Congratulations to the new sets of officers of the CBCP Council of the Laity of the Philippines (Sangguniang Laiko ng Pilipinas), elected during the 22nd National Biennial Convention on October 22-23, 2021.
The new Board of Trustees will commence their term on January 2022 until December 2023.
The new officers are the following:
Position
Name
Organization
President
Raymond Daniel H. Cruz
Ang Ligaya ng Panginoon
Executive Vice-president
Albert A. Loteyro
Holy Name Society of the Philippines
Vice-president for the Ecclesiastical Province of Manila
Gertrudes E. Bautista
Diocesan Council of the Laity of Pasig
Vice-president for LUZON
Armin F. Ibarra
Diocesan Council of the Laity of Tarlac
Vice-president for VISAYAS
Rene Josef C. Bullecer, MD
Catholic Physician’s Guild of the Philippines
Vice-president for MINDANAO
Atty. Proculo T. Sarmen
Council of Lay Ecclesial Movements & Organizations in the Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro (CLEMOACO)
Secretary
Teodoro G. Santiago
Archdiocesan Council of the Laity of Manila
Treasurer
Conchita M. de la Cruz
Catholic Women’s League
Auditor
Fatima M. Estacio
Diocesan Council of the Laity of Novaliches
P.R.O.
Xavier Padilla
Missionary Families of Christ
Trustee
Fe M. Barino
Cebu Archdiocesan Commission on the Laity
Trustee
Michael Bukuhan
Couples for Christ Global Mission Foundation
Trustee
Edric Marco Florentino
Lord’s Flock Catholic Community
Trustee
Divina Lupe M. Lazaro
Responsible Parenthood & All-Natural Family Planning Network
We, the 210 participants representing the 35 Lay Organizations and Movements (LOMAS) and the 20 Diocesan Councils of the Laity (DCLs) are gathered during the 22nd National Biennial Convention of the Sangguniang Laiko ng Pilipinas held on October 22 & 23, 2021 with the theme: ‘Celebrate as One in 2021 – the Gift of Christianity, the Gift of Mission and the Gift of Unity’ which is aligned to the celebration of the 500th Year of Christianity in the Philippines.
Aware of the restrictions imposed on the mobility of persons and of mass gatherings, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Convention is held online using Zoom as the virtual platform.
1: SOCIO-ECONOMIC
As Catholics, followers of Jesus whose life and example have shown preferential love for the poor and the suffering, we are called to be our sisters’ and brothers’ keeper by living the spirit of solidarity and simple lifestyle. Aware of the devastating socio-economic strains brought about by pandemic/prolonged quarantine restrictions that weigh most heavily on the poor and those in the peripheries of society, we resolve to:
Be stewards of our economy by patronizing Filipino-made products and supporting local on-line businesses
Include an Integral Formation Program in our activities (human, social, civic, spiritual).
Address hunger and malnutrition among children (e.g. by promoting feeding programs and education on nutrition for parents)
Take the initiative to go out of our way and reach out to others to offer a listening presence, companionship and support
2: EDUCATION
The inevitable shift to online-learning due to the pandemic has heightened the existing challenge of the digital divide between the rich and poor population, the urban-rural communities. This was further aggravated by the inadequacy of most parents to provide support and accompaniment to their children as school learning is carried out at home. To strengthen the partnership between the parents/home and the school, we resolve to:
Create a Program of formation and empowerment for parents (family communication and dynamics, discipline, conflict management, mental and emotional health issues.)
Promote networking to strengthen communication and coordination between home and school
Lobby for laws that will expand the digital infrastructure to rural and marginalized areas, and provide access to essential gadgets and affordable internet connection.
3: POLITICAL INVOLVEMENT
The Second Vatican Council asserts that the renewal of the temporal order is the special obligation of the laity. The lamentable political situation of our country, made more pronounced by the immediate and long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, has made it a moral imperative for us as lay faithful to take seriously our mandate to be frontliners in the Church’s mission in society. Heeding the call of our own Bishops urging us to engage in principled partisan politics as part of our mission to renew the temporal order, particularly in view of the forthcoming national elections, we resolve to:
The Sangguniang Laiko ng Pilipinas (Council of the Laity of the Philippines) supports the graft case filed against the Malampaya Stake Sale to Udenna involving Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi and Businessman Dennis Uy.
No less than Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy, said that in the three recent hearings conducted by the Senate, documents coming from the Department of Energy (DOE) itself show that Udenna is not qualified. The DOE, as the records will show, violated P.D. 87 (the law which governs this type of transaction) and its own Circular (DC 2007) as well, and customized its approval to make it appear that Udenna is qualified to buy the shares of Chevron.
We agree with how the complainants describe this sale as the most incredible crony agreement in history. The undue advantage given to Dennis Uy, a known close supporter of President Duterte is horrendously appalling, tantamount to theft of our precious natural resources and putting the country’s energy security at risk.
This 28 Billion Peso deal was arrived at while encountering “insufficient foundation of legal basis”, thereby making the DOE approval invalid and its processes utterly defective.
We call on the Senate of the Republic of the Philippines and the Office of the Ombudsman to exert every effort to protect the interest of the government and of our people.
For the Sangguniang Laiko ng Pilipinas,
ROQUEL A. PONTE National President 28 October 2021
27 OCTOBER 2021 — The plastic crisis’s connection to the climate emergency and environmental justice impacts are undeniable. The cost of the continued dependence by corporations on single-use plastics and planned expansion of plastic production are too high to be ignored.
To ensure the safety of Filipinos and our environment from such impacts, the undersigned environmental, public health and civil society organizations are calling on consumer goods companies such as Nestle, Coca-Cola and Unilever and the plastic industry to urgently phase out single-use plastics packaging and adopt reuse systems.
Plastic is Fueling the Climate Crisis
Almost all plastics are made from fossil fuels.[1] Data from the Greenpeace report, the Climate Emergency Unpacked, and Break Free from Plastic’s 2021 brand audit report, Branded IV, shows that plastic poses a significant threat to the planet and contributes significantly to the climate crisis. Petrochemical corporations have known this connection since the 1980s, but have largely played it down. Every stage of plastic’s life cycle produces greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from fossil fuel exploration and extraction from the ground to its end of life. Plastic production and use was responsible for over 850 million metric tons of GHG emissions in 2019[2].
The synodality of the Church is not just limited to what we do leading to the Synod of Bishops in 2023
Father Amado Picardal October 26, 2021
Pope Francis celebrates Mass at St. Peter’s Cathedral in the Vatican to launch the two-year global consultation process leading to the 2023 synod on synodality on Sunday, October 10, 2021. (Vatican Media Photo)
On Oct. 10, 2021, Pope Francis launched a two-year process of preparation for the 26th Synod of Bishops. The theme of the synod is “Towards a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation and Mission.”
According to the preparatory document:
“Pope Francis invites the entire Church to reflect on a theme that is decisive for its life and mission: It is precisely this path of synodality that God expects of the Church of the Third Millennium.
This journey, which follows in the wake of the Church’s renewal proposed by Vatican II is both a gift and a task: By journeying together and reflecting together on the journey that has been made, the Church will be able to learn her experiences which processes can help her to live in communion, to achieve participation, to open herself to mission.
Our journeying together is, in fact, what most effectively enacts and manifests the nature of the Church as a pilgrim and missionary People of God.”
The process of preparing for the synod is unprecedented because it involves listening not just to the bishops but to members of the Church at the diocesan and regional levels. Instead of the usual top-down approach, what we are witnessing is bottoms-up process. It is more inclusive and participative.
There have been synods since the early period of the Church up to the present (diocesan, regional and world-wide levels). These have been participated in mostly by bishops and other Church leaders. Now the process involves listening to the faithful. It reflects what the Church is called to be – a synodal Church – a community that walks together, that journeys together.
Although the term synodal Church appears to be neologism – a new way referring to the Church – it is by no means a new vision of the Church or the latest ecclesiology. It is actually based on the vision of a renewed Church promoted by Vatican II that can be summed up as the Church as Communion and People of God, filled with the Holy Spirit, participating in Christ’s mission as priest, prophet and king (servant).
Hence, the “synodal Church” cannot be taken in isolation or separate from “communion, participation and mission.”
A deeper understanding of what it means to be Church as communion that actively participate in Christ’s mission as a priestly, prophetic and kingly people is needed as well as an assessment on how we have lived this ecclesiological vision over the last half a century.
Then we search for how we continue to live this in new ways now and in the decades to come especially amidst the pandemic and climate change.
Let us remember that we live in the shadow of Vatican II and its reception and implementation is a continuing process.
A synodal Church is the pilgrim community of Christ’s disciples who live in communion and actively participate in Christ’s mission as a prophetic, priestly and kingly/servant mission.
This is the proper context for discerning, deciding and acting together as a Christian Community at all levels – from the local, regional, universal levels. It is all about living in communion, it is all about participation in mission not just governance. It is both relationship-oriented as well as mission-oriented. It is action oriented, not just a matter of talking and discussing.
The process is important but so also is the outcome. The synodality of the Church is not just limited to what we do leading to the Synod of Bishops in 2023. It is not just coming up with new, inspiring document that would be forgotten after the synod. It is a continuing journey of making the Vatican II vision of a renewed Church a reality in our life and for the coming generation.
What is the ecclesiological vision of the Synodal Church and how do we live it?
Tomorrow: The Church as a Pilgrim People
Father Amado Picardal is a Filipino Redemptorist priest who holds a doctorate in theology from the Gregorian University in Rome. He has lived a life of solitude as a hermit after an active life as missionary, professor, promoter of Basic Ecclesial Communities, and peace and human rights advocate. He is currently executive co-secretary of the Commission for Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation in Rome.
As global warming brings increasingly extreme weather, people in the province of Albay fear that “nowhere is safe”
Agence France Presse October 26, 2021
Displaced residents of the town of Tiwi in Albay province watch over their devastated houses on Nov. 3. (Photo by Vincent Go)
A year after a powerful storm sent an avalanche of volcanic rock and sand crashing down, burying her house, Philippine food vendor Florivic Baldoza still lives in an evacuation centre.
As global warming brings increasingly extreme weather, she now fears “nowhere is safe.”
Hundreds of families from poor villages around Mayon volcano in Albay province on the country’s most populous island of Luzon are waiting for new homes after Typhoon Goni pounded the region last November.
“That’s the strongest I’ve ever experienced,” Baldoza, 40, told AFP, standing on a mound of dark sand that now covers the house she once shared with her husband and two teenage daughters.
Several hundred thousand people fled as Goni barrelled towards the archipelago nation — ranked as one of the world’s most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
But some residents in San Francisco village — including Baldoza’s family — ignored warnings to shelter in a school, confident a river dike built several years ago would protect them from flooding.
As the most powerful typhoon to hit the country last year dumped heavy rain on an area still sodden from another cyclone a week earlier, Baldoza realised her family was in peril when water began cascading over the several metres high cement wall.
They bolted to her mother’s house across the road as a devastating mix of water, volcanic sand and boulders smashed the dike further upstream and tore through the village.
“We were trapped inside the house,” Baldoza told AFP. “We were crying, my husband was separated from us — we thought he was dead.”
Lucky to be alive, but trapped in deep mud, Baldoza and eight relatives, including children, twisted their bodies from side to side to escape, then climbed out a window and up on to the roof.
Her husband, Alexander, survived by scrambling up a mango tree.
Holding on to a powerline to avoid being blown away by fierce winds, the family clambered over the top of several houses before reaching a taller building.
“Our house was being hit by boulders, but we couldn’t do anything,” said Baldoza, who watched helplessly as the torrent swept away the family’s motorised tricycle and motorbike.
“If we hadn’t left our house, we would have died.”
The iconic Mayon Volcano in the province of Albay, south of Manila, is seen from a distance in Tiwi town, which was devastated by Super Typhoon Rolly on Nov. 1. (Photo by Vincent Go)
‘Disaster capital’
It is not the first time excessive rain has forced Baldoza to relocate.
About 23 years ago, before Baldoza got married, her mother sold their house in a flood-prone area of the same village and moved the family to higher ground.
“We didn’t expect that we would experience the same thing,” Baldoza said.
Anger after govt allowed people to flock to a Manila beach but banned Catholics from marking All Souls celebrations
Joseph Peter CallejaJoseph Peter Calleja, Manila Published: October 26, 2021
People troop to the Manila Baywalk Dolomite Beach along Roxas Boulevard in Manila after authorities eased its quarantine restrictions in the nation’s capital. (Photo; AFP)
Church people in the Philippines have blasted a decision to allow people to flock to an artificial beach in Manila while banning Catholics from marking All Saints and All Souls celebrations from Oct. 29 to Nov. 3.
Father Aris Sison of St. John Paul II Parish in Quezon City and Divine Word Father Flavie Villanueva said the decision to allow thousands to flock to Dolomite Beach in Manila Bay at the weekend flouted the government’s social distancing rules.
More than 4,000 people visited the artificial beach, according to officials.
The priests questioned why this was allowed when All Saints and All Souls celebrations, where people head to cemeteries to honor departed loved ones, were banned.
Father Sison said the government should at least provide some consistency when making decisions on mass gatherings.
“These decisions are very, very inconsistent, to say the least,” Father Sison told TeleRadyo on Oct. 25, stopping short of accusing the government of hypocrisy.
Which is more important? Our deep religious tradition of visiting our departed loved ones or visiting a fake beach?
“The government could have allowed limited movement in the cemeteries rather than allowing thousands of people to flock to Dolomite Beach,” he added.
He said he could not understand why the government banned traditional memorial days for the dead but allowed a super spreader event like a day at the beach to go ahead.
“Which is more important? Our deep religious tradition of visiting our departed loved ones or visiting a fake beach?” he said.
Father Flavie Villanueva, director of the Arnold Janssen Kalinga Center, a foundation that feeds Manila’s homeless, also condemned what he said were double standards by the government.
“We encourage people to visit a … beach. But we forbid them to visit our beloved dead,” Father Villanueva, a staunch critic of President Rodrigo Duterte, posted on Facebook.
The government, although admitting to opening the beach, said it did not expect so many people to descend on it.
“Crowding could become a Covid-19 super spreader. We urge everyone to exercise extreme caution,” Health Department spokesperson Dr. Maria Rosario Vergeire said.
Duterte’s spokesman reminded people that they should avoid crowded places. “There is still an ongoing pandemic. Minors are only allowed outside when absolutely necessary, so should not be visiting beaches,” Harry Roque said.
Nuns among thousands in vehicle parades across country in show of support for presidential bid
Joseph Peter Calleja, Manila October 25, 2021
A nun gives out medals during a ‘pink caravan’ in support of Leni Robredo’s bid for the Philippine presidency in Manila on Oct. 23. (Photo: Eleanor Llanes)
Thousands of Leni Robredo supporters took to their vehicles to stage simultaneous processions across the Philippines on Oct. 23 to show support for the vice president’s bid for the top office in presidential polls next year.
All supporters wore pink, a color that has been adopted by Robredo and her supporters as a symbol of hope for new and better governance.
Robredo’s team said there were about 10,000 vehicles in the motorcades dubbed as “pink caravans” to sow hope among the people.
At least 50 vehicles paraded in Davao City in Mindanao, the hometown of President Rodrigo Duterte.
Among those who also turned out at various locations were nuns from several congregations, some of whom waved pink flags and wore aprons. Others distributed religious medals with pink ribbons while wearing pink masks.
Sorsogon priest Father Emmanuel Afable explained the meaning of pink in the liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church.
So, if the sisters wore pink, it was to symbolize hope. They are fighting for hope and the joy it brings to society
“Pink means hope. Like on Gaudete Sunday, the third Sunday of Easter. During Lent, the fourth Sunday is called Laetare and speaks of joy that we should possess,” Father Afable told UCA News.
“So, if the sisters wore pink, it was to symbolize hope. They are fighting for hope and the joy it brings to society.”
Manila parishioner Ruby Vasquez said in a Facebook post: “Although clergymen and nuns cannot engage in partisan politics, they can voice support for good governance, oppose killings and corruption. These are clear moral problems that we are facing now as a people.”
Robredo later thanked her supporters for organizing the event.
“I was not expecting that this many would participate. Looking at the photos, it seems that every location has a different gimmick but one in advocacy — hope,” she said.
Recent polls have Robredo ranking second behind Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, son of the late strongman President Ferdinand Marcos, among the presidential candidates.
