Year: 2019

NEVER in the history of our country has a President disrespected the Philippine Constitution in a manner so shameful and shocking. 

Words do matter, and President Duterte’s depiction of the fundamental law of the land as worthless in the face of foreign power betrays a defeatist attitude that accepts the logic of the lawless that might is right.  This is both inexcusable and unforgiveable.

The President has undermined our citizens’ faith in our Constitution, the bedrock of our democracy and our democratic institutions—he has compromised the rule of law.  He has betrayed the public trust. Take these instances of the President’s abdication of his responsibility to protect the interests of our people:

1.         Failure to Advance our 2016 victory in Philippines vs. China

On 12 July 2016, we won a landmark ruling under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea upholding our exclusive rights over Philippine waters against China’s all-encompassing and illegal “nine-dash line” doctrine. The present administration, by its words and actions, has miserably failed to advance the gains we achieved in that historic victory. Worse, it has in fact undermined that victory by failing to protect our fisherfolk, marine resources, and national territory.

“I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.”(John 10:10.

My dear People of God:

The Hope of Easter amidst the Darkness of Life

By the Paschal Mystery of our Lord, we celebrate his passion, death and resurrection. We have seen how Good Friday shattered the hopes, dreams, and expectations of his disciples and followers. They thought he was the Messiah, who will free them from the Romans and from everyone oppressing them. But he died on the cross and all was lost.  But on Easter Sunday, Jesus is risen from the dead. He reigned over sin and death, more fearsome than any human oppressors.  This has changed their lives and perspectives on what life brings them. And it has changed ours too.

Easter Sunday brings us much hope even if our lives are full of sorrow and pain, sickness, death, and betrayal. Jesus’ death and resurrection bring us hope in the midst of the messiness and bitterness of life. They make us express what St. Paul said: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us” (Rom. 8:18). Everything that we encounter in this life will be nothing compared to what awaits us in heaven which infinitely outshines the suffering and pain that we might experience here.

Growing Number of Deaths by Suicide

These past weeks and months, we have been shaken by the news of individuals, both young and old, who died by suicide.  This has surely left questions as well as great pains to the people whom suicide victims have left behind.  And this has also affected the community and the local Church of Capiz.

As a father of the flock in Capiz, I repeat the constant teaching of the Church:  “Human life is sacred because from its beginning it involves the creative action of God and it remains forever in a special relationship with the Creator, who is its sole end” (CCC 2258).

We are all created by God and he has made us stewards of our lives.  As stewards, we are not the owners of our life.  Only God can decide to take and to end it.  In contrast, everyone is invited to nurture this life, to live it to the full in this world, to discover its beauty, to respect its nature, and to enjoy its blessings until it shares in that fullness of life in heaven. 

Suicide, the taking and ending of one’s life, has always been seen as a rejection of God’s gift of life, a failure in stewardship, an act of despair and a sin against the 5th commandment, “You shall not kill.”

We recognize though that a person committing suicide is oftentimes clouded in his judgment, otherwise he will not end his life. In fact, there is even an instinct in every person to protect his life and to keep it away from harm and danger.  We do not deny that there may be “risk” factors which may severely compromise a person’s ability to reason clearly and to act freely. These “risk” factors may include lack of family and social support, sense of isolation, bullying, and relationship problems which may lead to depression. Thus, it is not right to play gods and to judge these persons who died by suicide.  What we can do is to pray and entrust them to the mercy and love of God.

The victims of suicide may have considered that committing such act will end their problems and those of the people around them.  On contrary, this has not offered any solution at all; rather it has even created more problems. For themselves, it jeopardizes their eternal salvation. And for the people close to them, it leaves nothing but lasting pain.

Problems will always be there, but there will always be solutions.  The Easter event and message will always bring us hope.   It is not always Good Fridays; there will also be Easter Sundays when we will triumph over anything that burdens or oppresses us. 

Everyone will always have problems.  The important thing to remember is that it is in our facing, embracing and overcoming them that we make ourselves stronger and even better persons.  A person is not great because he escaped the difficulties of life; this is cowardice. A person is great because he has embraced and survived the challenges in life.  The burdens that we encounter in life, after all, are part of our purifications on our journey to that eternal bliss in heaven, prepared for all of us.  The Second Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians (4:16-18) makes this encouragement on this matter: “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

Call for international solidarity and support
– 9 July 2019

Cancel Oceana Gold’s Mining Contract Now!
Respect the people’s will! Stop illegal operations in Didipio mines!

Environmental and human rights groups in the Philippines support the resistance led by the Didipio Earth Savers Movement (DESAMA) and Didipio-Watch against destructive and irresponsible mining in Nueva Vizcaya.  We call on all  international groups to express their solidarity and support to this local resistance to protect land, water, biodiversity and life itself.

Last 21 June 2019, farmers and indigenous peoples from the village of Didipio, in Kasibu town, Nueva Vizcaya set-up a peoples barricade to prevent the illegal operations of Didipio mines, owned by Oceana Gold Philippines, Inc. (OGPI).  OGPI’s mining contract (Financial and Technical Assistance Agreement # 1) expired last June 20, 2019, and failed to secure a renewal of this agreement.

With the assumption of newly-elected officials last 1 July 2019, the local governments [ATM1] (https://www.facebook.com/govCaloy/photos/a.364829644165918/387179051930977/?type=3&theater) of Barangay Didipio, the Municipal government of Kasibu and the Provincial government of Nueva Vizcaya have expressed their opposition against the continued operations of OGPI.  A dialogue with DENR officials have resulted in nothing, except with the unbelievable news that the environment department has endorsed favorably to the Office of the President the renewal of FTAA # 1, without the knowledge and consent of mining-affected communities and the concerned local governments.

The Didipio mines was ordered suspended last February 2017 [ATM2] (https://www.rappler.com/nation/160270-denr-closes-mining-operations) by former DENR Sec. Gina Lopez, after numerous complaints about water and unsettled land claims.  In October 2018, a research published (https://miningwatch.ca/sites/default/files/oceanagold-report.pdf)  [ATM3] by international experts from Washington DC and Canada summarized OGPI’s violations against environmental laws and regulations and its non-compliance to contractual obligations.

You can read here the petition submitted by Didipio-Watch (https://www.alyansatigilmina.net/single-post/2019/03/13/Didipio-Watch-petition-for-the-Non-Renewal-of-the-OceanaGold-Philippines-FTAA-in-Nueva-Vizcaya) [ATM4] to the Office of the President last 13 March 2019, citing the evidences on why the mining contract should not be renewed.

We make the following demands in support of the struggle being led by DESAMA, Didipio-Watch and other local organizations :

1.       Pres. Rodrigo Duterte must immediately cancel OGPI’s contract and order the stop of illegal mining operations of OGPI. Since its mining contract has expired and has failed to secure a renewal, OGPI has no right to continue posing a threat to the forests and water resources in Nueva VIzcaya. 

2.       The Department  of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) must immediately revoke its favorable endorsement for the application of FTAA renewal.  DENR has failed to ensure that precautionary principles are enforced in the review and assessment of the mining contract, and has merely relied on technical compliance of OGPI in submitting its application for renewal.

July 08, 2019 01:44 Roy Lagarde Catholic Church

Pope Francis has put another Filipina nun on the path to sainthood by declaring her ‘venerable’.

The pope recognized that Mother Francisca Del Espiritu Santo De Fuentes, founder of the Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena, lived the Christian virtues in a heroic way.

The Vatican announced the pontiff’s decision on July 6, 2019. It marks the first major step on the path to sainthood for the nun who died in Manila in 1711.

The pope would have to recognize a miracle attributed to the Mother Francisca’s intercession in order for her to be beatified, the next step toward sainthood.

The process of becoming a saint is lengthy, often taking decades or centuries to complete.

After the beatification, another miracle would be needed for canonization.

Mother Francisca’s path to sainthood started as early as December 2002 when the Vatican had been petitioned to open the Cause of the nun.

In March the following year, the petition was granted by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

The Decree of Validity on the Diocesan Inquiry was granted in June 2007 which allowed the writing of the “positio” on the life, virtues, and fame of sanctity of Mother Francisca.

The completion of the positio was in 2012. The Mother Francisca Commission received a copy of the positio in December 2014 with the favorable evaluation from the Historical Experts of the Vatican.

Mother Francisca was buried in the Church of the Collegio de San Juan de Letran. Her tomb was over the steps of the main altar on the gospel side.

Last month, Pope Francis also granted a Dominican nun the title of venerable after recognizing the heroic virtue of Mother Maria Beatrice Rosario Arroyo.

Born in Iloilo, Arroyo is the founder of the Congregation of the Dominican Sisters of the Holy Rosary. She died in June 1957.

July 08, 2019 01:44 Catholic Church

Fr. Pete Montallana

 “ May I never boast  except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, though which the world has been crucified  to me, and I to the world. ” (Gal.6,14)  – Powerful words of St. Paul to the Galatians.

No one can deny that thousands have been killed  allegedly fighting back – “nanlaban”  – crucified by a system disguised as an angel of light in the midst of the darkness of murder. And many have believed or forced to believe in this atrocity. The fishermen at Recto Bank have  been rammed and almost drowned but worse they also experienced  the State relinquishing its duty to defend them as mandated by the Constitution. The dwindling price of the  coconut is causing intense poverty among the coconut growers. The mining companies who have been destroying  the environment as documented during the time of former DENR Sec. Gina Lopez  continue to deprive the indigenous people of their ancestral lands.  Workers until now are  contractualized despite the election promise three years ago. The laws and policies continue to deplete the poor of their meager  resources which make  the rich richer. Fear has paralyzed and silenced  people  despite all glaring the  injustices and anomalies especially in the recently concluded election – with its computerized cheating, unprecedented vote buying and use of government resources –  to seat  in power allies. 

Worst. By and large we have pretended to be deaf to the alarm bells sounded by the UN scientists last  October  8, 2018 that the accumulation of carbon emissions in the atmosphere causing global warming has reached a critical stage  and that,  if we have to reverse the situation,  we have only 12 years left to make ambitious plans. Many of us  just cool ourselves to ward off the heat which we know would be worse for the next generation. Those in power  continue to push for more coal fired power plants, ravage the forests with more and wider  roads and with construction of dams unmindful of the climate emergency experienced now at the same time ignoring  the call for renewable energy. The Philippines has only less than 23 percent forest to cool us, provide for our needs  and absorb carbon emission.

The convenience of  the use plastic has made us unmindful of the plastic that has become part of the daily menu of the  fish which later eat. The Popes and particularly Pope Francis have been calling us to ecological conversion since he issued Laudato Si.

The call of St. Paul “Never to boast  except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ… to be crucified to the world” is a clarion call to resist  the Evil One in all its forms perpetrated by men and women in a system blinded by greed and sin.

The call “to be crucified to the world”  means:

to stand for the dignity and rights of every human person even if they  are  considered  drug addicts;

to be involved with the issues of the farmers, indigenous peoples, fisherfolks, workers and other marginalized groups;

to participate in a process of rectifying the anomalies  committed in the recent election;

and to participate in bringing about a system wherein no government official can use the power of the State to demonize anyone and wherein  the Constitution that is not selectively  implemented and not disregarded as toilet paper depending on what is most convenient.

Most Rev. Broderick S. Pabillo, D.D.
Auxiliary Bishop of Manila
Tondo Manila

Dear Most Rev. Pabillo ,

Peace and Good Health!

The Institute of Spirituality in Asia (ISA) will hold its 19^th Spirituality Forum this coming July 31- August 2, 2019 at the Mother Anne de Tilly Hall, St. Paul University, New Manila, Quezon City.

In harmony with the Philippine Church’ celebration of the Year of the Youth and in response to the challenges posed during the October 3-28, 2018 Synod of Bishops held in Rome, our 19th Spirituality forum carries the theme: “LOVE, POWER AND GRACE: CONVERSATIONS ON SPIRITUALITY WITH THE YOUNG PEOPLE”. It is very special in the sense that it is a sequel to our forum last year which was also focused on the spirituality of young people.

We cordially invite you and your members to this historic and important Spirituality Forum. Please refer to the attached files for further details.

Respectfully Yours in Christ,
Sr. Cora
Institute of Spirituality in Asia (ISA)
#28 Acacia Street cor. Rosario Drive
Brgy. Mariana, New Manila
1112 Quezon City, Philippines
Phone # (+63 2) 989 10 16 or (+63 2) 917 562 10 16
website: www.isa.org.ph