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Philippines Canada Task Force on Human Rights
Press Release
Statement of Concerned Canadians on the Abduction of Pastor Berlin Guerrero in the Philippines
June 11, 2007
The Philippines Canada Task Force on Human Rights (PCTFHR) vehemently condemns the abduction and ruthless treatment of Pastor Berlin Guerrero of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP). Pastor Guerrero, age 46, was abducted at gun point by six unidentified armed men believed to be elements of the Naval Special Force Intelligence Unit of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), and taken on board a Ford Fierra type van with covered license plates on May 27th 2007, at around 5:30 pm.
He was handcuffed, interrogated, beaten, and tortured over a twelve-hour period. The following day, he was handed over to the Provincial Police Office. Pastor Guerrero has served the local UCCP church in Binan, Laguna in the past two years. He was also the Secretary General of BAYAN - Southern Tagalog. Both the UCCP and BAYAN have endured the enmity of the military and the Philippine National Police. More than 30 church workers including a Bishop have been killed since President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo assumed office in 2001.
The experience of Pastor Berlin Guerrero is but one of the more recent incidents of a long litany of human abuse under the Presidency of Macapagal-Arroyo. Through Arroyo’s counter-insurgency program dubbed Oplan Bantay Laya I and II (Operation Freedom Watch I and II), the Filipino people have been the victims of cruel acts of state terrorism, from abductions, to torture, enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, harassment of legislative representatives, and the repression of dissent that have seriously scarred the political and human face of the Philippines.
PCTFHR strongly decries the ongoing acts of terror against the church workers whose lives and works were dedicated in serving the church and the people. These church workers were advocates of the dispossessed, the impoverished and the exploited, the rural peasants and the urban poor. They campaigned against the government’s complicity in the destruction of the countryside and the displacement of the peasant and indigenous population for the benefit of transnational mining interests.
We denounce the government and military complicity in human rights abuses, a fact recognized by the international community, including the findings of the Permanent People’s Tribunal Second Session on the Philippines, a United States’ Senate hearing on extrajudicial killings and a growing movement in Canada denouncing the state violence of the Arroyo government and the Canadian government’s complicity on the matter.
This is a crucial juncture in the effort to induce the Philippine government to alter its course and adhere to the principles of a democratic society that it claims to support.
PCTFHR calls for justice not only for Pastor Guerrero and other church people but for all victims of abduction, torture, unlawful arrest, and arbitrary detention. The Philippine government is a party to human rights instruments and international conventions and as such, it has made commitment not to sanction the practice of enforced disappearance and extra-judicial killings or tolerate such atrocities against its citizens.
We demand the immediate and unconditional release of Pastor Berlin Guerrero and the prosecution of the military responsible for his arrest, torture and continued detention!. We also call on the Canadian government to pressure the Philippine government to respect international human rights covenants and agreements and to review Canadian foreign policy and aid
For reference:
Beth Dollaga
Philippines-Canada Task Force on Human Rights:
• Centre for Philippine Concerns – Montreal
• Ontario Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines – Ottawa
• Philippine Network for Justice and Peace – Toronto
• Centre for Philippine Concerns – Winnipeg
• B.C. Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines
TO SEND A LETTER CONDEMNING THE ABDUCTION OF PASTOR GUERRERO GO TO:
http://www.psacbc.com/philippines/ |
