UCCP “Stands Firm” to end the climate of Impunity in MEDIATION of civil suit with former President Arroyo

Press Release
September 26, 2013

QUEZON CITY – During the MEDIATION of their civil suit lodged against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, UCCP members and ecumenical friends held a prayer vigil at the front of the Quezon City Hall of Justice to express their prayers for justice.

“The families of UCCP pastors and leaders who have been extra-judicially killed pray for justice for our loved ones,” said Jophet Domingo, son of Rev. Raul Domingo who was brutally gunned-down on the street in Puerto Princessa, Palawan in 2005.

“It gives us strength to have the Church stand with us in our pursuit of justice. To be financially indemnified through this civil suit carries with it a message: what was done to our loved ones is an offense to society, an offense to humanity,” said Jophet Domingo.

“The UCCP General Assembly mandated this legal action in support of the victims of extra-judicial killings, enforced disappearances, abduction and torture, and other serious human rights violations. We stand for the victims and we stand with their families who have also suffered greatly due to abhorrent, state-perpetrated human rights violations,” said Bishop Art Asi, South Luzon Jurisdictional Area.

GMA’s legal team tried to have the civil suit dismissed and even appealed the decision of the Honorable Judge Tita Marilyn Payoyo-Villordon of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court-Branch 224, at the Court of Appeals when she denied them.

“We are extremely thankful that the opposition’s motions filed at the Court of Appeals have been decided in our favor. The last decision from the Court of Appeals denied GMA’s request for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) on the trial proceeding in the Regional Trial Court. Thus, here we stand, pressing for justice through the Philippine courts. Our faith compels us to demand accountability,” said Bishop Asi.

“As we go through the court-mandated process of MEDIATION, we are not hopeful that former President Arroyo intends to settle the case with us,” said Bishop Asi, in reference to today’s hearing.

The case lifts up 18 UCCP pastors and lay leaders who have been killed, 1 disappeared and believed killed, 3 persons ambushed and wounded, and at least 4 people abducted, illegally detained and tortured. The UCCP believes that the relentless persecution and brutalization of the Church – especially being labeled as “ENEMY OF THE STATE” for which former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is responsible – unjustly permitted for UCCP persons to be neutralized.

“UCCP martyrs deserve to be remembered for the service that they rendered to the Filipino people. My father Rev. Raul Domingo served as a pastor in financially poor areas. He also was a human rights defender. My father was a great man and we miss him dearly. He deserves justice, but we also want to do our part to stop this from happening to someone else’s father, husband, or child,” said Jophet Domingo.