Probers tag soldiers in Albay pastor’s murder

By Christian V. Esguerra
Inquirer
Last updated 03:50am (Mla time) 08/31/2006

Published on Page A1 of the August 31, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

FOR A CHRISTIAN fact-finding mission, the Melo Commission should find little difficulty identifying those behind the murder of a United Methodist pastor in Daraga, Albay.

Evidence gathered by the 12-member team from the United Methodist Church pointed to soldiers of the Army’s 9th Infantry Division as the killers of Pastor Isaias Sta. Rosa, 47, who was riddled with gunfire by 10 masked men on Aug. 3 outside his house at Barangay Malobago.

Sta. Rosa was a member of the leftist Kilusang Magbubukid ng Bicol.

“The action was officially sanctioned by the military and in fact followed the chain of command,” lawyer Ephraim Cortez, a member of the investigating team, said in a press conference yesterday.

Cortez said the team investigated the case from Aug. 12 to 14 and was prepared to turn over its evidence to the commission headed by former Supreme Court Justice Jose Melo that was tasked by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to look into extrajudicial killings.
The team’s conclusion was based on evidence the local police took from Corporal Lordger Pastrana, who was found dead beside Sta. Rosa on the night of the killing.

Among them were Pastrana’s identification card showing that he was a member of the 9th ID based in Pili town in Camarines Sur province, a .45-caliber pistol, a mission order, and a cellular phone allegedly taken from Sta. Rosa’s house.

Pastrana was believed to be one of the gunmen. He was reportedly accidentally shot by his own men while they were trying to subdue a fleeing Sta. Rosa. Cortez said the corporal took a bullet in the right side of his body while the pastor died of six gunshot wounds.

“We call on (Melo) to hold dialogues with church people,” the United Methodist Church said in a statement. “Representatives of the churches whose pastors and members have become victims of brutal killings, attempted killings, grave threats and harassment are willing to confer with (Melo) to provide him information on the 23 cases of clergy and lay members killed.”

Widow blames military

Asked if she was open to an entirely different finding by the Melo Commission, Sta. Rosa’s widow Sonia said she was convinced that her husband was killed by the military.

“From the very start, we know it was the military,” she said in the press conference.

“This is the handiwork of the Army. They took him, bound him, then shot him six times!” said Sta. Rosa’s teary-eyed brother Jonathan.

Leftist groups put the number of political killings at around 700, including combatants. The Inquirer counts 247 such murders.

No sacred cows

Butuan Bishop Juan de Dios Pueblos on Monday said the commission would first look into the disappearances of two University of the Philippines students -- Sherlyn Cadapan, 29, and Karen Empeño, 23 -- who were allegedly abducted by the military.

Also yesterday, the National Council of Churches in the Philippines challenged the Melo Commission to make true its promise to spare no sacred cows and investigate even Ms Arroyo in connection with the extrajudicial killings.

Sharon Duremdes, the NCCP secretary general, said the commission should not “just dig out the truth but (also) to serve justice by ensuring that both the killers and the masterminds are made accountable.”

“We do not want the Melo Commission to be like the other bodies created by the government in the past which were ineffective, to say the least,” Duremdes said in a statement.

“We don’t want the Melo Commission to be mellow,” added Rev. Fr. Rex Reyes Jr. of the NCCP.

Rev. Dr. David Pascua urged the commission to “use your power to defend life in the countryside.”

Give Melo a chance

In Cebu City, Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal urged the public to give Melo a chance to prove himself. He welcomed Melo’s statement that there would be no sacred cows in his investigation and expressed hopes that the killings would be solved.

“We should give the commission a chance. They should be free and independent. Dapat walang palakasan (there should be no pulling of strings) otherwise there would be no end to it,” Vidal yesterday told the Inquirer.

Vidal has denounced the summary killings of activists and journalists as well as the vigilante slayings in Cebu, Davao and other provinces. He has joined the call of other religious and cause-oriented groups to investigate the murders.

The Cebu archbishop earlier declined to be part of the commission to preserve the independence of the Church. With a report from Jolene R. Bulambot, Inquirer Visayas