CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Amid reports that slain Dutch missionary Willem Geertman had received death threats in relation to his work as “peasant advocate”, Anakpawis Rep.Rafael Mariano has filed a resolution urging the House Human Rights Committee to look into his murder in this town last July 3.
Mariano’s House Resolution 2551 cited the victim’s brother Antonius Ma. Alfonsius Geertman as urging Philippine authorities to consider Willem as “a victim of extra judicial killing due to his involvement in campaigns against landlessness, mining, logging and a large Freeport project in Aurora province.”
Antonius, together with a sister, flew in from the Netherlands to attend the burial of Willem in Baler, Aurora last Sunday. Willem was the executive director of Alay Bayan, Inc., based in Barangay Telebastagan where he was fatally shot here.
“Antonius believes that the killing of his brother is much more than just ordinary robbery for money,” Mariano said, noting that Antonius reported that as early as four years ago, Willem had told him about death threats “owing to his work as lay missionary involved in campaigns to save the forests as a resource for farmers, Dumagats, and Cordillerans.”
Mariano’s resolution also quoted Roman Polintan, chair of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-Central Luzon, and Sr. Cecil Ruiz, chair of the human rights group Karapatan-Central Luzon, as reporting that Willem was “among those maligned by the military at the height of the Arroyo government’s campaign against the communist insurgency in 2006 and 2007.”
“They further alleged that the Army’s 48th Infantry battalion produced a fake letter that indicated Geertman as a ranking leader of the communist insurgency and was gathering support for the production and stockpiling of improvised explosive devices,” Mariano said.
He noted, however, that Willem “did not allow the attack on his reputation to hamper his work and continued to work with the masses of Aurora against destructive large-scale mining and logging in the province.”
Mariano also recalled the circumstances around the fatal shooting of Willem, quoting report of the Promotion of Church People’s Response (PCPR) saying that last July 3, “Geertman had just finished financial transactions at Metro-bank and returned to his office when two men shot and killed him.”
“Based on initial findings, one of the men collared Geertman and then forced him down on his knees.
As he knelt on the pavement, witnesses said, the two men proceeded to shout invectives at him.
Geertman was hard pleading for his life, but one of the men pulled out a gun and shot him on the right shoulder. The bullet entered his chest, almost killing him instantly,” the PCPR report said.
The resolution also urged the government to “immediately act to resolved the extrajudicial killing of Geertman so that justice may be served to his family, colleagues and friends.”
“The continuing climate of impunity in the country must be stopped as the number of victims of extra-judicial killing escalates,” Mariano noted.
