Urgent Action: Another Human Rights Lawyer In Bicol, Philippines Killed!
Published by MAC on 2006-12-14Source: KARAPATAN (Alliance for the Advancement
Urgent Action: Another Human Rights Lawyer in Bicol, Philippines Killed!
Prepared by: KARAPATAN (Alliance for the Advancement of People's Rights)
14 December 2006
Urgent Action Case: Summary Execution
I. Victim/s: Atty. Gil Gojol
· Male, 45 years old
· Human rights lawyer
· a former Board Member of the 1st District of Sorsogon
· former President Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Sorsogon Chapter
· Legal Counsel of Association of Democratic Labor Organizations-Kilusang Mayon (ADLO-KMU)
Danilo France
· Male
· Driver of Gojol
II. Date of Incident: 12 Dec 2006 at around 9:45 AM
III. Place of Incident: Gubat, Sorsogon, Philippines
IV. Perpetrator/s: motorcycle riding armed men
V. Summary of Incident:
Atty. Gil Gojol left the Municipal Trial Court with driver Danilo France from a court hearing on 12 December 2006, sometime past 9 o'clock in the morning, aboard his Starex van. At around 9:55A.M., four armed men on board two motorcycles ambused Gojol and France along the road of Brgy Carriedo, Gubat Sorsogon.
According to a witness, France was shot first, which made the van come to a halt. Gojol, tried but failed to escape his assassins. Both died on the spot from multiple gunshot wounds. The place of the incident is about 200 meters away from the army detachment of the 22nd Infantry Battalion in San Ignacio, Gubat, Sorsogon.
Atty. Gojol was a former local government official having served as Board Member of the 1st District of Sorsogon province, former President of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Sorsogon Chapter, Legal Counsel of ADLO-KMU and human rights lawyer defending the rights of the poor.
A day before, thirty-five-year-old Crisanto Frivaldo, a law student at the Aquinas University College of Law, was shot dead by masked gunmen inside their house in San Julian, Irosin, Sorsogon. He died from 5 gunshot wounds (1 in the head and 4 in the chest). Crisanto is the younger brother of former Councilor and Bayan Muna Municipal Coordinator Maximo Frivaldo who was also shot dead last January 30, 2006 while tending to his 2 month-old baby inside their home.
The attacks on persons identified with progressive and militant organizations in the Philippines have not ceased despite pronouncement of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo that her government is doing something about it. On Nov. 16, 2006, Toribio Mesa, 41 y/o a Bayan Muna Barangay Coordinator of Jamorawon, Bulan Sorsogon was killed; November 19, 2006, farmer Domingo Marbella, 22 y/o, was abducted by soldiers on (date) and was found dead on (date) at Sitio Piot, Lungib, Pilar, Sorsogon.
Indeed, it is now beyond question that there's a trend in the killing of civilians, KARAPATAN-BIKOL have documented 127 victims of extrajudicial killings from January 21, 2001-December 12, 2006, 40 of them were killed this year alone. The victims are unarmed, who either pursue or support political causes.
KARAPATAN-Bikol said the motives and opportunity behind the killings are pointed to the elements of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and/or their agents like the Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU) and death squad. The death squads are usually motorcycle-riding men wearing bonnets/ski-masks armed with high caliber pistols.
The political persecution continues to rise under the Arroyo administration. We Filipinos are calling on the international community to protest the deteriorating human rights situation in the Philippines, help form an independent investigative body to make the perpetrators accountable for this killings and find justice to the victims and to urge the Philippine government to put an end to these killings and.###
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Send letters, email or fax messages calling for:
- The immediate formation of an independent fact-finding and investigation team composed of representatives from human rights groups, the Church, local government, and the Commission on Human Rights that will look into the killing of Atty. Gil Gojol and Danilo France.
- The prosecution of the perpetrators of the crime of murder as well as other atrocities committed by those found to be guilty of the crime.
- The immediate and proper indemnification of the family/relatives of the victims; and
- That the Philippine Government be reminded that it is a signatory of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and that it is also a party to all major Human Rights instruments, thus it is bound to observe all of its provisions.
You may send your communications to:
H.E. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
President of the Republic of the Philippines
Malacañang Palace,
J.P. Laurel St., San Miguel,
Manila, Philippines
Voice: (+632) 564 1451 to 80
Fax: (+632) 742 1641 / 929 3968
Cell#: (+63) 919 898 4622 / (+63) 917 839 8462
Email: corres@op.gov.ph / opnet@ops.gov.ph
SEC. JESUS D. DUREZA
Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process
7F Agustin Building I
Emerald Avenue
Pasig City, Philippines
Voice: (+632) 636 0701 to 0766
Fax: (+632) 638 2216
Email: palaka@pacific.net.ph
Hon. Purificacion Valera Quisumbing
Chairperson, Commission on Human Rights
SAAC Bldg., UP Complex
Commonwealth Avenue, Diliman,
Quezon City, Philippines
Fax: (+632) 929 0102
Email: drpvq@chr.gov.ph
Please send us a copy of your email/mail/fax to the said government official at our address below:
URGENT ACTION Prepared by:
KARAPATAN (Alliance for the Advancement of People's Rights)-National Office
34-B Maamo St., Barangay Sikatuna, Quezon City, 1100 PHILIPPINES
Telefax: (+632) 435 4146
Emails: krptn@philonline.com/ karapatan.pid@gmail.com