UCCP Pastor Berlin Guerrero Is Freed

Pastor Berlin Guerrero. (Prebysterian News Service Photo)

Pastor Berlin Guerrero, who has been in custody in the Philippines, was released on September 10, 2008.

The United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) thanks their partners in mission, including The United Church of Canada, who have supported the campaign for Guerrero's release.

The UCCP said: "We are happy to inform you that Pastor Berlin Guerrero was released…after the Court of Appeals Justice granted a temporary restraining order barring the Cavite Regional Court Branch 19 from proceeding with the hearings on the murder case and directed the government lawyers to submit more evidence to justify the trial of Pastor Berlin Guerrero."

"We thank you for your support in various ways and for your continuous prayers for the dismissal of the case. The decision brought an eruption of applause, after which many, both inside the courtroom and keeping vigil outside of the Court of Appeals, cried with tears of happiness. "Today is a story that we must tell again and again."

"This is a moment of great inspiration to be remembered," shared misty-eyed Father Rex Reyes, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines.

Inside the courtroom Pastor Berlin Guerrero tightly embraced his wife, Mylene, and his three teenage children. The parents and siblings of Pastor Berlin also huddled close to celebrate the moment.

Clergy, Abducted And Tortured In Philippines

QUEZON CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / May 27, 2008) – A Catholic clergy had been abducted by gunmen and tortured into linking a detained pastor to the underground communist movement, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, said Tuesday.

It said Pastor Rodel Canja, of the Promotion of Church People’s Response (PCPR), was forcibly taken at gunpoint earlier this month in southern Luzon and was freed after being tortured for four days.

The gunmen, believed to be soldiers or policemen, also threatened to kill Canja’s family if he reports his ordeal to anybody.

PCPR Secretary General Amie Dural said Canja was seized while was on his way to the annual conference of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines.

“One man casually invited him to ride in the van and warned him not to ask any question. Inside the van, another man pointed a gun at him while the man who invited him to ride in the van placed a handkerchief in his nose that left him unconscious,” Dural told the CBCP.

Dural said when the pastor regained his consciousness, the men began torturing and interrogating him about UCCP Pastor Berlin Guerrero, now detained at a police base in Imus town in Cavite province.

Guerrero was abducted May 27 last year by gunmen who accused him of being a member of the Communist Party of the Philippines and since then has been detained without charges.

“For four days, two to of the four men alternately interrogated Pastor Canja about Pastor Berlin and two other UCCP ministers. While clicking their guns, the men repeatedly asked Pastor Canja to confirm that Pastor Berlin was a member of the “P”, a code referring to CPP,” Dural said.

Dural said one of the abductors fired his gun while interrogating the clergy. Canja’s wallet and money were also confiscated. “And when they saw the pictures of his two siblings, they threatened the pastor they will kill his siblings if he would ever talk about his experience,” Dural said, adding, Canja is now suffering from psychological trauma brought about by his ordeal.

“With the hundreds of cases of abductions and extra-judicial killings in the country, the Armed Forces of the Philippines mastered the scheme of identifying legitimate people's organizations as 'front' of the CPP. The Armed Forces of the Philippines insists on linking activist citizens to the CPP and its armed group to justify attacks on their lives and liberty,” Dural said.

Since President Gloria Arroyo took power in 2001, at least 27 church people, including Bishop Alberto Ramento, of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente, had been killed. Hundreds of political activists, accused of being supporters of the CPP, were also abducted and killed by suspected government soldiers. (With reports from the CBCP)

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Free Pastor Berlin Guererro - Presbyterian Church

Dear Editor,

I would like to send to you a copy of a letter from the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA concerning the case of Pastor Berlin Guerrero.

As background I have a statement to go along with the letter since I have served as the liaison between the UCCP and the PCUSA on this issue. I think my comments will help clarify the language of the PCUSA letter. Both are meant for public release and I am hoping they will be publicized in both the religious and secular press in the Philippines.

Thanks.

"We appreciate the fact the head of the PNP has said that they will investigate the abduction and treatment of Pastor Guerrero. It has been established, however, that the actual abduction and interrogation of Pastor Guerrero was conducted by the Security Forces of the Philippine Navy.

It is doubtful that the PNP has authority to investigate their activities.

I think that only a public directive from the President of the Philippines that an independent investigation of all branches of government involved in the illegal apprehension and treatment of Bishop Guerrero, including specifically military security forces, will be effective.

This means that Task Force Usig, the Human Rights Commission, or even the Melo Commission, must be empowered to interview all involved, subpoena any relevant documents and take whatever other steps are necessary for a complete and full investigation.

They must be given a reasonable deadline to complete their investigation, and all parties held responsible should be held liable to criminal prosecution."

Rev. Larry Emery
Chair, Presbyterian Philippine Partnership Committee of Sacramento Presbytery,
Presbyterian Church (USA).



Office of the General Assembly
Clifton Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk


June 4, 2007

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
Malacanang Palace
Manila 1005, The Philippines

Dear Madam President:

On behalf of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A .), I write to express our alarm and dismay over the abduction of Pastor Berlin Guerrero of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines.

Our understanding is that he was abducted by members of the Philippine National Police and the Naval Intelligence Security Forces and is still being held by Philippine authorities. We are deeply concerned by reports of the tactics employed in Pastor Guerrero's abduction. We understand that he was taken by armed men who carried drawn weapons.

No warrant of arrest was produced at the time of his abduction. Reports indicate that personal affects were taken from members of his family when he was abducted. We urge you to call for, and oversee, a full investigation of the circumstances surrounding the abduction of Pastor Guerrero.

This investigation should include the activities of the police and of the military and security forces. We have received reports that Pastor Guerrero has been beaten and tortured. in other ways while in custody. We urge you to call for, and oversee, a full investigation of the treatment he has received and is receiving while in custody.

We understand that criminal allegations have been made against Pastor Guerrero. We ask that full disclosure be made of the charges on which he is being held. If the evidence for these charges is not forthcoming and compelling, then he should be released immediately.

We ask you to ensure that Pastor Berlin Guerrero and all the citizens of the Philippines are accorded the due process of the law and the respect for their rights to which the Philippine Constitution entitles them.

Cordially yours,

Clifton Kirkpatrick
Stated Clerk of the General AssemblyPresident
World Alliance of Reformed Churches


cc: President George Bush
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
Senator Barbara Boxer, Chair of the Senate Sub-Committee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs
Ambassador Kirstie A. Kenney, U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines
His Excellency Willy C. Gaa, Philippine Ambassador to the U.S.A.
Dr. Sam Kobia, General Secretary, World Council of Churches
Dr. Prawate Khid-arn, General Secretary, Christian Conference of Asia
Ms. Sharon Rose Joy Ruiz-Durendes, General Secretary, National Council of Churches in the Philippines
Bishop Eliezer Pascua, General Secretary, United Church of Christ in the Philippines. (This letter is sent to the Mindanao Examiner by Rev. Larry Emery from Walnut Grove Community Church <wgcpc@hotmail.com>. Ed.)

Press Statement Of Abducted UCCP Pastor Berlin V. Guerrero

What does it take a government to have the nerve to abduct, torture, and terrorize my family on the basis of an old inciting to sedition case and a baseless murder charge?

Far more absurd is the accusation that I am the Secretary of the CPP Provincial committee in Cavite.

This lie that they tried to extract from me by means of physical, mental and psychological torture and projecting me in public as a "hand-gun and grenade carrying rebel."

I am a Pastor of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) and never participated in any killings, illegal or unlawful activities, or any common crime.

My family and I have just taken a tricycle from the local church which I have served for two consecutive years (June 2006-2007) where we just celebrated UCCP's and the local church's 59th and 72nd anniversaries respectively (On May 27, at around 5:30 pm, a white van cut the tricycle's path and military-looking men quickly alighted to grab me; despite my plea that they show me the warrant they said they had. I was man-handled and forcefully shoved inside the van, put a handcuff on my hands behind me, covered my head with a cloth and packing tape, was beaten, punched and kicked repeatedly.

They brought me to a place I didn't know. Here, still handcuffed, men would take turn interrogating and beating my head with their fists and blunt objects. (Like a 1,000 ml mineral bottle and other objects). All throughout, layers of plastic bags covered my head. My torturers would tighten the bag until I could no longer breathe. I passed out two times and urinated in my pants.

They made me shake my head for about an hour and beat me whenever I stopped they said they would do these things to my family if I did not cooperate. I was forced to give names and addresses of my whole family, officers of church and conferences, name of my administrator at Union Theological Seminary where I am studying theology, leaders of progressive labour and peasant organizations in Southern Tagalog.

They opened my computer by forcing me to give the password, got my e-mail password. They erased all of my church, school and personal files and replace it with documents that belong to the so-called underground left.

After about twelve hours, they put me back on the van still handcuffed and blindfolded. They threatened to kill me, burn me or bury me. They continued to beat me and make new names for me. They got my SIM card.

They called me Pastor-Impostor. And lectured me on the "evils" of communism and how the church, legal people's organizations are "used" to create trouble by criticizing the government.

When the van stopped, it took an hour before they led me down, made me sit down and lie down. After an hour, they removed my blindfold. Here I learned I was in Imus, Cavite specifically at Camp Pantaleon Garcia, Cavite Provincial Police Office (PPO).

Later on in the afternoon, that was the only time I saw the warrants of arrest and to what unit of the PNP I was turned over to by my abductors.

Now that I have the time to collect my thoughts and view my situation inside what police offices "call a subhuman" cell, let me make a preliminary analysis of my unfinished ordeal.

(1) The unit which abducted me is an organized AFP unit which operates covertly or below the law. It is composed of elements coming from different units of AFP's Intelligence Community. As a counter-insurgency unit, it uses ex-NPAs. They are lawless enforcers.

(2) Making use of court cases which involves suspected personalities of the left, no matter how weak, these cases may be served and used to make the arrest legitimate. In my case, I am implicated in a Murder Case in 1990. Case files show that I do not have a direct or indirect link to the crime.

(3) To bring me to the court by means of the arrest warrants issecondary. Their primary objective is to extract information from meby means of torture.

(4) It is also meant to terrorize my family, my relatives, friends, church members and practically everyone I know and who know me. It creates a thinking that this repeated attack on a person's right, which may end in incarceration or death, can happen to anybody.

I am outraged by their branding me as a "Pastor-Impostor" because it is an affront to the sacred office I have sworn to serve God Almighty who knows every heart and mind.

Finally, I hold the Gloria Macapagal Arroyo government responsible for the abduction and torture I have suffered and the subhuman captivity I am forced to accept. The GMA Administration should listen to the repeated cries of the people to stop violation of human rights and the political killings.

They may have put in jail, but my spirit is free and firm because God is with us always.

(SGD.) PASTOR BERLIN V. GUERRERO

United Church of Christ in the Philippines

Inside the Camp Pantaleon Garcia
Cavite Provincial Police Office
Imus, Cavite



Note: Please find related stories and articles about Pastor Berlin Guererro (Ed.)

AFP At Navy, Hugas Kamay Sa Torture Sa Dinukot Na Pastor!

MANILA (Mindanao Examiner / 03 Jun) – Katulad ng inaasahan, mariing itinanggi ng Philippine Navy na pinahirapan at binugbog ng intelligence agents nito ang isang pastor ng United Church of Christ of the Philippines na si Berlin Guerrero na pinagbintangan miyembro ng rebeldeng New People’s Army.

Ang mouthpiece ng Armed Forces na si Lieutenant Colonel Bartolome Bacarro ang mismong nagsabi na base sa inisyal na resulta ng pagsisiyasat ng Navy sa nasabing alegasyon ay hindi umano ginalaw ng mga sundalo ang pastor makaraang arestuhin ito sa bayan ng Binan sa lalawigan ng Laguna.

Ngunit mismong ang Philippine National Police ang nagsabing walang kinalaman ang ahensya sa alegsasyon ng pagpapahirap sa alagad ng Simbahan.

"The Philippine Navy denied subjecting Pastor Guererro to torture," ani Bacarro. Subalit, tiniyak ng opisyal na handa ang AFP na harapin ang anumang alegasyon ng paglabag sa karapatang pantao.

Inamin rin ng pastor na siya’y pinahirapan at pilit na pinaamin na isang lider ng NPA at isinabit rin ng mga awtoridad ito sa pamamaslang.

"If it is found out that there is torture committed or there is a breach committed by members of the Philippine Navy, this will be subject to sanction, administratively and criminally," dagdag ni Bacarro.

Naunang sinabi ng pamilya ng pastor na ito'y dinukot ng mga sundalo. Agad naman ipinasa ng Navy sa pulisya ang pastor matapos na mag-ingay ang UCCP at mga relihiyosong grupo sa ibang bansa ukol sa pagdukot sa biktima. (Juley Reyes)