Asked about the present situation, the Catholic nun said “is worse, it has become more difficult.”
She said most of their volunteers could not reach far-flung communities to do their work. In their “task faith reflection,” RMP volunteers especially in the Visayas and Mindanao talk about how militarization affects their work. “Before we were free to go anywhere, even during martial law. These days, many of us cannot go to communities by ourselves,” Belardo said.
Counter-insurgency
Belardo said church people are not spared from the government’s counter-insurgency program. “These are part of Oplan Bantay Laya (OBL).”
According to the Promotion of Church People’s Response (PCPR), Lucero is the 26th from the clergy who became a victim of extrajudicial killings under the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. He was also the second PCPR member killed in Eastern Visayas.
Belardo said that as the deadline for the OBL 2 draws near, human rights violations are on the rise.
Karapatan secretary general Lovella de Castro confirmed this to Bulatlat. The human-rights group has documented 61 victims of extrajudicial killings from January to June of this year alone.
“On the average, there are two victims killed every week,” de Castro said. The frequency of extrajudicial killings in 2009 is fast approaching that of 2006 when it was at its peak. In 2006, the deadline for OBL 1, one victim is killed every two days, de Castro said.
De Castro said most of the killings took place in “priority areas” set by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in its counter-insurgency program.
Since Arroyo assumed power, Karapatan has documented more than 1,000 victims of extrajudicial killings and more than 200 victims of enforced disappearances.
We Are Not Afraid
Even as Church workers are under attack, both Cruz and Belardo are undeterred.
“[The killing of Lucero] has strengthened my commitment to continue what I have been doing. We have nothing to hope for under this government,” said Cruz, who himself has been receiving death threats.
Belardo said that even as RMP volunteers, both the laity and the religious, continue to face harassment, they are not afraid. “We have no bad intentions. We only continue the mission of Jesus. To proclaim the Good News is to demand land for the farmers, ancestral domain and right to self determination for the indigenous peoples and so on.”
“We have learned to be strong because of the courage of the laity, because of the courage of our colleagues,” Belardo said.
Belardo said there is a need for the Filipino people to unite “to end the evil.”
“The Filipino people do not deserve this kind of government. There is an end to the waiting. The anger of the Filipino people has limits. There will come a time when the people will rise to the occasion,” Belardo said. (Bulatlat.com)
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the ambiguous assassination of the Church People to whom we have profit our freedom from their valiant determination to defend the poor become worse as the election period approaches our time.
What will become of us if we will just sit down and do nothing?…. it is not righteous to remain calm when others are persecuted and distressed in defending our basic human rights. Now is the best time to trigger off our consciousness and be in one with their struggle in defeating this what so called… evils in society….. let us emulate what Jesus did for us to attain total salvation. Those Courageous Church People like fr. Lucero and many more who have committed their lives in defending the poor and the oppressed must be protected and sustained. they have done their part…. our task is to meet them on the other half of the road….. and upsurge our involvement with their struggle.
Makibaka… wag tau matakot!
dapat patatagin ang research and documentation network at alliance work ng simbahan at ng mamamayang progresibo para protektahan ang masa. paigtingin ang edukasyon ng mga taong simbahan upang pangalagaan ang kanilang mga hanay lalo na ang mga magsasaka at mihihirap na bulnerable sa mga pasistang walang habas na pumatay.