Issue-oriented and thematic papers for PfL’s advocacy work, including statements, campaign materials, articles and updates on developing issues; and links to related resources and information
HONOURING THE MEMORY OF BISHOP ALBERTO RAMENTO
Death of Bishop Ramento Remembered, NCCP Be strong, and let your heart take courage, IFI
Church, family urge authorities to solve bishop’s murder
HONOURING THE MEMORY OF BISHOP ALBERTO RAMENTO
2008 OCTOBER 3
“Bishop Alberto B. Ramento is very much part of the formation of Peace for Life, not only in his participation in its founding and various other activities, but more so in the way he lived out his faith and prophetic ministry, in the way it was an embodiment of PfL’s stated conviction: that events in our midst impel us to delve deep into the imperatives of our faith and that concern for the victims requires the necessity to act and take sides—to denounce war as an instrument of the strong against the weak and the violence of the armed against the unarmed...” – Peace for Life Statement on the Murder of Bishop Alberto B. Ramento, 9 October 2006
The Late Rt. Rev. Alberto Ramento, Peace for Life founding member, on July 17, 2006 in Manila, speaking on “Tyranny in the Philippines and the Churches’ Prophetic Ministry” at a PfL-sponsored public forum on contemporary issues in theology held following the WARC consultation on global Empire. Less than three months later, on October 3, he was stabbed to death at his rectory in Tarlac City, Philippines, in what is believed to be a case of politically-motivated extrajudicial execution.
HONOURING THE MEMORY OF BISHOP ALBERTO RAMENTO
Death of Bishop Ramento Remembered, NCCP Be strong, and let your heart take courage, IFI
Church, family urge authorities to solve bishop’s murder
Death of Bishop Alberto Ramento Remembered
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF CHURCHES IN THE PHILIPPINES
October 3 is the death anniversary of Bishop Alberto Ramento of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI). He was killed in his parish quarters in Tarlac City. According to the police, it was simply a case of robbery with homicide. To most people’s minds, this is a case of extrajudicial killing. Before the good bishop’s death, he has received death threats because he was a staunch advocate of human rights and was very vocal about the Philippine Government’s complicity.
Bishop Ramento’s death anniversary was celebrated with a requiem mass. The IFI Dioceses and people’s organizations such as Promotion of Church People’s Response (Central Luzon), Karapatan-Central Luzon and Bayan Central-Luzon gave solidarity messages to the Ramento Family. In the afternoon, a forum on the situation of human rights in the Philippines was held.
HONOURING THE MEMORY OF BISHOP ALBERTO RAMENTO
Death of Bishop Ramento Remembered, NCCP Be strong, and let your heart take courage, IFI
Church, family urge authorities to solve bishop’s murder
Be strong, and let your heart take courage,
all you who wait for the Lord. (Psalm 31: 24)
IGLESIA FILIPINA INDEPENDIENTE
Pastoral Letter of the Most Rev. Godofredo David, Obispo Maximo of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente in Commemoration of the Second Death Anniversary of the Most Rev. Alberto B. Ramento
Two years ago, Bishop Alberto B. Ramento, ninth Obispo Maximo of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente, was brutally killed. We continue to mourn the loss of a good bishop who, in his time, had selflessly devoted his life to the work of peacemaking and who offered his sincerest friendship to the poor and oppressed. His exemplary life offers us inspiration to persist in our work for peace.
We lament that our quest to give justice to his death remains fruitless to this day. Mrs. Gloria-Macapagal Arroyo has completely ignored our call to probe on Bishop Ramento’s death and has shown absolute indifference to a just man and a servant of God who was murdered under her watch. Mrs. Arroyo’s silence is inexcusable and demonstrates her glaring disregard to human rights violations under her government.
We do not wonder. The event that daily unfolds before our very eyes shows that Mrs. Arroyo really knows not the path to justice and peace. The enduring systematic attacks on progressive organizations, unabated political killings and abduction of activists, and Mrs. Arroyo’s counter-insurgency program and total-out-war policy, unmistakably lays bare her position on human rights. The heavy yoke of political oppression continue to drag our people down to their knees, not sparing even our clergy and church workers who fall victims to harassments by the military.
It is precisely under these circumstances that we, clergy and faithful, must persevere and strive much harder to work for just peace in our midst, encouraged by the living memory of Bishop Ramento. Let the martyrdom of Bishop Ramento becomes a new point of departure in living out our historical mission to serve our people and to be in solidarity with them in their struggle. Let us make his courageous faith ours and hold high the banner of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente, the Church that he had loved, as we journey with our people towards a just and peaceful society.
Thus, today, as we remember Bishop Ramento—priest, prophet, patriot, peacemaker—we reiterate our collective call for:
- the repeal of government’s pro-globalization policies that breed socio-economic injustice and which further aggravate the flight of the poor,
- the holding of an impartial and independent investigation on cases of human rights violations, and
- the withdrawal of Mrs. Arroyo’s national security policy and counter-insurgency program in dealing with the armed conflict in the country.
Brothers and sisters, let us constantly draw inspiration from the life of Bishop Alberto Ramento who had given faithful witness to Christ amidst persecution and who lived the hope and faith of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente to his death. Let his ministry to the least and last of our people deepen our commitment to firmly carry out our ministry even in the most precarious of times.
Let us also continue to pray for our clergy and church workers who suffer persecution and who live under the incessant threat of death as they pursue the mission that God has entrusted to the Iglesia Filipina Independiente.
Pro Deo et Patria!
External link:
- IFI Statement on Killing of Bishop Alberto Ramento
, 4 October 2006
HONOURING THE MEMORY OF BISHOP ALBERTO RAMENTO
Death of Bishop Ramento Remembered, NCCP Be strong, and let your heart take courage, IFI
Church, family urge authorities to solve bishop’s murder
PHILIPPINES: Church, family urge authorities
to solve bishop’s murder
By MAURICE MALANES
2008 OCTOBER 21
[Ecumenical News International, Manila] The leaders and supporters of the slain bishop of Iglesia Filipina Independiente (Philippine Independent Church) have renewed their appeal to the authorities to investigate the case, due to no progress having been made in tracing the killers since the cleric’s death in 2006.
“We strongly urge the authorities to immediately and thoroughly investigate the murder of Bishop Alberto Ramento, and bring the perpetrators to justice,” said the statement signed and released earlier this month by the Rev. Godofredo David, supreme bishop of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (Philippine Independent Church), on the second anniversary of the killing.
Ramento was stabbed seven times early on October 3, 2006 at his rectory in Tarlac City, north of Manila. Shortly afterwards, police reported the crime as “robbery with homicide”; they have yet to make any arrests.
The bishop’s church dates from 1898 and a revolution against Spanish rule; it has about three million adherents. The church’s leadership and Ramento’s family have said they remain unconvinced by the police report.
“Bishop Ramento’s murder was thoroughly planned and politically motivated,” said the statement. “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.”
Ramento was known for his work on justice and peace issues, as well as farmers’ rights. He had also been part of a group monitoring peace talks between the Philippine government and the National Democratic Front, an underground leftwing group. The bishop had also strongly condemned human rights violations and the extra-judicial killing of activists, journalists, lawyers, church people and other rural people.
Copyright © 2008 Episcopal Life Online
Source:
www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_101760_ENG_HTM.htm
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