ASIA/PHILIPPINES - Catholic Bishops demand greater effort on the part of the government to stop killings and disappearances and ensure that elections are regular and transparent

Monday, 29 January 2007

Manila (Agenzia Fides) - At the end of a recent Plenary session 23-28 January the Catholic bishops of the Philippines have called on the government to make a greater effort to stop hundreds of extrajudicial killings, committed in total impunity and to guarantee regular and transparent general elections in May, free of the scandals seen in presidential elections in 2004.
The Bishops say “government and military response to a shameful series of extrajudicial killings of unarmed crusaders for justice and equality is most unsatisfactory, their protestations of concern not too convincing”.
No results have been produced or made public by the two government commissions, one civil and the other military instituted to investigate the phenomenon. Catholic Bishop Juan de Dios Pueblos, called to be a member of one of the commissions the Melo Commission, named after its chairman senator Jose Melo Commissione Melo, said that proof had been found that members of the army and paramilitary corps had been involved in the series of killings.
In view of elections in May, Bishop Angel Lagdameo, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference mobilised parishes, local communities and church associations: “This time we must be more effective than in the past to render elections credible and as free of violence as possible”, he said. It is important to choose “wise, discerning and experienced people”, he underlined and encouraged the bishops to issue guidelines in view of the elections.
The Bishops discussed the difficult living conditions of people in rural area and the urgent need to guarantee a dignified life style to people on the margins of society. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 29/1/2007 righe 26 parole 269)


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