There was nothing worth stealing from the bishop except the life he had dedicated to the fight for truth, social justice, a better lot for the exploited and oppressed and genuine peace. The authorities are not at all interested in finding out who would have wanted and benefited from snuffing out such a life.

By Carol Pagaduan-Araullo
Business World
Posted by Bulatlat.com

Once again, another victim of extrajudicial killings has fallen but this time the assassins have done the unthinkable. They have murdered not just a man of the cloth, but a bishop no less; one who had served as the Obispo Maximo, or pope, of the Iglesia Filipina Independente (IFI). And they did it right inside his parish church as he lay sleeping, utterly defenseless.

Why is it that Bp. Alberto Ramento’s family, his fellow priests and most of his flock, as well as his admirers and friends are one in saying that they suspect his murder to be politically motivated? Why, on the other hand, is the Philippine National Police (PNP) insistent that this is an open and shut case of robbery with homicide?

We look for motive. Who would want Bishop Ramento dead?

It is clear from all the testimonials we have heard about him that the good bishop was admired and highly respected as a church leader, not just in the country but internationally.

He lived a modest life ministering to his flock that included impoverished “street children” whom he fed and gave pocket money to so that they could keep studying. He was assiduous in providing inspiration and support to his beleaguered priests in Tarlac and nearby provinces; many of them had been tagged “communists” or “communist sympathizers” as they persevered working in highly militarized areas. He had no personal enemies.

But he went beyond works of charity and church ritual. The causes he espoused and fought for ranged from human, civil and political rights, social justice, freedom from neocolonial impositions, good and upright governance to a just and lasting peace that addresses the root causes of armed conflict.

Concretely, Bishop Ramento vigorously opposed government socio-economic policies that spell poverty and misery for the majority of the people and their continued exploitation by the elite. He took up the cudgels for oppressed workers and

s especially those who fought for their rights and were under attack such as the striking farm and sugar mill workers of Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac.

He denounced the systematic fraud that attended the 2004 presidential elections and called for Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to resign or be ousted. He took an uncompromising but principled position rejecting Mrs. Arroyo’s push for Charter change. He courageously stood up against military incursions into and abuse of civilian communities, political killings of progressives and activists and other forms of state terrorism.

In short, he fit the Arroyo regime’s description of “destabilizer” and “enemy” to a tee. It did not surprise him therefore that he had been included in the military’s “order of battle,” that he was on the receiving end of numerous anonymous death threats and that he would be surveilled and harassed in various ways obvious and subtle.

But like many other victims of summary executions, Bishop Ramento took no extraordinary measures to protect himself. He remained vulnerable because he did not have the means nor did he wish to hire bodyguards; he did not have a well-secured office nor residence; and many times he commuted through public transportation as he went about his pastoral duties. He believed that his protection lay in fearlessly exposing and denouncing political persecution and state terrorism wherever and whenever it took place.

We in Bayan were hoping against hope that the local and international uproar against the spate of political killings and other grievous human rights violations under the Arroyo regime would stay the hand of the fascists and the rabid anti-communists in Malacanang. Then the news came about the brutal murder of the well-loved Bishop Ramento. This latest outrage brings the political killings as well as their official cover-up to a new and higher level.

What does the PNP posit as motive for his murder? According to the investigators and even Task Force Usig, the case is simple and straightforward: “robbery with homicide”. They have the suspects and the stolen goods to show for it. Case closed.

But why would petty criminals choose to rob Bishop Ramento when his parish church is so obviously a poor man’s church. The bishop’s simple, even frugal, lifestyle is well known in the community and is entirely consistent with a cursory inspection of the church premises.

True, petty thieves had struck two previous times, on Sept. 11 and 23 of this year. They got a DVD player and some cash; later, another DVD player (a replacement for the one they stole) and a low-end cell phone but not much else. The first time, the bishop was not around; the second time, he was asleep and they left him unharmed.

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