PCPR Statement
The LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. (Psalms 9:9)
The Promotion of Church People’s Response (PCPR) calls for withdrawal or dismissal of charges against 42 persons who sought to lay a wreath and light candles at the place where activist and aid worker Jose Reynaldo “Jory” Porquia was slain. The 42 member indignation caravan was composed of family, friends, and colleagues, including Fr. Marco Sulayao, chairperson for Panay and Guimaras, and two other members of the Promotion of Church People’s Response.
On their way to the place where Jory had been helplessly gunned down, the caravan was stopped by Iloilo police. After three attempts to negotiate their passage, the caravan’s leaders decided to turn back; however, police in full battle gear surrounded the group to arrest them by force. PCPR chairperson for Panay and Guimaras Fr. Marco Sulayao and also Iglesia Filipina Independiente priest sought intervene and reason out with the police, but instead Fr. Marco was shamelessly handcuffed and brought with the 41 others to the Jaro Police Station.
This blatant violation of basic rights to redress further exacerbate indignation over the government’s failure to protect citizens like Jory Porquia. The deep-felt need to express grief and outrage over such a brutal murder of a community leader has been rubbed raw with the heavy-handed response by police forces. Jory Porquia was beloved by the poor, for whom he had been working to provide aid and food assistance before his slay.
The indignation caravan observed necessary physical distancing, even as they were compelled to engage a visible action to honor the memory of their admired friend and leader. Denying people the right to grieve is deplorable. Treating them like criminals and seeking to portray them as reckless violators of the law is not only false, it is both morally bankrupt and without compassion. Enhanced community quarantine measures for physical distancing should not result in people being brutalized and then forced into close spaces as has happened in this case.
The caravan had resolved to turn back. Yet, the police, perhaps excited or even cajoled to catch alleged violators, misinterpreted the law and overbroad assumed powers, ultimately causing undue strife for people already beleaguered with grief and the injustice of the brutal killing of their loved one.
Jory survived the Marcos dictatorship, including multiple illegal arrests. Now, those who are searching for truth and accountability are the ones to endure illegal arrest. The inhumane and heavy-handed violence by the Iloilo police lays bare all-too-common abusive treatment by state forces, under the grossly mismanaged and militarized response of the Duterte government to the NCov-SARS2 pandemic.
Even as good-hearted persons demonstrated every intention to uphold community protocols to fight COVID-19, they were callously mistreated by heartless and vicious police actions. In other places, such New Orleans and Chicago, USA, caravans have become an alternative for both grieving for the dead and lifting up the spirits of the living. In this case, the compliant, yet indignant, arrest of Fr. Marco Sulayao makes clear that the voice of the people will not be silenced, even under arrest. Killings of activists and aid workers like Jory Porquia cannot be covered-up under a guise of misplaced and misapplied quarantine rules.
We join the call for justice for Jory Porquia and demand the withdrawal of all charges against the 41 arrested grieving friends, family and colleagues as well as their legal counsel. We call for the arresting officers–whose inhumane and vicious response to a peaceful caravan and memorial has caused undue stress and psychological trauma to the victims—to be held accountable. We urge the Duterte government to address the spread of COVID-19 through health protocols, without violating the democratic and human rights of the Filipino people.
Without ceasing, we pray that the Filipino people will work together to fight the spread of COVID-19 while also safeguarding dearly held democratic and civil liberties. It is never criminal to feed the hungry. It is never illegal to express dissent. We must be vigilant and persistent in doing what is upright and honorable, especially during this troubling and life-threatening pandemic that seems to have unleashed tyranny by state forces.
References
National PCPR Execom Members
Rev. Irma Balaba , 0939 556 3642
Rev. Mary Grace Masegman, 0999 467 2030
Rev. Sol Villalon, 0908 743 9053
