Bayan seeks deeper probe in slaying of bishop’s brother

Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—With signs supposedly showing that state agents were involved in the killing of Romeo Capalla, Bayan Muna lawmakers have initiated a move for the House of Representatives to look into the matter as well as the growing number of extrajudicial killings under the Aquino administration.

Bayan Muna Representatives Neri Colmenares and Carlos Zarate have filed a resolution asking the House committee on human rights to look deeper into the killing of Capalla, chair of the Panay Fair Trade Center and a member of the Samahan ng mga Ex-Detainee Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto.

He was also a brother of Davao Archbishop Emeritus Fernando Capalla.

In seeking the investigation, the militant lawmakers pointed out that prior to being shot at close range by his assailants, the 65-year-old Capalla “followed the pattern of similar other victims of extrajudicial killings in the past: vilified in public, placed under surveillance or named in the military’s Order of Battle.”

An army official has denied military involvement in Capalla’s killing and called the allegations “preposterous,” adding that the military would help the police in investigating the killing.

Capalla was first arrested during martial law on suspicion of being a member of the New People’s Army, the communist party’s armed wing. After his release, he pursued his fair trade advocacy and the production of organic food, according to the lawmakers.

But on August 3, 2005, Capalla was arrested again on suspicion that he was involved in an arson incident in Guimbal, Iloilo, which was blamed on the NPA. The charges against him were dismissed, and he was subsequently released.

Capalla’s companions also suspect that state agents were behind his shooting at the Oton Public Market in Iloilo on March 15, the Bayan Muna lawmakers said.

Incidentally, they noted, Capalla’s co-accused in the case, Aklan councilor Fernando Baldomero, was killed in July 2010 in what was allegedly  first case of extrajudicial killing under the Aquino administration.

They said the attack on Capalla once again illustrated that impunity continues to reign in the country. Murderers and human rights violators continue  to operate without fear of being arrested or punished, they added.

“The continued vilification of progressive and militant organizations as ‘communist front organizations’ and ‘enemies of the state’  under the government’s ‘Oplan Bayanihan’ counterinsurgency program even gave legitimacy to the killings, abduction, and illegal arrests of human rights defenders and members of legitimate people’s organizations,” they said.

They cited figures from the rights group Karapatan showing that 169 cases of extrajudicial killings have taken place since President Benigno Aquino was sworn into office.

“The number of unsolved cases of extrajudicial killings and human rights violations have already stockpiled. One after another, new cases of killings happen while the previous cases in the past years remain unsolved,” they said.