Month: July 2018

July 3, 2018

Dear Friends,

Peace be with you!

In preparation for the President’s third State of the Nation Address, the Movement Against Tyranny would like to invite you to a forum titled “State of the Nation, State of Tyranny” this July 7, 2018, from 9:30am to 12nn at the Maryhill School of Theology, 64 14th St. cor. Gilmore Ave., New Manila, Q.C.

This will be a good opportunity for us to take stock of the national situation as well as identify the pressing issues that we need to respond to as the Duterte administration enters its third year.

We will have the following speakers for our forum:

Charter Change and Federalism
Former Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno (to be confirmed)

Amendments to the Human Security Act and Other Threats to Peace
Party List Rep. Antonio Tinio

Duterte’s China Deal
Atty. Florin Hilbay

The Economy for Real
Prof. Noel Leyco

We are expecting an audience of around 400 comprised of personalities and members of various organizations under the MAT network, including the media. Please feel free to invite your own network of friends and organizations.

For inquiries and confirmations, please contact Ms. Gel Marcelino at 09475891578 or at email stoptyrannyph@gmail.com.

Thank you very much.

In behalf of the Convenors,

Sr. Mary John Mananzan, OSB

Proposed open-cast pit in the Philippines would have resulted in environmental plunder, says bishop

Tribal people and environmental activists stage a protest outside the provincial capital of the southern Philippine province of South Cotabato to press for a stop to coal mining and other destructive projects in the region. (Photo by Bong Sarmiento)

Bong Sarmiento, South Cotabato, Philippines
July 2, 2018

Church leaders in the southern Philippine region of Mindanao have welcomed a decision by the South Cotabato provincial government to reject a proposed coal mine in the area.

It ruled on June 25 to reject the development of a 2,000-hectare coal mine in the village of Ned in the town of Lake Sebu.

Local officials said the mine went against the province’s Environment Code that bars open-pit mining.

Catholic missionary nun Susan Bolanio, executive director of the Hesed Foundation Inc. of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate congregation, lauded the decision as “a victory for the environment.”

“The spirit of God works through time,” said the nun, adding that the decision “will unburden our already overburdened Mother Earth.”

She said the decision would inspire local people to work toward “sustainable development and environmental protection.”

Bishop Emeritus Dinualdo Gutierrez of Marbel said the coal project would have brought about “serious man-induced dangers such as deforestation and siltation.”

“It would have been environmental plunder if mining had been allowed,” said the prelate.

Strong opposition from Catholic Church leaders and pro-environment groups also prompted a foreign partner of a local mining company to back out from the project.

The proposed mine site was supposed to be inside a watershed forest reserve near the ancestral lands of the T’boli and Manobo tribes.

In December, eight tribesmen opposed to the mining project were killed during what was supposed to be a military anti-insurgency operation in the area.

The military claimed that the tribesmen were members or supporters of communist rebels. Human right groups blasted the military report, describing the incident as a massacre.

The coalfield that straddles the provinces of South Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat is believed to contain 211 million metric tons of deposits.

Photo credit: Philstar

Statement of the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform

The Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform (PEPP) is saddened by the latest development in the peace process. Prof. Jose Ma. Sison, Chief Political Consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in a statement during a forum of peace advocates, said the NDFP should rather wait for the next administration to engage in formal peace talks than to continue the negotiations with President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration. This comes at the heels of the postponement of the scheduled fifth round formal talks between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the NDFP on June 28-30. The government said that it would like to conduct consultations before returning to the negotiating table and later announced that it wants the talks to be held in the country.

Prof. Sison was frustrated over the repeated cancellations of formal talks and the many promises that the President had broken, including the amnesty and release of all political prisoners. He also stated that the NDFP would rather join other forces in ousting President Duterte. The latter downplayed the statement of Prof. Sison and said the war would continue. Prof. Sison later clarified that only the National Council of the NDFP can make the decision to suspend, cancel or terminate the peace negotiations and he can only give an advice to the said Council.

We pray that the exchange of verbal tirades between both parties would not result to a possible termination of the peace negotiations. Such termination would surely lead to the escalation of violence especially in the country side. The “stand down” ceasefire agreement and the interim peace agreement could have lessened the casualties in the armed conflict. Incidents like the bloody “misencounter” in Samar between the troops of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) could have been prevented. The AFP and PNP forces were reportedly responding to sightings of members of the New People’s Army in the area.

The PEPP continues to hope for the signing of an interim peace agreement that was supposed to be part of the agenda for the GRP-NDFP fifth round of formal talks. The agreement was expected to result to a coordinated unilateral ceasefire, general amnesty for NDFP-listed political prisoners, and agrarian reform and rural development as well as national industrialization and economic development agreements. Moreover, there are other agreements made in the previous rounds of talks that could have been historical building blocks for a just and enduring peace.

As church leaders inspired by the teachings of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, we still believe in the power of principled dialogue. We implore both parties to seek peace and pursue it (1 Peter 3:11) and open the doors to dialogue. We also appeal to the Royal Norwegian Government to continue helping the Filipino people in convincing the government and the NDFP to resume the formal peace talks. We call on the Filipino people to continue praying and working for peace in our land. The GRP-NDFP peace negotiations is not for the two parties alone but for all of us and future generations – “Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God” (Matthew 5:9).

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MANILA, Philippines—The Department of Justice (DOJ) has nullified the Bureau of Immigration’s (BI) Visa Forfeiture Order on the Missionary Visa of Australian nun Sister Patricia Fox.

In a ten-page order granting the Motion for Reconsideration to the Department of Justice filed by Fox’s counsel, Secretary of Justice Menardo Guevarra stated that the April 23 and May 17 Orders by the BI forfeiting Fox’s visa is declared “null and void for having been issued without legal basis”.

The Order stated that Visa Forfeiture is not in BI’s Omnibus Rules of Procedure 2015, and orders for the proper disposition of the case.

“We received the resolution on Sister Fox’s Motion for Reconsideration, and we submit to the directive from the DOJ on the disposition of her case,” said BI Spokesperson Dana Krizia Sandoval.

Sandoval bared that the Visa Forfeiture would have downgraded Sister Fox’s visa from a Missionary Visa to a Temporary Visitor’s Visa, and would require her to leave the country within thirty days. The DOJ, noted, however, that Visa Cancellation procedure would have the same effect and is the one written in BI’s Omnibus Rules.

“The DOJ saw that the proceedings initiated by the Bureau may fall under visa cancellation, and not visa forfeiture,” said Sandoval. “Cases of visa cancellation, according to Section 5 of the BI Omnibus Rules, may also be based on allegations of deportable offenses,” she added, referring to reports of Fox’s involvement in partisan political activities.

Sandoval mentioned that BI will be reinstating Fox’s visa and reactivating her ACR I-Card, and she is free to remain in the country and continue her missionary work pending the result of the deportation charge and/or visa cancellation case against her.

Fox is subject of a separate deportation charge for her alleged involvement in political activities.

Photo credit: CBCPNews

Fr. Shay Cullen
29 June 2018

The defenders of the rights of the people, those who stand for justice, tolerance, equality, human dignity and freedom of speech are the conscience of the nation. In the Philippines, more social activists are being killed than ever before. Pastor Lovelito Quiñones of the King’s Glory Ministry was shot and killed by police near his home in Mansalay Town, Mindoro Occidental last 3 December 2017.

The police said he was a communist guerrilla and died in a firefight with them. But his family said he was a man of God and the police planted a weapon near his body. Pastor Lovelito was active in social justice causes. The police don’t need evidence of a crime to shoot dead suspects and thousands have been killed in the past two years alone. A shroud of fear and death has been laid on the Filipino people.

In April this year, Father Mark Ventura, a priest in Gattaran Town in Northern Luzon, was shot dead after celebrating mass. The assassin escaped on a motorcycle. Father Marcelito Paez was shot dead by killers too. Unknown vigilantes have killed thousands of young people and many more were killed during police operations around the Philippines but mostly in Metro Manila.

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