Makabayan bloc seeks House probe on killing of Father Tito Paez

The Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives on Wednesday filed a resolution seeking an investigation into the "extrajudicial killing" of parish priest Marcelito "Tito" Paez.

In their resolution, Representatives Carlos Isagani Zarate, Emmi de Jesus, Antonio Tinio, Arlene Brosas, France Castro and Sarah Jane Elago urged the Committee on Human Rights to conduct the inquiry on the death of Paez, who was a national board member and the regional coordinator of inter-congregational group Rural Missionaries of the Philippines - Central Luzon.

Paez, 72, was shot while driving by motorcycle-riding gunmen in Jaen, Nueva Ecija,  around 8 p.m. Monday. He was able to seek help from bystanders, who called police to rush the wounded priest to the hospital, but died at around 10 p.m., according to the resolution, citing reports from the Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luson (AMGL) – Nueva Ecija.

Earlier on the day he was killed, Paez reportedly helped facilitate the release of political prisoner and peasant organizer Rommel Tucay, who was detained at the jail facility in Cabanatuan.

Also according to the resolution, Paez was a defender of farmers' right to land in several parts of Nueva Ecija, Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac, Hacienda Dolores in Pampanga and other parts of Central Luzon, and was likewise "active in leading church services for communities and victims of human rights violations in the province and in the region."

AMGL also said that Paez in the 1980s "actively campaigned" against the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant and served as a leader of the Central Luzon Alliance for Sovereign Philippines (CLASP), which demanded the expulsion US military bases in the Philippines, and was also a Convenor of the Promotion of Church People’s Response – Central Luzon, Convenor of the Nueva Ecija for Change, Justice and Peace.

"Fr. Paez is the latest addition to the list of victims coming from the religious sector of extrajudicial killings in Central Luzon," reads the resolution, citing the killings of Iglesia Filipina Independiente priest William Tadeña in March 2005 in La Paz, Tarlac; Bishop Alberto Ramento in October 2006 in Tarlac City; and Dutch Missionary and development worker Willem Geertman in July 2012 in Angeles City, Pampanga.

Both Tadeña and Ramento, said the resolution, were "supporters of Hacienda Luisita farmers," while Geertman was a supporter of farmers in Central Luzon. — RSJ, GMA News