PIMENTEL CONDEMNS KILLING OF PRIEST; ASSAILS UNABATED KILLINGS UNDER ARROYO GOV’T

A Catholic priest was shot dead while officiating mass
inside the parish church in a remote town in the
Cordillera region.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr.
(PDP-Laban) today reported the killing of Fr. Francis
Madhu, SVD, who was shot dead while saying mass at
5:30 p.m. Sunday (April 1).

Pimentel condemned the slaying of Fr. Madhu as he
assailed the Arroyo administration over the unabated
extra-judicial killings of leftist activists, and
other personalities who are fighting injustice and
oppression.

"Now they are killing priests. The Arroyo government
is unable to stop extra-judicial killings," he said.

Meanwhile, the minority leader assailed President
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for defying the call of the
Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and the Catholic
Bishops Conference of the Philippines for the
immediate withdrawal of soldiers from urban poor
communities in Metro Manila.

The President has agreed on the continued deployment
of soldiers in 26 depressed barangays in Quezon,
Manila and Caloocan cities during her visit to the
Baseco Compound Saturday (March 31).

The CHR, headed by Chairperson Purificacion
Quisumbing, called for the pullout of soldiers from
the urban barangays on the basis of the complaints of
residents that they feel their rights to speech and
assembly are being curtailed because of the military
presence.

On the other hand, the CBCP, according to its
president, Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, said the
stationing of soldiers in the urban barangays has the
effect of militarizing these areas.

Pimentel maintained that the deployment of soldiers in
Metro Manila barangays violates the Constitution since
the maintenance of peace and order in these areas is
the duty of the Philippine National Police.

He said it is only in times of extreme violence,
lawlessness and rebellion that the President can order
the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to send
troops to the civilian communities in Metro Manila.

"President Arroyo is militarizing the barangays. She
is under the control of some generals who follow Mao's
dictum: Power grows out of the barrel of the gun.
Another sad chapter in our lives," the minority leader
said.

Pimentel also held the view that the President is
legally and morally bound to comply with the order of
the Commission on Human Rights on the troop withdrawal
from Metro Manila barangays since the CHR is the
independent constitutional body tasked with upholding
and safeguarding the human rights of Filipinos.
-o0o-