PAINFUL. Antonius Geertman consoles Maria Aurora Santiago (in black shirt), girlfriend of the late Dutch missionary Wilhelmus Geertman at the ABI office in Pampanga before the start of the “Justice Caravan” on Saturday. With them is their friend.
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – “Love for the Filipinos, especially the poor ones, made my brother stay in the Philippines.”
Thus said Antonius Geertman, brother of slain Dutch missionary and environmentalist Wilhelmus Lutz Geertman before his body was laid to rest in Baler, Aurora on Sunday.
The 67-year-old Geertman was killed gangland style near the Alay Bayan-Luson Inc. (ABI) office in Telabastagan, here, on July 3.
He was the executive director of ABI, which has assisted poor people and farmers in North and Central Luzon, including those at the Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac.
Antonius said his elder brother came to the country in the late ’70s and studied theology in a university in Manila.
“Apparently, he liked what he saw and decided to stay and work despite a promising career in Holland,” said Antonius.
JUSTICE CARAVAN
He was with Maria Aurora Santiago, girlfriend of Geertman, when Punto Central Luzon interviewed him on Saturday at the start of the “Justice Caravan” for the slain Dutch national from the ABI office here and to Aurora province.
The caravan briefly stopped at Plaza Miranda, Angeles city for an indignation rally then coursed through the City San Fernando, Concepcion town in Tarlac, Cabanatuan City in Nueva Ecija, Baler, Aurora, then finally the town of Maria Aurora.
For her part, Santiago said the Aquino government should find out “the truth and not stick to the angle of robbery.” She wept and cursed her boyfriends’ killers as Geertman’s remains were carried to the funeral vehicle.
Police earlier said robbery was the motive as the two unidentified gunmen took a bag from Geertman after killing him. It reportedly contained at least P1 million.
Santiago, who was in Baler when the killing happened, said Geertman had considered Aurora as his home and not Holland. The ABI is in the thick of its advocacies against mining and logging in Aurora, one of the seven Central Luzon provinces.
“Whenever (Geertman) told me he wanted to go home, I always thought he was referring to Holland. But it was Aurora,” said Santiago. She disclosed that they had a house in Baler and Maria Aurora town.
ROBBERY?
Antonius said they were initially informed in Holland that his brother died after he was robbed and shot by two unidentified gunmen.
He said that after he arrived in Pampanga to attend the wake and “more news and information came in later,” he was “also convinced that it was politically-motivated after learning how he was killed and the place where he was murdered.”
Antonius disclosed that Geertman had told him several times that he could be killed due to his work and advocacy in helping the poor.
He said he advised his brother to go home to Holland and stay for good in their homeland after expressing fears of being killed but Geertman did not heed his advise.
Antonius said he will visit the Dutch ambassador to the Philippines before leaving on Thursday.
In a statement, the ABI said Geertman’s “killers chose to enter the office premises, repeatedly cursed him without announcing a hold up, pinned him down to a kneeling position and executed him.”
It added that if robbery was the motive, Geertman could have been held up right after he withdrew money from a MetroBank branch in downtown Angeles City, some 3 to 4 kilometers away from the ABI office.
“We are heightening our call for justice and this would not end with Geertman’s burial. His death would haunt the Aquino presidency until he is pushed to do something,” said Joseph Canlas, chairman of the Board of Trustees of ABI.
