Category: News

Pope Francis has asked the worldwide Church to use the next year to more deeply reflect on and implement his 2016 apostolic exhortation on marriage and the family

La Croix International | By Céline Hoyeau | France

The Catholic Church has now begun “The ‘Amoris Laetitia’ Year of the Family”, an initiative Pope Francis officially launched on March 19th, the Feast of St. Joseph, Universal Patron of the Church.

The special year, which will conclude on June 26, 2022 at the World Meeting of Families in Rome, is aimed at deepening and putting better into practice Amoris laetitia, the post-synodal exhortation on the family that the pope issued five years ago.

What is the status of this text?

Amoris laetitia is now the Church’s “roadmap” on family issues, says Oranne de Mautort, former director of the family office of the French Bishops’ Conference.

This lengthy papal document is the fruit of an unprecedented process of consultation and deliberation.

The pope sent a questionnaire to all the world’s episcopal conferences in 2013 in the run-up to two, back-to-back assemblies of the Synod of Bishops in 2014 that looked at issues relating to today’s family.

Bishops and experts from around the globe used the two assemblies to discern the issues brought forward by the baptized faithful, theologians and pastors.

After 24 years of owning a sugarcane plantation only on paper, some 100 farmers of Capiz province will finally be able to own and benefit from the landholding in flesh and blood.

On Tuesday, March 23, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) at long last cleared the legal hurdles for the peasants to take control of the 188-hectare portion of the Nemesio Tan Estate in barangays Dulangan and San Esteban in Pilar town and Brgy. Culilang in the municipality of President Roxas as ordered by the Office of the President (OP) in a 2020 ruling, upholding an earlier order issued by former DAR chief Rafael Mariano. 

“We are thankful that President Rodrigo Duterte and the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) finally made this happen. We thought this day won’t come. The wait took a lifetime, spanning four government administrations,” said farmer-leader Teresita Billonid of the Montecarlo Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Organization (Montecarba), a member of national peasant federation Task Force Mapalad (TFM).

“Our fight for land took life and limb. Many of us, who grew old and weak tilling the hacienda, died hungry and landless. We suffered from landlord resistance to agrarian reform that resulted in violence. Our houses were razed, one of us was gunned down, and another got paralyzed because of the bullet that hit her head,” she said.

“Now, we can look forward to a brighter future that would have been impossible if we didn’t unite and endure the hardships as we asserted our right to the land,” added Billonid.

OP decision thumbs down landlord’s plea, court’s ruling

On June 29, 2020, through an 18-page decision signed by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, Malacañang dismissed the petition of Nemesio Tan’s heirs represented by Ferdinand Bacanto to retain ownership of the sugar plantation, cancel the certificates of land ownership award (CLOA) issued to the farmers, and stop the DAR from implementing agrarian reform in the property.

In the same order, the OP found no merit to uphold the ruling of the Regional Trial Court-Branch18 Special Agrarian Court (RTC-SAC) in Roxas City that declared that the DAR had erred in implementing the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program in the Nemesio Tan Estate because it carried out the CARP in reverse by generating CLOAs for Montercarba farmers, instead of first notifying Tan that his property had already been placed under the program and compensating him in exchange for his land.

The OP upheld the May 15, 2017 order of then DAR Secretary Mariano that asserted that while the CLOAs were issued ahead of the certificate of deposit of just compensation for Tan, in violation of the procedures under Section 16 of R.A. 6657, the procedural infirmities did not invalidate the coverage of the landholding under the CARP.

In the same decision, Mariano rectified the procedural flaw by having the Register of Deeds (ROD) cancel the CLOAs and simultaneously transfer the ownership of Tan’s landholding to the government by issuing land titles named to the Republic of the Philippines.

Immediately thereafter, Mariano also ordered the Provincial Agrarian Reform Office of Capiz to generate new CLOAs in the name of the Montecarba farmers and register the same with the ROD.

Farmers already landowners since 1997 but were unaware of it 

For a decade and a half  ̶  between 1997, when the CLOAs were generated during the Ramos administration, and 2011, when the RTC-SAC’s ruling favoring Tan became final and executory during the Aquino administration  ̶  Montecarba farmers were clueless of what was happening.

“We didn’t know that as early as 1997, through the CLOAs, we were already made the agrarian reform beneficiaries of Tan’s plantation. We also didn’t know that Tan filed a case to stop us from taking control of the land,” said Billonid.

“Both the government and the haciendero blocked CARP implementation in the land we had been tilling for decades. The DAR didn’t immediately distribute the CLOAs and install us in our land, while Tan and his heirs did all they could to retain control of the landholding,” she added.

The farmers only learned that they were already the owners of the landholding after they survived the wrath of Super Typhoon Yolanda that hit Visayas on November 8, 2013 and were visited by a non-government organization to help them recover from the disaster.

Farmers suffered from harassment, violence amid fight for land

In 2015, Montecarba farmers decided to fight for their right to the land via protest-rallies, dialogs, and legal actions and suffered from harassment and violence.

“When those from the camp of our former landowner learned about our campaign, they started to drive us away from the land and bulldoze our houses, until the violence culminated in the death of a fellow CARP beneficiary,” said Billonid.

On February 11, 2017, Montecarba farmer Orlando T. Eslana, 49, was shot dead by perpetrators allegedly linked to Tan’s camp. Eslana was killed five days after he joined 68 of his fellow CARP beneficiaries in occupying a portion of the Nemesio Tan landholding in Pilar town.

At least five men opened fire on the peasants, who had set up fences in the area. Four farmers were also wounded in the incident, namely Ana Bocala, Nida Amo, Adel Vergara, and Melinda Eslana Arroyo, the sister of Orlando, who remains paralyzed, with a bullet still stuck in her head.

Land struggle continues, farmers urge Duterte to decide vs conversion case

Shay Cullen
21 March 2021

The International Day of Forest is today, 21 March. Forests are of vital importance to the well-being of all creatures, the natural world and especially humankind. They absorb most of the damaging CO2 that causes climate change. Their protection and restoration should be of highest national priority of each nation to hold back global warming from rising above 1.5 degrees celsius and avert the catastrophe that is to come.

Forests are vital for retaining and releasing water the whole year-round, preventing draught and providing clean water and protection from landslides and soil erosion in the typhoon season. In the Philippines and other nations that have suffered deforestation, there is severe low crop yield that causes food insecurity due to massive rains and typhoons because of soil erosion. In some provinces, 50 percent of the rich topsoil has been washed away and more to come. There are no more forests to hold the water back. The Philippines, once self-sufficient in rice, now imports most of its rice.

The deforestation is mainly caused by mining companies and loggers allowed by officials. In 1900, there was 70 percent forest cover in the Philippines. By 1999, there was about 3 percent to 5 percent remaining. Forty years of savage uncontrolled logging caused this irreplaceable loss of primary rainforest. Denuded, bare and exposed hills and mountains is the tragic result and it still goes on. Ninety-eight percent of Philippine plywood that is exported  to Japan is worth US$86 million. However, some wood exported is from sustainable plantations.

There has been what I call “foresticide” with the global deforestation rate at an estimated 10 million hectares per year. That is 429 million hectares since 1990. The cutting of millions of hectares of Brazilian Amazon rain forest and the killing of forest guards and indigenous people is growing. More than 230 million hectares of prime forest will have been destroyed by 2050, researchers say.

There is a “secret war” over the environment in the Philippines and the Brazil and elsewhere as some government officials support logging and mining companies. Dozens of forest guards and environmental protectors are being systematically shot dead by mining security guards in the Philippines and cattle ranchers in Brazil. The military allegedly declare indigenous communities as terrorists or supporters of communists and justify displacing them. The mining companies then exploit the ancestral lands without protest or opposition. Italian environmentalist priest Father “Pops’ Tentorio was shot dead in 2011. No one has been convicted for the crime. Other priests were killed in previous years.

In the Amazon, the forests are cut to provide pasture for cattle and fields for palm oil and soya growing. The indigenous people are being wiped out by disease and violence by the cattle ranchers and soya planters. The proliferation of cattle in the world is now at 989 million which is down from more than one billion in 2014 is an environmental disaster as they produce huge amounts of methane, a global warming gas causing climate change that damages forests. In Europe, there is a battle to preserve the forests of Poland. The government is allowing the logging of the world heritage site of the famous primeval Bialowieza Forest that has stood for millions of years. In 2018, the European Court of Justice declared the deforestation as illegal. But Poland is planning to continue soon despite the protests and legal challenges. Destroying the habitat of wildlife will destroy their chances for survival.

Germany has a big threat to its fabled forests by acid rain caused by polluting factories, coal plants and vehicles emissions. By 1980s, 2.5 million hectares were damaged and hundreds of thousands of trees died. The acid rain killed the leaves and the roots. The forests are being protected with changes in law and change to renewable energy sources.

Trees are essential for humans and animals and birds. The trees emit healthy fumes and aromas that is why it is healthy to live near trees. They are interconnected by a root system and promote the growth of essential fungi and other plants. A world without trees and the wild creatures is a diminished form of life. There is good news also as mega planting projects are getting popular according to this report by geography realm, https://www.geographyrealm.com/mega-tree-planting-efforts-around-the-world/

In India in Uddar Pradesh 800,000 volunteers planted 50 million trees in a single day. The record was broken the following year by the state of Madhya Pradesh, which had 1.5 million volunteers planting 66 million tree saplings in just 12 hours. The efforts continue each year. This year, respecting all the social distancing measures, two million volunteers gathered at farmlands, government buildings, and riverbanks in Uttar Pradesh to plant 250 million saplings distributed by the officials. Also, this year, trees are being tagged to keep records of their survival. The overall goal is to increase the forest cover to 235 million acres by 2030 – a number India pledged to in Paris in 2016.

Ethiopian government’s Green Legacy Initiative placed innumerable volunteers – around 23 million of them – at 1,000 planting sites across the country. Together they allegedly managed to plant more than 350 million saplings in just 12 hours.

Faced with desertification and increasing wildfire threats, Turkey has initiated its own mega-planting project. Last year, the government declared that November 11th would become the National Forestation Day. In the first year, volunteers planted 11 million trees in more than 2,000 locations across Turkey. Northern Anatolian City of Çorum broke the world record for the most trees planted at a single site in one hour– 303,150 saplings.” However, not that many survived and the survival rate is disputed and an estimated 40 percent perhaps have survived.

Yet it is hope for the future that the forests can be replanted and, in the Philippines, we need more planting projects working directly with the people. The DENR projects have endured failures and allegedly some corrupt deals with contract growing.

The best practice we found is to give the saplings to the indigenous peoples to plant on their ancestral deforested lands. In our efforts at the Preda Foundation working with the Aeta indigenous people, they plant an average of 3,000 saplings every year for the past 15 years. A small but significant contribution, we can save the forests and restore them by trusting and working with the people.

(19 March 2021 – 26 June 2022)

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Thirty-five years after Pope Saint John Paul II blessed us with his Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio on the role of the Christian family in the modern world (22 November 1981), Pope Francis gifted us with his Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia on love in the family (19 March 2016). The Holy Father noted that “This Exhortation is especially timely in this Jubilee Year of Mercy. First, because it represents an invitation to Christian families to value the gifts of marriage and the family, and to persevere in a love strengthened by the virtues of generosity, commitment, fidelity and patience. Second, because it seeks to encourage everyone to be a sign of mercy and closeness wherever family life remains imperfect or lacks peace and joy” (n. 5).

Since then, the Family and Life Apostolate/Ministry in the Philippines has sought to implement the recommendations of the Synods on the Family and the teachings of Familiaris Consortio and Amoris Laetitia. Even during the pandemic lockdown of 2020, the Family and Life Apostolate continued in creative ways and responded to the new challenges.

To celebrate the fifth anniversary of Amoris Laetitia, the Holy Father has called for a Year of Amoris Laetitia Family (19 March 2021-26 June 2022). We perceive with joy that the goals and proposals of the Year of Amoris Laetitia Family are in harmony with the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines’ agenda for the Family promulgated 30 years ago.

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want” (Psalm 23)

RMP Statement on Red Tagging and AMLC freezing of bank account

We, the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP), a national organization,            inter-congregational and inter-diocesan in character, of women and men religious, priests and laypeople, and a mission partner of the Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines (AMRSP) has been at the forefront of serving rural poor communities in the country for 51 years. We have been living out our mission to collectively witness and act as Christ’s disciples with the rural poor, specifically with the poor farmers, agricultural workers, indigenous peoples and fisherfolks.

We deplore the Philippine government’s decision to freeze our bank accounts. This persistent harassment sprang from continuous barrage of malicious allegations that there is “probable cause” that RMP is involved in “terrorism financing”. It can be recalled that the government’s Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) ordered a 20-day freeze on RMP accounts with the Bank of Philippine Islands. In a resolution dated Dec. 26, 2019, the AMLC also ordered the bank to submit details of related bank accounts and proposed the filing of a petition before the Court of Appeals to extend the freeze order to six months. Moreover, the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 37 on October 7, 2020 issued an Asset Preservation Order against several bank accounts of the RMP over case violation of the Terrorism and Financing Prevention and Suppression Act of 2012.

We vehemently deny any involvement in any form of financing terrorist persons and/or organizations. We reiterate our position that donations and funding received by RMP are used to implement projects and programs to help the poor by providing the rural communities the help and services they deserve and that the government refuses to provide.

These series of attacks against RMP and its members are inevitably connected to our work with the poor, marginalized, and oppressed sectors in society. What is evidently clear is that under the newly signed Anti-Terrorism Law (ATL), helping the poor and living out concretely our faith imperative and following the church mandate to build the Church of the Poor will put our liberty and life at risk. This is verified by the wave of harassment and threats RMP members have experienced over the past years. Relentless red-tagging of church workers by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) has become a prelude to illegal arrests and sometimes murder. Over the past years, a number of RMP members were charged with various crimes including perjury, arson, kidnapping, robbery, and frustrated murder. Hence, we categorically proclaim that the ATL is inimical to democracy and in its most extreme can lead to warrantless arrests, detention without charges, torture, enforced disappearance and extra-judicial killings.

As we start to commemorate the life, passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ in this season of Lent, we also remember the climate of persecution Jesus experienced at the hands of the religious and political ruling elite of his time. The same climate of persecution and fear persists in our time today. But now, more than ever, the RMP will continue to fearlessly live out its commitment to be servant-leaders with the poor farmers, fisherfolk, agricultural workers, and Indigenous Peoples so that all may truly experience God’s compassion and mercy in the here and now.

Lastly, we call on church people especially the religious congregations, networks and our mission partners who have been with us in defending the rights of the crucified poor and to continue in standing up with RMP. We need to add more voices so as to continue our prophetic task of journeying with the rural poor towards emancipation and the attainment of life with dignity, justice, and peace.

March 10, 2021

Dear Brother and Sisters,

Whether under the dead of night or in broad daylight, there is no peace with the unleashing of murderous “kill, kill, kill” commands from the Duterte administration.

March 7, 2021 has been called “Bloody Sunday.” This is because in the early hours of a day when most families rest, the serving of a series of questionable warrants led to nine deaths and many arrests in various parts of Rizal, Laguna, Cavite, and Batangas. This particular police operation went after activists. Homes and offices were raided. Initial fact-finding reports are bearing out that the victims of these raids were extra-judicially killed or planted with fabricated evidence and arrested.

Similar attacks on activists have occurred in weeks and months past, notably the Tumandok massacre of December 30, 2020 and Operation Sauron on Negros island. And yet, Bloody Sunday feels ominous and particularly disturbing, because it feels like a possible opening to more killings, if we do not stand up to denounce these human rights violations.

Those extra-judicially killed on March 7, 2021 include four indigenous peoples, two urban poor community activists, a labor organizer, and two peasant sector activists. They are all people who have shared their lives and energy with their communities, without the assurances of safety or luxury, and are without insurance of all sorts.

Rappler: Families blocked from claiming bodies of ‘Bloody Sunday’ victims – lawyer

We are now joining with those helping to gathering funds for the immediate expenses for the victims of Bloody Sunday. These include:

• Funeraria, Autopsy, and Burial
• Documentation Processes
• Legal Assistance
• Logistics
• Support for the families

As we encourage you to share what you can, we are pooling resources that will be released for the above expenses. We hope that you will give generously, as the need is great.

1. The Promotion of Church People’s Response is encouraging Church donors to send monies through the KASIMBAYAN BPI account. Upon deposit, please send a scan or photo of your deposit slip to pcprnatl2016@gmail.com or through private message to Norma Dollaga at Facebook. Should you prefer to send by GCash this can be done through Patricia Mungcal. KASIMBAYAN will issue a receipt for your donation.

• BPI KASIMBAYAN West Avenue Branch, Quezon Ave, Quezon City 3051 118 501
• GCash Patricia Mungcal : 0915 118 7393

2. Should you be interested to support a particular victim, or should you have programs for particular ministries (for instance for Indigenous Peoples or Urban Poor) we can also honor these requests, or we can connect you with the team leaders of a particular advocacy support group

The challenges before us are significant. We truly pray that you will be moved to solidarity at this difficult time. We can assure you, that your kind donations will be much appreciated. Thank you for your continued support for our advocacy.

Sincerely,

By Roy Lagarde
March 4, 2021

Manila, Philippines

Pope Francis has granted a jubilee year with the inherent plenary indulgence for the 500th anniversary of the arrival of Christianity in the Philippines.

The pope made the decision in a decree issued on Feb. 25 to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.

The document signed by the head of Vatican’s Apostolic Penitentiary, Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, said the celebration, which officially starts on April 4, would be an opportunity to increase the virtues of faith, hope and charity.

The faithful can receive plenary indulgence when they make a devotional pilgrimage to one of the designated “Jubilee Churches” until April 22, 2022.

The country’s 85 dioceses has listed about 537 pilgrimage churches for the quincentennial celebration of the evangelization of Asia’s bastion of Christianity.

Still, when the faithful make the pilgrimage, they have to meet the usual conditions of going to confession, receiving the Eucharist, and praying for the intentions of the pope.

Pilgrims are also asked to pray “for the fidelity of the Filipino people to their Christian calling, for the increase of priestly and religious vocations and for the defense of the family, concluding with the Lord’s Prayer, the profession of faith, and an invocation to the Blessed Virgin Mary”.

An indulgence is the remission of the temporal punishment due to sins, which have already been forgiven.

Amid the prevailing Covid-19 pandemic, the gift of plenary indulgence is also extended to the sick, the elderly, and all those who for legitimate reasons are unable to leave their homes.

They too can obtain the plenary indulgence if they are detached from any sin and have the intentions of fulfilling the three usual conditions as soon as possible— “they join themselves spiritually to the celebrations, offering their prayers and sufferings, or the inconvenience of one’s own life to the merciful God through Mary.”

The Apostolic Penitentiary asked priests to pastorally facilitate the celebration of the Sacrament of Penance and the administration of holy communion to the sick with a willing and generous spirit.

Pope Francis will lead the Filipino community in Italy in celebrating the 500 Years of Christianity in the Philippines, a Filipino priest based in Rome said.

Scalabrinian Fr. Ricky Gente of the Filipino Chaplaincy in Rome said the celebration will be highlighted with a Mass to be officiated by Pope Francis at St. Peter’s Basilica at 10:00 a.m. (5:00 p.m. in the Philippines) on March 14.

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, and Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, the pope’s vicar of Rome, will also be present in the event.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions, a limited number of people will be allowed to attend the Mass physically inside the basilica.

The celebration, he said, will be livestreamed from the Vatican to reach Filipinos in different parts of the world.

The Mass can also be watched live on the 500YOC’s official website and Facebook page and other social media platforms of the CBCP Media Office including the CBCP News, Visita Iglesia, Saint Pedro Calungsod, and CBCP Online Radio.

“Join us in Rome to pray, praise and thank God for his gift of the Christian faith,” Gente said.

After the Mass, the pope will lead the traditional recitation of the Angelus prayer in St. Peter’s Square at midday.

“You can also receive blessings from the pope after mass in Vatican Square where he will lead the Angelus prayer at noon,” Gente added.

In the Philippines, most dioceses will launch the year-long commemoration on April 4, Easter Sunday.

The celebration comes after a nine-year preparation, with each year carrying a specific theme that reflects the pastoral priorities of the church in the country.

The bishops have chosen, “Missio ad Gentes”, as the theme of the pastoral year 2021.

“Gifted to Give”, taken from Matthew’s Gospel (10:9), is the theme for the celebration.

Italy hosts the largest population of overseas Filipino workers in Western Europe.

The Sangguniang Laiko ng Pilipinas strongly condemns the killing of 9 labor leaders in the Calabarzon region last Sunday, March 7, 2021. The blood of these fellow Filipinos are literally crying for justice as they are wiped-off from the floor tiles of their homes.

We call on our people to continue to stand for due process and the rights of all for a fair and just trial.

We call on peace-loving Filipinos to make strong statements of condemnation against these brutal and organized atrocities.

We call on our lawmakers and magistrates to do justice and show to the world that we are still ruled by laws and not by men.

For the Sangguniang Laiko ng Pilipinas Board,