Wife of slain Dutchman seeks pope’s help

MANILA, Philippines - A Filipina has asked Pope Francis to help get justice for her Dutch husband, a missionary who was shot and killed in 2012.

In a letter to Francis, Aurora Santiago said military-hired assassins killed 68-year-old Willem Geertman, Alay Bayan Luson Inc. executive director, in front of his office in Barangay Telabastagan in San Fernando, Pampanga on July 3, 2012.

“I ask your help, our dear pope, so we may achieve justice for the killing of my husband,” read the letter. “He did not do anything wrong but to love and help the poor and oppressed.” 

A suspect, Marvin Marzan Muguid, is under police custody on murder charges.

The suspected gunman, Harold de la Cruz, and four others are still at large.

Geertman arrived from the Netherlands in the 1970s as a religious missionary.

He considered Aurora province as his home, where he stayed for many years.

He lived with the poorest of farmers and indigenous peoples – the very basis of the “Church of the Poor.” He helped form organizations of marginalized sectors in Aurora, including church formation for justice and peace.

During the Arroyo administration, the military accused Geertman of being a leader of the communist National Democratic Front.

In 2009, he became executive director of Alay Bayan and facilitated relief and rehabilitation efforts for disaster-stricken communities in Central Luzon.

Political prisoners on hunger strike

Political detainees in Southern Mindanao have been on a hunger strike since Thursday to urge Francis to intervene for their release.

In a letter to Francis, 16 detainees in Compostela Valley Provincial Jail asked him to join their fight for justice.

The detainees, along with other political prisoners nationwide, will be on hunger strike until Monday when Francis is set to depart.

In Southern Mindanao, the group Karapatan has documented 35 political prisoners serving life in prison for what it believes to be fabricated charges.

“We ask from your merciful heart to be one with us in our struggle that justice will be served,” read the letter in Filipino.

Another letter from political detainees in Malaybalay City Jail  said: “It has been our firm stand that to serve the people is not a crime but rather a conviction to persevere.”

Dominiciano Muya, an agriculturist of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines in Southern  Mindanao Region, is one of eight political detainees in the Malaybalay City Jail in Bukidnon.

The Armed Forces has accused Muya of being a  ranking NPA official, carrying a P4.8-million bounty on his head.

The letter said Muya is just one of 491 political prisoners in the country, who had actively worked in different people’s organizations to make up for the government’s failure to provide basic social services.

“We have been slapped with several trumped-up charges and projected in public as common criminals,” read the letter.

“Like other political prisoners, our basic human rights have continuously been violated day by day. Detention itself and the slow pace of justice proceedings in our country are witnesses to this prolonged agony inflicted on ourselves as well as to our families and relatives.”

Fe Salino, Samahan ng mga Ex-detainee Laban sa Detention-SMR (SELDA) secretary-general, said the administration has failed to recognize the legitimate demands of the people.

“It is insensitive to even filing criminal cases as a mask to hide the existence of political prisoners,” she said. 

Salino said she hopes Francis would see the real situation of human rights in the country since he is bent on safeguarding social justice and is sympathetic to the people’s struggle. – With Edith Regalado