PIMENTEL CONDEMNS KILLING OF PRIEST;
ASSAILS UNABATED KILLINGS UNDER ARROYO GOVT

A Catholic priest was shot dead while officiating mass inside the parish church in a remote town in the Cordillera region.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today reported the killing of Fr. Francis Madhu, SVD, who was shot dead while saying mass at 5:30 p.m. Sunday (April 1).

Pimentel condemned the slaying of Fr. Madhu as he assailed the Arroyo administration over the unabated extra-judicial killings of leftist activists, and other personalities who are fighting injustice and oppression.

Now they are killing priests. The Arroyo government is unable to stop extra-judicial killings, he said.

Meanwhile, the minority leader assailed President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for defying the call of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines for the immediate withdrawal of soldiers from urban poor communities in Metro Manila.

The President has agreed on the continued deployment of soldiers in 26 depressed barangays in Quezon, Manila and Caloocan cities during her visit to the Baseco Compound Saturday (March 31).

The CHR, headed by Chairperson Purificacion Quisumbing, called for the pullout of soldiers from the urban barangays on the basis of the complaints of residents that they feel their rights to speech and assembly are being curtailed because of the military presence.

On the other hand, the CBCP, according to its president, Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, said the stationing of soldiers in the urban barangays has the effect of militarizing these areas.

Pimentel maintained that the deployment of soldiers in Metro Manila barangays violates the Constitution since the maintenance of peace and order in these areas is the duty of the Philippine National Police.

He said it is only in times of extreme violence, lawlessness and rebellion that the President can order the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to send troops to the civilian communities in Metro Manila.

President Arroyo is militarizing the barangays. She is under the control of some generals who follow Maos dictum: Power grows out of the barrel of the gun. Another sad chapter in our lives, the minority leader said.

Pimentel also held the view that the President is legally and morally bound to comply with the order of the Commission on Human Rights on the troop withdrawal from Metro Manila barangays since the CHR is the independent constitutional body tasked with upholding and safeguarding the human rights of Filipinos.