PHILIPPINES: Church lay minister shot dead by motorcycle-riding assassins
Episcopal News Service. October 25, 2010 [102510-09]
Matthew Davies
A lay minister in the Philippine Independent Church was shot dead by assassins riding motorcycles while walking home from church on Oct. 17 in Malabon City, according to a news article on the USPG mission agency website.
Church officials claim the shooting of Brother Maximo Bernardo "is part of a systematic attempt by the Filipino authorities to target human rights workers," the article said.
Bernardo is the third Philippine Independent Church lay minister to be assassinated this year. Benjamin Bayles, a human rights activist, and Jovelito Agustin, a broadcaster who defended workers' rights, were shot dead in June by suspected paramilitary groups on motorcycles.
The Philippine Independent Church, or Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI), is in full communion with the U.S.-based Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion.
"Brother Max was a soft-spoken, kind-hearted, good neighbor, church worker and community leader. He had no known enemies and it was not heard about him receiving any death threats," said the Rev. Jonash Joyohoy of the IFI, according to the USPG article. "He had no weapons to defend himself but prayers. This was utter treachery. The shots fired to his head tell us that the operation was deliberate and carried out by professionals in a similar fashion with previous killings."
Extrajudicial killings and abductions occur without the permission of a court or legal authority and are generally carried out by a government attempting to rid itself of a disruptive influence.
More than 1,200 extrajudicial killings have been documented since 2001, when Maria Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo became president of the Philippines. Arroyo was succeeded by President Benigno Aquino III on June 30 amid calls for a renewed commitment to justice.
Rachel Parry, USPG regional desk officer, said: "It is hard to believe these things keep happening, and under a new president who has promised to clean up the corruption and killings in the Philippines. It is so important that we speak up in solidarity with our partners in the Philippines."
The Episcopal Church's Executive Council, at its June meeting in Maryland, passed a resolution joining with ecumenical partners, the National Council of Churches in the Philippines, and other churches "in condemning unresolved human rights cases, including extra-judicial killings, enforced disappearances, illegal arrests, and the detention of church workers in the Philippines; and called upon the Philippines government to ensure that the human rights of church workers are respected and to seek the release of illegally detained church workers in the Philippines."
In September 2008, Episcopalian James Balao was abducted at gunpoint months after he complained to family and friends that he was under constant surveillance. Balao is a founding member of the Cordillera People's Alliance, a federation of grassroots organizations dedicated to the promotion and protection of indigenous peoples' rights. Balao remains missing.
Former IFI Obispo Maximo (Prime Bishop) Alberto Ramento was found stabbed to death at his rectory in October 2006. Known for his advocacy work for peace and human rights, Ramento had been an outspoken critic of the Philippine government.
More recently, a group of 43 health workers who have been detained since Feb. 6 and denied basic human rights, remain in custody.
The health workers were participating in training sessions conducted by a nongovernmental organization, the Council for Health and Development, when more than 300 military invaded the compound and made the arrests. The health workers were accused of being a communist group and charged for alleged possession of explosives and firearms, claims that have been widely refuted.
Among the health workers are Dr. Alexis Montes, a member and former national health program coordinator of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, and Angela Dolorico, an indigenous woman from Sagada, Mountain Province, and a member of the Episcopal Church in the Philippines.