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Statement of condemnation on political killings

Promotion of Church People’s Response

November 29, 2005

THIS NOVEMBER, the shocking news about eight massacred farmers in Palo, Leyte and the weekly assassination of activists highlighted anew the alarming rate of military atrocities and political killings under the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo government. November 7, 13, 18, 19 and 21, these were the names of more victims: Mr. Jose Ducalang (Bayan Muna Coordinator- Ormoc City); Mr. Bienvenido Bajado (Council Member of Bayan Eastern Visayas and Council Member of Karapatan Eastern Samar); Mr. Ricardo Uy (Chairperson of Bayan Muna Sorsogon, President of Sorsogon Independent Media Reporters and member of Manindugan, a Sorsogon-based human rights alliance); Mr. Errol Sending (member of Bayan Muna Pampanga and the urban poor group Kadamay); and Rommel Arcilla (a former activist and a worker of PELCO).

In the morning of November 29, we received news of the latest victim: Jose “Pepe” Manegdeg, shot dead around 10 pm of November 28 in Ilocos Sur.

Pepe’s involvements, as in the case of many victims of political killings under Arroyo, made him a target of the state’s policy of physically eliminating perceived enemies of the government: He was a Bayan Muna coordinator and lay member of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP), a church-based peasant advocacy group. He also served as staff of the Research, Information, Documentation of the Clergy-Laity Formation Program (CLFP), an ecumenical network in the Cordillera, and as a co-worker of the Ecology Program of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines. Pepe is known for his active role in anti-mining and anti-dam campaigns such as the Save the Abra River Movement (STARM). Pepe was also the Editor-in-Chief of Kenosis, a publication that has projected peasant issues and struggles and a member of the Editorial Board of Writing on the Wall, a publication featuring local, national and international issues.

Pepe was a dedicated advocate of human rights especially for the farmers and indigenous peoples of the Cordillera. His gentle laugh and warm smile were enough to light up any day. His love of justice and of people engaged him in community organizing: empowering the poor to stand for their rights while fostering healthy relationships and a positive communal spirit. Pepe’s co-workers could always trust that his verbal commitment was equivalent to a task completed. At the same time, Pepe was an unwavering family man. He loved sharing stories about his two daughters Andrea and Dodo whom he adored. His love for his partner in life, Dom-An, was unquestionable.

We of the Promotion of Church People’s Response (PCPR) echo the cries for justice of Dom-An, Andrea, Dodo and all the co-workers and friends of Pepe. We condemn the Arroyo government for killing another activist church worker. Arroyo and her army of assassins must be held accountable for stealing human lives just as she must be held accountable for stealing the elections and pushing the Filipino majority into deeper poverty.

November 2, at the funeral mass and burial of Ka Ricardo Ramos, the beloved leader of the Hacienda Luisita workers who was killed by suspected military forces on October 25, his family and co-workers cried out for justice and immediate end to the state’s policy of killing leaders and members of the progressive party list groups Bayan Muna, Anakpawis and Gabriela Women’s Party, peasant and labor leaders, human rights defenders, churchpeople, lawyers and members of cause-oriented organizations. Today, we cry out again: Stop political killings! Justice for Jose ‘Pepe’ Manegdeg and all victims of state terrorism! #

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