(Updated 9:12 p.m.) Dutch national Willem Geertman, 67, was shot dead at midday Tuesday by two unidentified men riding a motorcycle in tandem in front of his non-government organization’s headquarters in Pampanga, police said.

A fluent Tagalog speaker, Geertman was educated at UP Diliman in the 1970s and was a long-time resident of the Philippines, working mostly on development programs to assist farmers.

 

In a phone interview with GMA News Online on Tuesday, Police Officer Ruby Ann Vercida confirmed Geertman’s death, the executive director of Alay Bayan-Luson Inc. (ABI) – a development organization active in land issues and disaster response.

 

“Ayon po sa initial report, he was shot at close range by two unidentified motorcycle riding-in-tandem in front of their headquarters in Alay Bayan-Luson Inc. around 12:27 noon ngayon araw po,” Vercida said. He died on the spot.

 

ABI is located in San Fernando, Pampanga.

 

The Pampanga police is forming a task force to investigate the Dutch national’s case, Vercida said.

Counter-insurgency program

 

For their part, the Alyansa ng mga Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luson (AMGL) condemned the killing of Geertman, accusing “military agents” as the perpetrators of the Dutch’s death.

AMGL and Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) expressed their grief toward the incident.
 

“We condemn this latest attack against a peasant advocate in Central Luzon. Geertman is an active supporter of farmers’ struggles against landgrabbing and displacement in the region,” Joseph Canlas, the group’s chairperson, said in a statement released on Tuesday.

 

“We know that Oplan Bayanihan, a counter-insurgency program of President  Noynoy Aquino, is behind the killing of Geertman,” the group claimed.

 

Vercida noted “it is still hard to conclude anything” at this time, saying suspects are still unidentified.

Bayan said they are conducting its own investigation regarding Geertman’s death. 

Geertman is the second European community worker killed under the Aquino regime, after the death of Fr. Pops Tentorio in Mindanao last October, Bayan said.

 

Geertman, who is fluent in Filipino, majored in Asian Studies at the University of the Philippines-Diliman in the early 1970s. Since then, he considered Philippines his second home and continued to serve Filipino farmers.

 

His work has benefited many farmers in Central Luzon, especially those affected by natural disasters, AMGL said.

 

The Dutch national facilitated projects sponsored by the European Union, Caritas International and many funding agencies that uplift the welfare of marginalized people, it said.

 

“We call on the Dutch Embassy to pressure the Philippine government to serve justice to one of their noble citizens and to conduct an investigation into Geertman's brutal killing. Also, we call on church people, students, peasant advocates and other sectors to join us in our call for justice for Geertman,” Canlas noted.

On Facebook, Geertman's most recent activity was a birthday greeting to a friend last June 10:

"Roger, kumusta? kahit nasa malayo ako, sana makarating sa iyong mabuting kalagayan ang aking mainit na pagbati sa iyong kaarawan, at celebrate!!"

—VS/HS, GMA News