6 June 2011 His Excellency Benigno Aquino III President of the Republic Malacaang Palace, JP Laurel St.

, San Miguel 1005 Manila, Philippines Your Excellency, I am writing on behalf of the Synod of Victoria and Tasmania to express our conc ern that Pastor Edwin Egar has yet again been charged with a fresh set of multip le murder and frustrated multiple murder cases through a subpoena from the Regio nal Trial Court in San Pablo City. We are deeply concerned that the bringing of successive charges against Pastor E dwin Egar since 2007 would appear to be an attempt to harass and intimidate him. We note that the pattern of using detention and arrests to harass and intimidate human rights defenders and political activists has been recognized by the Commi ssion on Human Rights of the Philippines who issued an official Advisory on the issue to the Philippines authorities on 19 February 2009. The Advisory stated th at: The Commission is alarmed by and condemns the method of conduct of this new offe nsive using the judicial system, as dangerous to some of the most fundamental fr eedoms such as [t]he right of the people to be secure in their persons ; right of any erson not to be subject to arbitrary arrest . The Commission calls on the Secretary of Justice to exercise his power of superv ision and control over his Department, so as to remind his prosecutors to follow the Rules of Court regarding preliminary investigation. The undue haste with wh ich some information were filed, or amended, opens such action to suspicion, par ticularly given the political background of the personalities involved. We request that the charges against Pastor Edwin Egar be immediately withdrawn a nd a thorough and impartial investigation be conducted to establish if there is any credible evidence that would justify the issuing of arrest warrants. Any mem ber of the security forces or Department of Justice that is found to have pursue d Pastor Egar on baseless grounds should be subject to disciplinary and judicial action. Charges of murder and attempted murder were brought against Edwin Egar, a semina rian of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP), along with 72 oth er human rights defenders, trade unionists, lawyers and those connected with opp osition parties. On 27 October 2008 in a court proceeding against human rights l awyer Remigio Saladero, the provincial prosecutor Josphine Caranzo-Olivar admitt ed that no preliminary investigation was conducted when 71 people were added to charges being brought against Rustum Simbulan. Rustum Simbulan had been charged with involvement with a New People s Army ambush in Puerto Galera, Mindoro Oriental on 3 March 2006. It is our understanding that on 5 February 2009 the Hon Manuel C Luna of the Reg ional Trial Court Branch had cleared Edwin Egar of the charges against him.

However, at 5:30 pm on Wednesday 11 February 2009 six armed men from a Philippin es Air Force intelligence unit and the Philippines National Police abducted Edwi n Egar from the house of his niece Ellen Lunar Delgado and at gun point. Pastor Egar was released five hours after he was abducted. Chief Superintendent Rodolfo Magtibay of the Philippines National Police was rep orted to have told the Philippines media that the arrest of Pastor Egar was just a misunderstanding with the Philippine Army . It was discovered a few days after the court dismissed the case against Edwin Eg ar and the 71 others, a murder complaint had been filed on 4 August 2008 which n amed 62 of the 71 as being involved in the murder of a CAFGU member. Edwin Egar is amongst those accused in this case. On 4 July 2009, Pastor Egar learned that on 1 July 2009 a case has been filed ag ainst him and 28 others for the attempted murder of three soldiers on 14 Novembe r 2008. This case was subsequently dismissed by a court. Thank you in advance for your attention to our concerns. Yours sincerely,

Dr Mark Zirnsak Director Justice and International Mission Unit