Political motive behind Bishop Ramento slay strong

KARAPATAN skeptical on PNP investigation

Press Release
By KARAPATAN
October 11, 2006

MANILA, Philippines  –  The human rights watchdog KARAPATAN echoed the skepticism of the family and colleagues of murdered Bishop Alberto Ramento over result of police investigation on the case. The Philippine National Police hastily concluded that the killing of Bishop Ramento on October 3, 2006 was a simple case of robbery with homicide even before a thorough investigation had begun.

"We are of the view that the PNP hastily dismissed the slaying of Bishop Ramento as robbery with homicide to downplay strong suspicions that the killing of the bishop was one of the hundreds of politically-motivated killings," said KARAPATAN Deputy Secretary General Jigs Clamor, who joined the fact-finding team on October 4.

Clamor said, "With the unending spate of political killings in the country under the Arroyo government's Oplan Bantay Laya, the murder of Ramento cannot be simply dismissed as a common crime."
KARAPATAN recorded 762 victims of extrajudicial killings, all of them non-combatants, 328 of them were political activists.

There are glaring indications that Bishop Ramento's murder was thoroughly planned and politically motivated. KARAPATAN believes that the brutal killing was a consequence of his principled engagement with the people and their struggle for social justice.

Clamor said, "The brutal manner of killing of a frail and defenseless old man demonstrated a serious intent to kill rather than to steal. There was no valuable item lost except his ring."

"Based on our fact-finding team's initial investigation, there was no DVD player taken on October 3. The DVD player was stolen from his quarters on September 23, 2006," Clamor added.

It is public knowledge that the late Bishop was receiving numerous death threats. He even reported these threats in a recent forum held at the University of the Philippines on September 18, 2006.

On September 29, 2006, three days before he was killed, he already expressed alarm over the intensity of the threats that he seriously considered drawing up a security plan for the San Sebastian Church with the assistance of his son. It was even suggested that his car be darkly tinted to discourage possible perpetrators.

"The police refused to look into these circumstantial evidences, that's why the result of their investigation is dubious," Clamor said.

KARAPATAN said that the case is far from solved with the arrest of suspects. "The PNP will also have to prove that the suspects, beyond reasonable doubt, are indeed the perpetrators of the gruesome murder before the police can boast that the case is closed,"