UA Date: 14 March 2007
UA Title: Bayan Muna-Morong coordinator shot dead in Morong, Bataan, Philippines
UA Case: Assassination
Victim/s: Felisa Timog Ocampo
· 59 years old, widow with 1 child
· Female
· A resident of Brgy. Poblacion, Morong, Bataan, Philippines
· Municipal Coordinator, Bayan Muna-Morong, Bataan
Place of Incident: in front of the store of the victim's sister in Brgy. Poblacion, Morong, Bataan, Philippines
Date of Incident: 2 March 2007, at around 7:30 in the morning
Alleged Perpetrators: two unidentified armed men with four other accomplices (two in car and another
two on board a motorcycle)
Account of Incident –
At around 7:30 in the morning of March 2, 2007, Felisa Ocampo was walking in front of her sister's store when two men suddenly approached and shot her on the forehead. The gunmen waited for awhile making sure that the victim was already dead before leaving the scene. They threatened those who rushed to the scene not make any move. The assailants fled by in a car with two other men inside escorted with two men on board a motorcycle.
Felisa was rushed to the Morong Municipal Health Unit but was declared dead on arrival.
A day before the incident, March 1, at around 2:30 in the afternoon, the victim was doing her laundry when she noticed four men apparently monitoring her house; two of whom had cellular phones. She hid in a corner so that the men would not see her.
Felisa's neighbors also spied the said men. Two were seen in front of the victim's house while the other two were at the nearby marketplace. A neighbor asked the two men in front of the house if they were looking for someone and one of them replied, "Nobody, we're just waiting for someone." After two hours or so, the men left, this gave Felisa a chance to get out of her house and went to her sister's. That night she slept at her sister's house planning to report the surveillance incident to the police the following day.
She had been repeatedly summoned to report to the military headquarters of the 24th Infantry Battalion Philippine Army (IBPA) based in Balanga, Bataan because she was reportedly included in the military's "Order of Battle" list.
Felisa was a well respected member of the community, looked up by many, whom she had one way or another given assistance.
She was the municipal coordinator of Bayan Muna "People First" in Morong, Bataan. Bayan Muna is a duly accredited political party that promotes the rights and welfare of the marginalized sectors of the country – the workers, peasants, fisherfolk, indigenous peoples, urban poor, and other down-trodden by actively pushing urgent people's concerns in the halls of the Philippine Congress.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Send letters, emails or fax messages calling for:
1. The immediate formation of an independent fact-finding and investigation team composed of representatives from human rights groups, the Church, local government, and the Commission on Human Rights that will look into the assassination of Felisa Timog Ocampo.
2. The arrest and prosecution of the perpetrators of the crime/s of assassinations.
3. The immediate and proper indemnification of the victims; and
4. The Philippine Government to be reminded that it is a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and that it is also a party to all the major Human Rights instruments, thus it is bound to observe all of these instruments' provisions.
You may send your communications to:
President of the Republic
Malacanang Palace ,
JP Laurel St., San Miguel
Manila Philippines
Voice: (+632) 564 1451 to 80
Fax: (+632) 742-1641 / 929-3968
Cell#: (+ 63) 919 898 4622 / (+63) 917 839 8462
E-mail: corres@op.gov.ph / opnet@ops.gov.ph
Department of National Defense
Room 301 DND Building, Camp Emilio Aguinaldo,
E. de los Santos Avenue
Quezon City
Voice:+63(2) 911-9281 / 911-0488
Fax:+63(2) 911 6213
osnd@philonline.com
Hon.
Raul M. Gonzalez
Secretary, Department of Justice
Padre Faura St., Manila
Direct
Line 521-8344; 5213721
Trunkline 523-84-81 loc.214
Fax: (+632) 521-1614
Email sad@doj.gov.ph
Chairperson, Commission on Human Rights
SAAC Bldg., UP Complex
Commonwealth Avenue
Diliman, Quezon City
Philippines
Fax: (+632) 929 0102
Email: drpvq@chr.gov.ph
Please send us a copy of your email/mail/fax to the said government official to our address below.
URGENT ACTION Prepared by:
KARAPATAN (Alliance for the Advancement of People's Rights)-National Office
34 Maamo St. Sikatuna Village, Quezon City 1100 PHILIPPINES
Voice/Fax: (+632) 435 4146
Emails: < karapatan@tri-isys.com> / karapatan@edsamail.com.ph / karapatan.pid@gmail.com
Website: www.karapatan.org