Statement
BC Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines

On the Killings of Pastor Andy Pawican and Noli Capulong

30 May 2006

The British Columbia for Human Rights in the Philippines (BCCHRP) vehemently condemns the killing of Pastor Andy Pawican, on May 21, 2006 and that of Noli Capulong, ecumenical activist, on May 27, 2006.

Pastor Andy Pawican, a 30-year-old Licentiate Pastor of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) was shot to death by elements of the 48th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army under Lt. Tagliwag.

Noli Capulong, an active member of the UCCP, former staff of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP)-Ecology and International Affairs Programs and a  member of the Kapatirang Simbahan Para sa Bayan (KASIMBAYAN) was shot dead  four times in the head and body by two masked men riding a motorcycle. Noli Capulong was the  Deputy Secretary General of Bayan Muna-Southern Tagalog and the  spokesperson of Southern Tagalog Environmental Action Movement (STEAM).

BCCHRP is outraged with these recent senseless deaths of Pastor Andy Pawican and Noli Capulong. The fascist agents of President Gloria Arroyo makes no exception to killing church people who practice the preferential option for the poor. No one is spared from this  wave of state-sponsored terrorism against the people, despite calls from within and outside the country to  stop the killings.

How many more mothers, fathers and children will grieve for the brutal deaths of their loved ones? How long will the armed agents of the government escape accountability over the extra-judicial killings, abductions, arbitrary arrests and scores of human rights abuses committed in the name of national security and the political stability of the Arroyo government?

The killings of Pastor Andy and Noli Capulong on May 21st and May 27th respectively, are two of the latest cases of human rights violations against church people. The total number of civilians killed continues to rise and the pattern of impunity clearly intensifies.

BCCHRP holds President Arroyo and her army of ruthless murderers accountable for all these violent attacks against the lives and civil liberties of the Filipino people. The Philippine government has disregarded its obligation to honor the  human rights instruments and international human rights conventions. By its very silence and inaction, it has in effect sanctioned  the practice of extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances and other atrocities against its very own people.

For Reference: Beth P. Dollaga
Secretary/Treasurer, BCCHRP
May 30, 2006