Slain Aglipayan bishop to get hero's burial on Tuesday

Murdered Aglipayan Bishop Alberto Ramento will be accorded a hero's burial on Tuesday, even as his parishioners and colleagues plan to pay tribute to him this weekend. According to the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI), Ramento's remains will be brought to Manila on Sunday and buried on Tuesday, after posthumous tributes and rites in Tarlac. "The people behind his death might think that they have silenced him and maimed the prophetic voice of the Church. They are mistaken. His death has become like a candle in a burning incense, sparking more fire, enflaming the hearts of the clergy and faithful of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente to remain faithful to her pro-people and pro-labor heritage," Supreme Bishop Godofredo David said in a statement posted on the IFI website (www.ifi.ph). David continued: "Indeed, we grieved over his death, yet we celebrate his life. They may have taken his life by opening his body with wounds ­ but these wounds have become the doorway from which Bishop Ramento's valiant spirit has been poured out and shared to many." Citing a message Ramento made to his family, David said that, "I know they are going to kill me next but never will I abandon my duty to God and my ministry to the people." He said the death of the 69-year-old Ramento was "a precious offering in the continuing task of proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ." David also said that while the police insist that robbery was the motive of the killing, the fact remains that Ramento had been a staunch defender of human rights and an outspoken critic of extra-judicial killings. In the last pastoral letter he signed as chairman of the IFI Supreme Council of Bishops, Ramento had urged the faithful "to find courage and confront the darkness that is engulfing the very soul of the nation and continue to tread the path towards the establishment of a just society under a government that genuinely serves the interest and welfare of the Filipinos." "Initial police investigation reports point to the incident as a mere case of robbery with homicide. However, the Ramento family, the clergy and the faithful of the Diocese of Tarlac believe that the motive is much deeper than what has come out from the spot investigation," David said. Morover, he noted that, "there are glaring indications that Bishop Ramento's murder was thoroughly planned and politically motivated. We believe that the brutal killing was the inevitable consequence of his principled engagement with the people and their struggle for the fullness of life." David asked the faithful to offer prayers for Ramento. "As we mourn the death of a beloved member of the IFI family, may we find inspiration from his life and death even as we commit to stand firmly for what he believed in and fought for. Let his death find meaning in our continuing resolve to live-out the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ upon which Bishop Ramento dedicated his life," he said. Meanwhile, the IFI said David will join a Thanksgiving Day Mass at the Silver Anniversary of Aglipay Central Theological Seminary (ACTS) on Saturday, October 7. Ramento helped in the reopening of the seminary. A posthumous plaque and speech will be presented in recognition of support for the seminary. In a related develoipment, the Hong Kong-based human rights group Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) launched a letter campaign to seek justice for Ramento. It said Task Force Usig, which government has formed to investigate the killings, had proven to be clueless so far. "Therefore, the killing of Bishop Ramento is not surprising at all and in fact the Philippine government allowed this killing to occur by deliberately taking no action to stop the killings. The situation of the Philippines is getting worse and our question is that if a bishop can be killed in his own room in a convent, how can anyone be safe in the country? The people now live in fear, not the perpetrators of these violent acts," it said. "While the Philippine government showed its unwillingness or inability to deal with this matter, strong intervention from the international community is required more than ever before to stop the ongoing killings in the Philippines. We call for your immediate, strong and constant intervention into this matter," it said. - GMANews.TV