PHILIPPINES: Threat against an activist priest; bullets offered after a mass in Bulacan, Luzon 

Dear friends

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from KARAPATAN (Alliance for the Advancement of Peoples Rights), a human rights organisation based in Manila, Philippines, regarding the threat to the life of a catholic priest, Fr. Rolando de Leon.

On 30 October 2005, a mass had just finished at the San Andres Apostol Parish, Norzagaray, Bulacan when collectors found out four envelopes containing small pieces of paper with bullets on them had been gathered from the mass offering. Written on the paper were messages with threats to Fr. de Leon’s life. A report from KARAPATAN suggests that the threat to Fr. de Leon could be someone’s effort to silence him.

It was learned that Fr. de Leon has been actively involved in human rights work and providing assistance to victims of human rights violations and their families in the province of Bulacan. He has also joined various fact-finding missions on reported cases of violations, initiated a dialogue with local government officials, and led the filing of complaints on violations to the concerned government agencies, including the Commission on Human Rights (CHR).

This is yet another incident of harassment and violence against people in the religious community advocating for human rights in the Philippines. The AHRC has reported the attack on Fr. Allan Caparro of Leyte, Visayas (UA-30-2005) and the killings of Fr. William Tadena of Tarlac (UP-26-2005), Rev. Raul Domingo of Palawan (UP-101-2005) and Rev. Edison Lapuz of Leyte, Visayas (UP-59-2005).

Your strong intervention is needed to require the concerned government agencies, in particular the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and other credible law enforcement agencies to provide immediate protection to Fr. de Leon. An impartial investigation must also be conducted into the incident, and appropriate criminal charges must be filed if the allegations are found to be true.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission
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DETAILED INFORMATION:

Name of the priest: Fr. Rolando de Leon (50). He is a Roman Catholic Priest of the Diocese of Malolos, Bulacan and Parish Priest of San Andres Apostol Parish, Norzagaray. He is also the spokesperson for the organisations Alyansa ng Mamamayan para sa Pantaong Karapatan (ALMMA) [People’s Alliance for Human Rights] – a provincial chapter of KARAPATAN; Bulacan Ecumenical Association of Church People Offering Nationalism (BEACON); and the provincial chapter of the Promotion of Church People’s Response (PCPR)
Place of incident: At the San Andres Apostol Parish in San Andres Apostol, Norzagaray,  Bulacan, Philippines
Date of incident:  30 October 2005, between 8:30am to10:00am
Alleged perpetrators: Elements of the 56th Infantry Batallion Philippine Army under the command of Lt. Col. Noel Clement

Case details:

On 30 October 2005, after the 8:30am mass at the San Andres Apostol Parish in San Andres Apostol, Norzagaray, Bulacan church volunteers were gathering the envelopes and counting the donations collected from the mass. From one of the collection bags, four envelopes were found containing a piece of paper each with the message “Isang babala para sayo: Ikaw na ang isusunod!” (“A warning for you: You’re next!”). Three of the envelopes also contained one bullet each.

According to Fr. de Leon, he was not surprised with this death threat and believes it is undeniably connected to the series of threats, killings and other human rights violations happening in his province and the whole of Central Luzon. The killing of Federico de Leon, Chairperson of Anakpawis-Bulacan on 26 October 2005 in Malolos, Bulacan had just happened at that time.

The Municipality of Norzagaray, where Fr. de Leon’s Parish is located is one of the areas suffering from this violence. In September, two people, Leodegario Punzal, a local Anakpawis Leader and Luis Caresa, a caretaker of Trian Farms in Barangay Matictic were also reportedly killed.

For some time now, Fr. de Leon has been actively involved in human rights work in the province of Bulacan. Between April and May 2005, he joined human rights workers from ALMMA-Bulakan, to look into the human rights violation cases in the town of San Miguel.

As the spokesperson for ALMMA-Bulakan, a network of the KARAPATAN National Office, Fr. de Leon has been monitoring cases of human rights violations. He has also given support to the survivors and the families of people who are victims of human rights violations. He joins fact-finding missions, dialogues with local government officials and leads the filing of complaints to the Provincial Government and the local Commission on Human Rights on violation cases.

On 16 March 2005, Fr. de Leon recalled that one Sgt. Arnaldo Pagala, a military agent took a picture of him during a protest rally without his consent. Sgt. Pagala pretended at the time to be a member of the media taking pictures of the rally for the National Day of Protest. It was later discovered that he had been carrying a .45 caliber pistol. He was taken to the Philippine National Police Headquarters in Malolos.

It was learned that Sgt. Pagala admitted that he is a member of the Military Intelligence Group (MIG-3), an Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) in Northern Luzon Command (NOLCOM) based in Camp Servillano Aquino, Tarlac City.

The military had in the past accused individuals and several organisations of being supporters or sympathisers of the communist armed group. Last year, the former chief of the AFP’s Northern Luzon Command, Lt. General Romeo Dominguez (presently retired) came out with a book entitled, “The Trinity of War,” wherein he identified individuals and organizations as sympathizers, supporters, if not outright members, of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) or the New People’s Army (NPA).

It has since been learned that some of the named individuals in the said list have been killed by assassins who have assumed a pattern of killings – armed men usually riding a motorcycle, with ski masks or bonnet to escape identification, and using vehicles with no number plates.

This year the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP)  likewise admitted to having released a compact disc presentation entitled, ”Knowing the Enemy: Are We Missing the Point?”  Similar to the Dominguez book, it named media, church, human rights and other progressive organizations as supporters, sympathizers, coddlers or under the influence of the communists.  The disc is being shown to villages and discussed among communities where the military conducts so-called civilian military operations.

One of the organisations identified in this compact disc presentation is the KARAPATAN. Since 2001, 21 KARAPATAN human rights defenders have been killed. This threat to Fr. de Leon came on the heels of a new wave of killings in Central Luzon.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please send letters to concerned government agencies, in particular the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and other law enforcement agencies requiring them to provide immediate protection to Fr. Rolando de Leon. Please also ask for an impartial investigation into the incident.