Church leaders call for change in the Philippines
-23/07/05
A wide-ranging pastoral delegation from the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) has visited the Philippines at the invitation of the National Council of Churches (NCCP). A spokesperson said that they heard significant accounts of human rights violations.
As well as offering prayers and expressing Christian solidarity with the victims and their families, the church leaders made a series of proposals for restoring justice and peace in meetings with government representatives.
Senior Protestant and Catholic church figures from the Philippines were involved with the visit. They were accompanied by thirteen partners from Australia, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Norway, Sri Lanka, Switzerland and the United States. From 14-21 July the delegation visited Eastern Visayas, Hacienda Luisita and Mindanao.
The church leaders say that the majority of the Filipino people have yet to enjoy what the Gospel calls ìlife in all its fullnessî. Poverty, political repression and other degradations are the daily plight of the majority of the 85 million Filipinos.
The NCCP, Filipino church groups, human rights organizations and other civic movements have been monitoring a recent spate of killings of church workers, human rights defenders, journalists, justice advocates and trade unionists in the Philippines.
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Faith and community leaders have appealed to the Government to put an immediate end to the pattern of killings that, for many Filipinos, are reminiscent of the Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship.
The Government claims that it is taking legitimate security measures against the Maoist insurgents of the New Peopleís Army.
The WCC wrote at the end of March 2005 to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, calling on her to set up an independent investigation into the atrocities being committed and to bring the perpetrators of these crimes to justice. The CCA wrote to the President on 23 May raising similar concerns.
The pastoral delegation listened to many moving testimonies from the victims themselves and from their families. Members of the clergy of the Philippine Independent Church and the United Church of Christ in the Philippines have been murdered. Hundreds of others especially the indigenous communities have been terrorized, brutalized and maimed by security forces.
Large scale human rights violations including police and military intimidation, illegal detention, and torture of peasants working on the farms of rich landlords are being perpetrated, says NCCP.
Among the root causes of the current turmoil in the country, say church leaders, are: the inadequacies of state institutions such as the judiciary, inequitable distribution of resources which traps many Filipinos in abject poverty, and the monopoly of transnational corporations and other foreign interests in resource exploitation.
At meetings with the Executive Secretary of the Office of the President, Eduardo Ermita, and with Commissioner Wilhem D. Soriano of the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines, the pastoral delegation expressed serious concern at the deterioration in the observance of human rights.
It also raised issues regarding the safeguarding of the peopleís civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights, the need for the resumption of peace talks with the National Democratic Front, and the lack of a government response to the reports and recommendations of the Commission on Human Rights.
Church leaders call for change in the Philippines
-23/07/05
A wide-ranging pastoral delegation from the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) has visited the Philippines at the invitation of the National Council of Churches (NCCP). A spokesperson said that they heard significant accounts of human rights violations.
As well as offering prayers and expressing Christian solidarity with the victims and their families, the church leaders made a series of proposals for restoring justice and peace in meetings with government representatives.
Senior Protestant and Catholic church figures from the Philippines were involved with the visit. They were accompanied by thirteen partners from Australia, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Norway, Sri Lanka, Switzerland and the United States. From 14-21 July the delegation visited Eastern Visayas, Hacienda Luisita and Mindanao.
The church leaders say that the majority of the Filipino people have yet to enjoy what the Gospel calls ‘life in all its fullness’. Poverty, political repression and other degradations are the daily plight of the majority of the 85 million Filipinos.
The NCCP, Filipino church groups, human rights organizations and other civic movements have been monitoring a recent spate of killings of church workers, human rights defenders, journalists, justice advocates and trade unionists in the Philippines.
Related Articles
Faith and community leaders have appealed to the Government to put an immediate end to the pattern of killings that, for many Filipinos, are reminiscent of the Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship.
The Government claims that it is taking legitimate security measures against the Maoist insurgents of the New People’s Army.
The WCC wrote at the end of March 2005 to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, calling on her to set up an independent investigation into the atrocities being committed and to bring the perpetrators of these crimes to justice. The CCA wrote to the President on 23 May raising similar concerns.
The pastoral delegation listened to many moving testimonies from the victims themselves and from their families. Members of the clergy of the Philippine Independent Church and the United Church of Christ in the Philippines have been murdered. Hundreds of others especially the indigenous communities have been terrorized, brutalized and maimed by security forces.
Large scale human rights violations including police and military intimidation, illegal detention, and torture of peasants working on the farms of rich landlords are being perpetrated, says NCCP.
Among the root causes of the current turmoil in the country, say church leaders, are: the inadequacies of state institutions such as the judiciary, inequitable distribution of resources which traps many Filipinos in abject poverty, and the monopoly of transnational corporations and other foreign interests in resource exploitation.
At meetings with the Executive Secretary of the Office of the President, Eduardo Ermita, and with Commissioner Wilhem D. Soriano of the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines, the pastoral delegation expressed serious concern at the deterioration in the observance of human rights.
It also raised issues regarding the safeguarding of the people’s civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights, the need for the resumption of peace talks with the National Democratic Front, and the lack of a government response to the reports and recommendations of the Commission on Human Rights.