Manila (AsiaNews) – The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) yesterday expressed it sympathy, sorrow and pain to the Philippine Independent Church over the death of its Aglipayan leader, Alberto Ramento, saying the circumstances surrounding his killing were "saddening and shocking."

Ramento, 69 years, was one of the leaders of Aglipayan's Protestant community: he was stabbed to death by two unknown assailants on 3 October in his church, in Tarlac City. He used to be leader of a human rights group, Karapatan, and he had received many death threats due to his work for justice. In an official statement, the group accused "elements of the armed forces" of making these threats.

On behalf of the bishops, CBCP president and Jolo Archbishop, Mgr Angel Lagdameo, "in a spirit of ecumenism", said: "What is saddening and shocking are the circumstances surrounding the killing of the pastor, a vocal critic of political killings in the country."

Such crimes, targeting activists, militants and journalists, "continue to increase, while justice is diminished. What is alarming is that so far, the actions that have been taken do not satisfy yet the demands of justice especially for the victims and their relatives."

The Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop, Mgr Oscar Cruz, recalled the slain leader as a "peace advocate, pro-humanity and a man of the poor and the oppressed." The bishop added: "The killing of churchmen represents the peak of socio-political error… If human authority is impotent despite all the means it has at its disposal, we should not be discouraged because divine providence will eventually take over."