Year: 2023

Introducing lessons on topics like same-sex unions is not only anti-Bible but against Philippine law, they argue

By UCA News reporter
May 05, 2023 05:24 AM GMT

Philippine Christian groups, including a youth organization, have voiced their opposition to the introduction of topics like same-sex unions and gender discrimination in the draft curriculum for 10th-grade students.

The recent proposal to include lessons on topics like gender discrimination, rights and experiences of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) community by the Department of Education was contrary to the “morals and public customs” of Filipino people, they argued.

“Our youth is not yet ready for such topics, which challenge the Christian-dominated culture of the Philippine nation. It remains contrary to law, good customs, morals, and public policy,” Michael Israel, president of the Catholic Youth for Christ told UCA News on May 4.

Israel said the education department cannot surpass Congress on an issue that has not yet been legalized in the country, where same-sex unions, either in the form of marriage or civil unions, are not yet legally recognized.

“Even the president [Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.] said the country is not yet ready for that piece of legislation. Then, why is the topic being included in the curriculum?” he asked.

In 2019, a group of gay rights advocates questioned the constitutionality of the definition of marriage under Philippine law as a “union between male and female.”

“Same-sex marriage is slowly creeping under our nose into the very curriculum of our basic education”

The group claimed that such a definition restricted same-sex unions, contrary to the constitution that offered no “gender-based” definition of marriage.

“Our constitution did not say that marriage should be a union between male and female. It only says that marriage is the foundation of society … neither does it define spouses as male and female,” gay rights advocate Carlo Libiran told UCA News.

Christian groups, however, said the courts should intervene to determine if the education department indeed exceeded its mandate by including “illegal topics” in mainstream education.

“We are shocked to discover that the promotion of gender ideology, same-sex unions and same-sex marriage is slowly creeping under our nose into the very curriculum of our basic education. What is more worrying is the slant towards promoting and condoning such practices in the minds of our young students,” Christian pastor and lawmaker Brother Eddie Villanueva said in a statement.

Villanueva said the education department’s decision was not only anti-Bible but against Philippine law.

“Not only is this anti-God but also clearly unconstitutional. Section 13, Article II of the constitution mandates that the state shall promote the moral and spiritual well-being of our youth. I do not see that the introduction of these topics into our basic education curriculum is heading in the right direction,” he added.

“It seeks to provide learners with a broader understanding of gender-based issues”

The Department of Education though claimed that the topic of same-sex unions has been in the curriculum since 2013.

“It seeks to provide learners with a broader understanding of gender-based issues, encourage respect within the community, and promote inclusivity,” it said in a statement on May 3.

The education department, however, said it would gather and consider all opinions before finalizing the curriculum.

The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines said the new curriculum could hurt academic freedom among Catholic schools and universities.

“Academic freedom has always been the right of every academic institution to determine who may teach; what may be taught; how it shall be taught; and who may be admitted to study. This raises doubts in our academic freedom as a Catholic institution,” the Episcopal Commission on Catechesis and Catholic Education executive secretary Father Ernesto De Leon told UCA News.

Various groups have raised alarm over the high volume of fossil fuel and toxic cargo-carrying vessels allowed to ply critically biodiverse seas

LiCAS News
May 9, 2023

Communities living along the Verde Island Passage (VIP) in the Philippines, the world’s most critical marine biodiversity center, called for a ban on all tankers carrying toxic cargo to avoid risks of tragedies similar to the ongoing oil spill.

The call was made as the House of Representatives’ Committee on Ecology and Committee on Natural Resources held a hearing in aid of legislation in relation to the oil spill caused by the February 28 sinking of the fuel tanker MT Princess Empress.

“We’re disappointed that even as it took two long months before congress called for another investigation, there appears to be no significant progress in exacting justice for affected communities and biodiversity,” said Gerry Arances, executive director of think-tank Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development (CEED).

He said coordination among various government and responsible actors “still proves to be severely lacking.”

“The complexity of responses necessary in the aftermath of a disaster of this scale shows that we should not allow such incidents to happen in the first place,” said Arances.

He said tankers carrying toxic cargo such as industrial oil and other fossil fuels should be banned from coursing through the VIP.

Various groups have raised alarm over the high volume of fossil fuel and toxic cargo-carrying vessels allowed to ply critically biodiverse seas, especially the marine-significant Verde Island Passage.

Fisherfolk group representatives who attended the hearing lamented the “insufficient and problematic responses” made for communities impacted by the oil spill.

“It is disheartening to see the finger-pointing,” said Dindo Melaya, convenor of oil spill-impacted fisherfolk coalition Koalisyon ng Mangingisdang Apektado ng Oil Spill.

Arances said government agencies and members of Congress can go on with the “blame game … but there will be no justice if the polluters that caused this ecological disaster are allowed to play truant.”

“We sincerely hope that our government will deliver the punitive actions these companies deserve, including the compensation they owe to communities whose livelihood they robbed and whose welfare they harmed,” he said.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources on Tuesday, May 9, joined five provincial governments to press for a law that will make the VIP a protected area.

Environment Secretary Antonia Loyzaga said that while the VIP is currently classified as a marine protected area, governors from surrounding provinces want it to be protected and covered by legislation.

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Say shootings are being labeled deaths by natural causes, claim harassment amid the backdrop of an ICC probe

UCA News reporter
May 09, 2023 06:59 AM GMT

Families of victims of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s controversial war on drugs claim they are being harassed by state operatives in order to cover up how their loved ones met their deaths.

The claims come amid an International Criminal Court probe into thousands of deaths attributed to Duterte’s anti-drug campaign.   

Lourdes de Juan, 41, widow of Constantino de Juan, said several men claiming to be members of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) were putting pressure on her after an independent forensic pathologist examined her husband’s remains.

De Juan said she was visited by the NBI officials at least three times at her house in a slum in Quezon City, in the capital Manila, where her husband was shot and killed by masked men in 2016 while cooking pasta for the birthday of one of their seven children. Two of the children witnessed the killing.

“Their visits were in relation to a subpoena I received last January, asking me to appear at the NBI office,” she told UCA News.

In March this year, the ICC rejected Philippine government appeal to suspend a probe into the war on drugs, started by Duterte when he came to power in 2016. Official figures put the death toll at 6,500 but rights groups like Human Rights Watch claim the tally is much higher, with some estimates putting the toll at more than 30,000.

Sara Duterte, daughter of the former president, serves as vice president in the government of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and the Marcoses and the Dutertes are known political allies.

De Juan said she has an idea why government operatives have contacted her.

“They [NBI] knew I allowed a forensic pathologist to examine my husband’s remains and the result was that he did not die due to natural causes as certified on the official death certificate but due to a bullet wound to his head,” she said.

The crime scene report stated that her husband died due to three bullet wounds and the certificate was attested by a physician from East Avenue Medical Center in Quezon City.

But when the Philippines Statistics Authority issued the official death certificate, the 36-year-old’s cause of death was due to natural causes.

“This is completely false because my husband died because he was shot,” de Juan said.

Aided by anti-drug war activist and Society of Divine Word priest Father Flavie Villanueva, an independent forensic pathologist exhumed her husband’s remains on Dec. 8, 2021.

“He [De Juan] was reportedly pronounced dead and the case was certified as ‘three bullets due to gunshot’. On the Philippine Statistics Authority death certificate, however, a private physician signed the cause of death as ‘acute myocardial infarction [due to hypertension],” forensic pathologist Dr. Raquel Fortun wrote in her report.

Locals seek security inside Catholic churches and government schools in the Mindanao region

By UCA News reporter
Published: May 03, 2023 11:21 AM GMT

Hundreds of villagers rushed to take refuge in Catholic churches and government schools as the Philippine army launched air strikes on suspected hideouts of an Islamic State (IS)-linked terrorist group in the marshlands of Maguindanao province in Mindanao region.

The Archdiocese of Cotabato reported more than 200 families fled the villages of Magaslong and Datu Piang for safety as mortar shells began pounding the Dawlah Islamiya hiding places in the region on May 2.

Members of the terrorist group were spotted consolidating forces in huts in the local community of Magaslong, Datu Piang, Maguindanao del Sur, Brigadier General Oriel Pangcog said at a press conference.

“We wasted no time, we immediately launched the attack considering the suspects were not in a village or community where civilians could be killed,” Pangcog added.

Artillery bombs were fired from 3 a.m. until 12 noon forcing the villagers to flee in a desperate bid to avoid getting caught in the crossfire or becoming human shields.

“Government forces are running after the terrorists because of the bus bombing in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat that hurt six people. They were also former members of the radical Maute group that lay a siege to Marawi in Lanao del Sur province to establish a caliphate,” Pangcog said.

“From very early in the morning, we could hear helicopters and artillery fires. Our children won’t stop crying because they could hear the explosions and gunfire from the other side of the field,” Susan Guinigundo, a mother of five in Maguindanao, told UCA News.

Guinigundo, a lector at St. Therese of the Child Jesus Parish, in Datu Piang, abandoned her house and fled with her children.

“We didn’t know what to expect. What if those Islamic fighters use us as human shields? We need to protect ourselves by leaving our homes,” Guinigundo said.

Another family said they had requested their relatives from a nearby village to pick them up in a dump truck.

“We follow a protocol in the family. My cousin who owns the truck is supposed to help rescue us in an emergency situation like this,” Miguel Bastardo, a 46-year-old farmer told UCA News.

Cotabato archdiocesan Father Clifford Baira told UCA News that the situation on the ground was “very difficult” and 43 Catholic families were sheltered in parishes across the region.

“Most of them are with children so we are collecting milk and other items for their proper nutrition,” Baira added.

The archdiocesan Social Action Center had tried negotiating with the families and relatives of Dawlah Islamiya members in 2019 but the meetings failed due to “religious differences.”

“They think we Catholics are infidels and so need to be converted or brushed aside by violence. If this is the case, there is very little room for peace and communication,” the priest said.

Lieutenant Colonel Dennis Amorato, a spokesperson of the army’s 6th Infantry Division, told the media on May 2 that the operation was a “pre-emptive action before the group could launch another terrorist attack.”

“We made sure that there would be no collateral damage but of course, we could not prevent residents from rushing to evacuation centers because of the impact of the shelling,” he said.

Amorato said government forces were not sure of the number of terrorists killed, but said the snipers were still hiding in the marshlands.

“We cannot go near the area yet because shots are still being fired at us. Perhaps after a day or two we will conduct our own surveillance and go near the area,” Amorato added.

The Philippines is the world’s third-largest contributor to plastic waste, World Bank says

By UCA News reporter
Published: May 02, 2023 11:42 AM GMT

Residents in a Philippine province collected thousands of kilograms of plastics from the streets and water bodies and exchanged those for rice from the local government as part of a campaign to tackle pollution.

The pilot campaign ran in Zamboanga province in the Mindanao region throughout April and will be replicated in other provinces struggling to contain plastic contamination, said an official from the Office of City Environment and Natural Resources (OCENR) in Zamboanga City.

The agency director Marigold Aranza told UCA News on May 1 that in the past various campaigns to tackle plastic pollution failed but the latest one became successful.

Aranza said residents received one kilogram of rice for every two kilograms of plastics.

A total of 2,084 kilos of rice were traded to residents in Zamboanga over plastic bags and containers during the “Plastic for Rice” campaign, she said.

Aranza said they asked residents to deposit plastics instead of burning and throwing those into the sea.

Zamboanga City mayor John Dalipe said the program came as they found plastic pollution was on the rise in the region.

“We started in four to five barangays [local communities] along the coastlines. We noticed the increase of floating plastic containers at sea so we thought of a program on how to reduce them. A perfect plan would be to incentivize recycling,” Dalipe said in a press conference on May 1.

Dalipe said altogether a total of 4,144 kilos of plastic bags, not counting plastic containers, were freely given by locals.

“They gave more plastic containers which means the project worked. Some of them just wanted to get rid of their trash,” Dalipe added.

The OCENR Zamboanga chapter chairman Wilmer Cruz told UCA News that local villagers were first hesitant about the sustainability of the project because they did not know the organizers.

“They thought we were a scam… the idea sounds really odd – exchanging plastics for rice. It’s like exchanging trash for food. Who really does that?” he said.

“But when the local government through the Office of the City Mayor introduced us formally to the people, we slowly gained local support,” he added.

Families who participated in the program claimed they were encouraged to gather more plastics to have more kilos of rice to be brought home.

“We have become more conscious not only of what we throw but of what is in the garbage bin. We have slowly realized there is something good in the trash, so we went to other nearby villages to look for plastics so we can exchange them, too, for rice,” fisherman Rodel Enverga, 36, told UCA News.

Some residents went to grocery stores and gasoline stations to collect plastics.

“I know a grocery store here that throws a lot of plastics… even gasoline stations. So, I go there every other day to collect their trash and bring them home so I can exchange them for rice. Not only our bellies are full, but we also help the environment,” Nelly Cervantes, 41, a mother of two, told UCA News.

Cervantes claimed business owners who knew about the project later on sorted the plastics because they knew it meant food for the poor living province’s coastlines.

“They [business owners] instructed their keepers to segregate the plastic for us. Before, they all mixed them together. But now, they have learned to segregate because every kilo meant food for us,” Cervantes added.

The World Bank reported in 2021 that the Philippines is the third-largest contributor of plastic waste in the world, contributing to an estimated 0.75 million metric tons of ocean plastic every year.

“Dubbed as the ‘sachet economy,’ the Philippines is notorious for irresponsible trash haulers and open dump sites that cause the plastic to spill into the seas,” the report said.