Month: October 2020

30 September 2020

Dear friends, partners in development,

Warm greetings! In recent months, we’ve been witnesses to the worsening human rights situation of indigenous peoples (IP) in the country amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. With restrictions caused by quarantine measures, civil society organizations (CSOs), private business turned to online platforms to continually inform the public about the situation and issues of IPs, and still advocate for their rights despite the challenges.

The implementation of destructive large-scale infrastructure projects under the government’s Build, Build, Build (BBB) infrastructure program has not stopped despite the ongoing health emergency. The New Centennial Water Source-Kaliwa Low Dam project that will potentially destroy the environment and dislocate Dumagat and Remontado communities in Rizal and Quezon continues despite the incomplete and manipulated FPIC process by the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) and the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP). The latest Commission on Audit (COA) report affirms this fact.

In this regard, the Network Opposed to Kaliwa, Kanan and Laiban Dams in cooperation with the Philippine Task Force for Indigenous Peoples’ Rights (TFIP) would like to invite you to an online public forum “Kaliwa Low Dam: Kasalukuyang kalagayan at mga maka-kalikasang alternatibo”, on October 6, 2020 at 10AM to 12PM via the Zoom platform.

The date is significant as it marks the second year since the founding of the NO to NKKLD. This forum will also be the second part of TFIP’s Tudtulan Series which will include webinars and other online activities related to indigenous peoples’ rights.

The forum aims to share updates from communities in relation to the NCWS-Kaliwa Low Dam project. It also aims to discuss the reports from CoA, CHR and the petition to the Supreme Court regarding the onerous loan with the Chinese government to fund this project. More importantly, the network will discuss actions from this point while there is a pandemic and beyond which will include legal remedies, collective actions and lobbying for ecologically sustainable alternatives.

Please confirm your attendance by registering at https://forms.gle/KBNxc61BWFBFA8mdA. Should you have questions or clarifications, kindly contact tfip@philtfip.org, or Tyrone Beyer at 0949-8868567; email ibonfoundation.research@gmail.com or call/SMS 09084632860.

We look forward to your positive response and hope to have you with us in our advocacy for sustainable use of the environment for genuinely ecologically sustainable economic development and in upholding IP rights, and people’s welfare.

For NO to Kaliwa, Kanan, Laiban Dams,

(signed) Kriza Leaño
UCCP-IDPIP Southern Tagalog, NO to KKLD Co-convenor

(signed) Teddy Casińo
Water for the People Network, NO to KKLD Co-convenor

(signed) Jill Cariño
Executive Director, Philippine Task Force Indigenous People’s Rights
NO to KKLD Co-convenor

September 24, 2020

Is faith always intimately tied to the nation? The historical fact is that the relationship of faith to the modern concept of “nation” was not always thought to be a legitimate question by the majority of evangelical Christians after the Second World War. In the Philippines, for example, most evangelicals did not raise such a question at all, even though by the late 1990s the term “bayan” was popularized in a charismatic evangelical TV program. Prior to this, it is interesting that some nationalist-oriented groups have already claimed, at least since the 1970s, that the concept of “bayan” strikes a deeper chord in the psyche of the Filipino, than the foreign concept of “nation”.Nevertheless, given the above claim concerning the deeper cultural register of “bayan”, it is striking that very little theological reflection has been done by evangelicals on the relation of their faith to their “bayan”. This is generally true in both the evangelical seminaries and churches in the Philippines. As one observer puts it: “Do Christians sincerely believe that in prioritizing the concerns of church multiplication, such an approach will automatically solve the problems of their bayan?” And this, to say the least, may initially frame the problematic evangelical view on “faith and bayan”.In response to this, we are happy to announce that a group of evangelical scholars and practitioners have come together precisely to tackle the multidimensional theme of “faith and bayan”. We therefore invite the public to join us in this series of webinars, as our presenters respond to some of the key theological questions and social issues raised in relation to our central theme. We hope that this will spark a sustained conversation, not only among evangelicals, but also among our kababayans.Join us, every Monday of October and November, at 7:30 PM as we come together in conversation to talk about this important issue. We will stream live on the following pages:
Faith and Bayan
KapeTheo
TruthorDare
LAPIS
CrossCurrents Philippines
Bawat Isa Mahalaga
Coalition for Justice