Bishop: PNoy too risks suit if killings remain unsolved

An official of a Protestant Church that sued former President and Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for alleged political killings during her presidency said President Benigno Aquino III may face the same fate if extrajudicial killings continue during his term. Extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances persist during the Aquino administration, Bishop Arturo Asi, spokesperson of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP), said. “Ang isang nakakalungkot sa panahon ni Pangulong Aquino, ang extrajudicial killings ay tuloy pa rin. Kung mayroong pagkakataon… pwede rin siyang managot kung ang mga kasong ito ay may katotohanan," he told GMA News TV’s “News To Go" anchor Howie Severino in an interview Monday morning. The Church may also initiate a damage suit against Aquino and other government officials if they will not exert an effort to stop the killings, Asi said. The UCCP filed a P5.4-million damage suit against Arroyo last Thursday for the alleged extrajudicial killings of five of its members and the supposed abduction of another from 2003 to 2006. Arroyo should be held liable for the killings and the abductions during her term as commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the UCCP spokesperson said. The church has blamed military officials for committing the crimes. "Ito iyong tinatawag nating command responsibility. Ang may kasalanan ay hindi lamang ‘yung mismong pumatay. Ang may kasalanan sa extrajudicial killings o tortures ay may kaugnayan sa hierarchy ng lipunan," he said. Asi also denied that UCCP has links to the Communist Party of the Philippines, but said "all kinds of people" join the Church. "Ang katotohanan, kahit anong simbahan, ang mga miyembro niyan, lahat ng uri ng tao... Maaaring may pumasok na miyembro ng Communist Party," he said.

Political killings under PNoy A total of 45 incidents of extrajudicial killings and five incidents of forced disappearances have been recorded in the first nine months of the Aquino administration, according to the human rights group Karapatan. The group’s data, culled from July 2010 to March 2011, showed that most of the victims under the Aquino administration belong to the peasant sector. The group likewise said in its March 2011 report that political killings are being committed under the Aquino administration because the military’s counterinsurgency plan, Oplan Bayanihan, is supposedly “a camouflage for state terrorism." “Aquino’s daang matuwid (righteous path) has been reduced to a populist line to divert the people’s attention from the inability of his government to achieve any noteworthy gain that can foreshadow any significant change in any aspect of our society, especially human rights," the group said in its report. Aquino has said that political killings "are not his government's policy." Malacañang officials also said Friday that they will watch developments in the damage suit filed against Arroyo "with intent." — KBK/VS/HS, GMA News