TARLAC CITY- Bayan Muna party representative Satur Ocampo said on Wednesday that the killing of Bishop Alberto Ramento is part of the long string of extra-judicial executions sanctioned by Malacañang and not a simple robbery case as claimed by the police.

Sanctioned by Malacañang. Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo shown here with Anakpawis Partylist Rep. Rafael Mariano on the killing of Aglipayan Bishop Alberto Ramento.

“We are not satisfied with the police investigations. We will look deeper into the circumstances of the death of Bishop Ramento. We have reason to believe that because the bishop is a consistent critic of [President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo] he may have suffered the fate of many others who became victims of extra-judicial executions,” Ocampo said.

Ocampo, along with Anak Pawis representative Rafael Mariano, Gabriela party representative Liza Maza and Bagong Alyansang Makabayan chairperson Carol Araullo visited the wake of the slain Aglipayan prelate in Tarlac City last October 4.

Ramento, 70, died of multiple stab wounds at dawn of October 3 at the Iglesia Filipina Independiente church in Tarlac City in what police described as a robbery and homicide case.

Ramento suffered three stab wounds on the chest and another three stab wounds at the back, along with lacerations on his arms, according to an autopsy report issued by Dr. Saturnino Ferrer.

Ocampo said Ramento led in denouncing the long spate of extra-judicial killing of leaders and members of progressive organizations allegedly perpetrated by agents of the military and the police.

He said the slain bishop also opposed the government’s plan to amend the constitution and was among the key leaders who have asked Mrs. Arroyo to step down from Malacanang.

“The pattern speaks for itself. Bishop Ramento is one of the hundreds of critics of the administration who have died because of their convictions and their opposition to the policies [of Mrs. Arroyo],” Ocampo said.

Vigil. Aglipayan priests during a memorial service for slain Bishop Alberto Ramento.

Meanwhile, Karapatan-Central Luzon pointed to the so-called “death squads” as responsible to the killing.

“We fear that the death squads of the [Arroyo government], like chameleons, have changed their mode of attack after they have been vilified and denounced in public and are now masquerading as robbers and common criminals,” Sr. Sister Ruiz, Karapatan-CL coordinator said.

“We fear that Malacañang’s Cabinet oversight committee on internal security composed of Norberto Gonzales, Raul Gonzales, Eduardo Ermita along with others, is hell-bent on continuing the policy of extra-judicial executions to eliminate civilians and leaders of the people they brand as “enemies of state,” Ruiz said.

Bishop Ramento was appointed by both the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front as a member of the Third Party repository in the peace talks.

He was the Obispo Maxima IX [Supreme Bishop] or the highest ranking IFI clergy in the country from 1993 to 1999. He was also a former chairman of the National Council Churches of the Philippines .

At the time of his death he was the chairman of the Supreme Council of Bishops, co-chairperson of the Ecumenical Bishop’s Forum and the diocesan bishop of Tarlac.