considering the human rights record of the present administration that human rights activists conclusively describe as: “…it appears that President Benigno Aquino III is encouraging the perpetration of killings and human rights violations against environmental activists by defending destructive projects like large-scale mining and commercial logging.” Indigenous peoples rights groups also say, “With this government’s record on human rights and the persecution of activists like Willem, our eyes are on State forces for the responsibility for his killing.”

The administration’s seeming delay of action or the inaction at addressing human rights violations and extra-judicial killings like Geertman’s is concrete proof of the deepening culture of impunity and that human rights is not the priority of this administration. # nordis.net