Category: Documents

17 November 2018
FOR: The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines
and All Archdiocesan / Diocesan PPCRV Coordinators

Your Excellencies, our Cherished Bishops,
and Beloved PPCRV Coordinators,

Warm greetings.

I am very happy to let you know that after some months of a vacuum in leadership in the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), and a tenacious search for new leaders, with God’s grace, I can now announce that we have a new and dynamic PPCRV leadership, the composition of which is as follows:

BOARD OF TRUSTEES
16 Nov 2018 to 31 Oct 2022

1. Ms. Myla C. Villanueva National Chairperson
2. Mr. Johnny O.R. Cardenas Vice Chairman-Internal Affairs
3. Atty. Jose Victor Emmanuel De DiosCo-Vice Chairman-Internal Affairs & Finance Committee
4. Mr. Henry Dizon Antonio Vice Chairman-External Affairs & Finance Committee
5. Atty. Christian Robert S. Lim Co-Vice Chairman-External Affairs & IT Committee
6. Ms. Ma. Theresa G. Curia Treasurer
7. Atty. Henry R. Aguda Trustee & IT Committee
8. Atty. Rene Banez Trustee & Finance Committee
9. Mr. Rommel P. Bernardo Trustee & IT Committee
10. Mr. Paolo Roberto Domondon Trustee & Voters Education Committee
11. Mr. Dioscoro V. Ochangco, Jr. Trustee & Voters Education Committee
12. Dr. Arwin A. Serrano Trustee & Voters Education Committee
13. Dr. William Emmanuel S. Yu Trustee & IT Committee  

Archbishop Rolando J. Tria Tirona
National Spiritual Director
Amb. Henrietta T. de Villa
Chairperson Emeritus
Executive Director: Ms. Ma. Isabel “Maribel” Buenaobra

Further, it fills my heart to note that our new PPCRV Team since noontime Friday 16 Nov 2018, right after I presented them to Comelec, our partners and media, they literally “hit the ground running”. Preparations for the NLE 2019, including the BOL Plebiscite on 21 Jan 2019 are now going full steam ahead. Some of the plans they are putting on the drawing board are:  updating ICT of PPCRV, especially engaging in social media, upgrading Voters Ed to include digital format of OGV module, developing new modes of youth involvement, systematizing collaboration with Comelec & election partners, new impetus against vote buying & selling, as well as heightened advocacy against fake news, etc. O, their ideas and passion are so contagious.

All I asked of them:

No to Kaliwa Dam, Yes to Alternative Sources of Water

“In the heart of this world, the Lord of life, who loves us so much, is always present. He does not abandon us, he does not leave us alone, for he has united himself definitively to our earth, and his love constantly (He) impels us to find new ways forward. Praise be to him!” (Laudato Si, 245)

Our country has been blessed by God with an abundance of natural resources especially water, but for many factors, we are now faced with the concrete reality of managing our water especially for the next generation.

After listening to the strong opposition to the construction of the New Centennial Water Source Kaliwa Dam Project, we too express our opposition to the said project and strongly recommend to look for alternative sources to the Kaliwa Dam for the following reasons:

1. It will inundate the ancestral domain of the Dumagat-Remontados, uprooting them from the Sierra Madre where their ancestors lived for centuries enjoying a symbiotic relationship with the earth like the children to their mother. Undeniably, until now the indigenous people have not given an FPIC (Free Prior and Informed Consent) to the Kaliwa dam project as required by R.A. 8371.
2. Kaliwa dam to be constructed over the Infanta Fault (It) will be a “sword hanging over the head” of 100,000 people living downstream the Kaliwa River. Etched in their memory is the 2004 flash flood that left 1,000 killed and over million worth of properties destroyed.
3. Climate change and its ill-effects are the ‘new normal’ that could no longer be ignored yet we do not know of any study made on climate and the Kaliwa dam. The ambivalent nature of climate change can cause random and sudden flooding. Japan with its highly advanced technology was devastated by the earthquake in 2011. The catastrophic collapse of the dam in Laos last July 25, 2018 has a message to all of us.
4. Global warming was 0.8 degree centigrade when Yolanda struck us with 315 kph winds. This year we have reached 1 degree centigrade. How much rainfall can this dam hold when another Yolanda comes in Quezon? About the landslides?
5. NEDA has kept the data on Kaliwa dam secret with the word “confidential” despite the much publicized Freedom of Information E.O. No. 2, series of 2016.
6. This project which is connected with the Laiban dam has been in the pipeline for 30 years, yet until now it does not even have the necessary Environment Compliance Certificate (ECC) as mandated by R.A. 7586. 

In 2000 the World Commission on Dams (WCM) mandated by the World Bank and the World Conservation Union (IUCN) reported that while “dams have made an important and significant contribution to human development, and benefits derived from them have been considerable… in too many cases an unacceptable and often unnecessary price has been paid to secure those benefits, especially in social and environmental terms, by people displaced, by communities downstream, by taxpayers and by the natural environment.”

Angat and IPO dams supply Metro Manila with 4,000 MLD of water but a big percentage of this is lost due to leaks. With the P18 Billion budget for constructing Kaliwa Dam, there can be alternative sources of water, many of which are being advocated now:

1. Launch a massive education campaign to convince the 13 million Metro Manila residents to learn “water management”. This would reduce water consumption significantly. This could be bad news for business but best for the environment.
2. Harvest rain water which flood us perennially and implement the pertinent provision of the National Building Code of the Philippines (RA 1096).
3. Fast track the recovery of the NRW (non-revenue water) through fixing leaks;
4. Rehabilitate the Pasig-Laguna River Basin which would cost only P13 Billion (estimated by Dr. Esteban Godilano, an environmental scientist).
5. Adopt the Singapore New Water technology which treats wastewater to become potable.
6. And most importantly, protect and expand our dwindling forests that serves as our largest watershed and these would refill our underground aquifers which are now over extracted. 

All of us – government and the people – have to work together to resolve our water issues. Hence as pastors of the faithful we

1. Support a transparent dialogue with MWSS and NEDA and the stakeholders of the Kaliwa dam making available all the pertinent documents;
2. Support the initiative in Congress and Senate to make an inquiry into the Kaliwa Dam; and
3. Encourage all to “rethink how to use water” in terms of the demand-side and consumption and protect our environment.
   

World Commission on Dams sees that “the future for water and energy resources development lies with participatory decision-making, using a rights-and-risks approach that will raise the importance of the social and environmental dimensions of dams to a level once reserved for the economic dimension.”

Pope Francis warns that: “Caring for the ecosystems demands farsightedness, since no one looking for quick and easy profit is truly interested in their preservation.” (Laudato Si #36)

For the Clergy of the Diocese of Infanta: 
Sgd.: +Bishop Bernardino Cortez, D.D.
With the support of the bishops in the Philippines and the Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines. 

Who is Being Manipulated by His Advisers to Sign the Contract for the Kaliwa Dam Project with Chinese President Xi Jinping on November 11,2018

Dear Mr. President:
If you really care for our country, you will NOT SIGN the Agreement FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE KALIWA DAM for the following COMPELLING reasons:

  1.    IT WILL PLACE 100,000 LIVES IN DANGER.

While Manila is now preparing for the Big One earthquake of the Marikina West Valley Fault, the proposed 60-meter Kaliwa Dam will be constructed within a zone of two active tectonics represented by the Philippine Fault Zone and the Valley Fault System. Particularly the Kaliwa Dam site is located only 7-8km distant from the Philippine Fault Zone (Infanta Fault). In case an active fault passes nearby the proposed dam site, two major problems can occur and will greatly affect in the design of the proposed structures, namely: 1.) seismicity caused by the earthquakes occurring in active fault zone; and 2.) deformation in dam-foundation caused by the movement of active faults. Most of the proposed dam sites would be subject to high peak acceleration and are exposed to generally high degree of seismicity. Along the Philippine Fault where many large-scale earthquakes were recorded in the past and the relative movement of 6 cm was observed in the period of 1991 to 1993. Therefore, it can be said that the Philippine Fault Zone has a potential to cause very high seismic activity, as what have been recorded in the July 18, 1880 earthquake where the old churches of Infanta, Mauban (both in Quezon province) and Manila Cathedral were devastated.(Page 3-11 of the The 2003 results of JICA study “The Study on Water Resources Development for Metro Manila in the Republic of the Philippines”). ”Even with its best technology, Japan was caught flat-footed with its 2011 earthquake”.

2.   IT VIOLATES THE LAW.

To sign the bilateral loan agreement thru ODA for the Kaliwa Dam Project would essentially violate R.A. 8371 and R.A. 7586. Up until now there is no Free, Prior and Informed Consent ever given by the Dumagat-Remontados for this construction as required by R. A. 8371. Neither has there been an Environmental Compliance Certificate as required by R.A. 7586 and yet your advisers have scheduled the signing on November 11, 2018.

3.   IT IS A DEBT TRAP.

By refusing to be transparent on the Kaliwa Dam by NEDA, despite your Freedom of Information (E.O.# 2), your advisers have effectively prevented a solidly based scientific study of the Dam. For all their rhetorics your advisers are paving the way to a debt trap. They are simply duplicating Sri Lanka’s Hambantota airport and seaport experience during the dictatorship of Mahinda Rajapaksa. Both airport and seaport became liabilities so much so that Sri Lanka had to lease the seaport for 99 years. Malaysia’s newly elected Mahatir has cancelled projects with China to avoid being trapped.

4.   IT IGNORES THE IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE.

The collapse of the dams in Vietnam and in Mayanmar a few months ago, the Itogon tragedy, the landslide in Naga, Cebu City and the most current incident in Natonin town, Mountain Province are enough signs that the impact of climate change can no longer be ignored. These should teach the Philippines to listen to the recommendation of the World Commission on Dams not to build big dams anymore.

5.   THE PHILIPPINES IS FLOODED WITH RAIN WATER. PROMOTE THE FORESTS, NOT DAM PROJECTS.

The proposed NCWS – Kaliwa Dam Project will inundate 291 has. of forest from the total 9,800 has. in Infanta Kaliwa Watershed, including the sacred site of Dumagat-Remontado in the areas of Tinipak in Brgry. Daraitan, Tanay, Rizal. Kaliwa Dam also plans to get 600 MLD (Million Liters per Day) of water in the Kaliwa river thru embarkment dam of 60 meters high, transported via conveyance tunnel with 4 meters in diameter to Tanay & Antipolo Water Treatment Plants. This will greatly affect irrigation system that sustainably supports Infanta rice granary and it will dry up aquifers supplying ground-water source for Infanta Quezon Water District (IQWD) servicing its populace.

Construction of Big Dams are not the only answer to the impending water crisis in Metro Manila, there are many other sustainable options. Why not fund the protection and rehabilitation of our degraded watersheds and existing dams, and not the construction of another big dams – it is good news for the environment and can save us from global warming, but bad news for the investors who only want profits at the expense of massive deforestation and community dislocations. The government can also mandate rain water collection modules and water conservation measures, especially for the households and big subdivisions / condominiums, as well as companies, industries, factories and hotel operators within the Metro Manila, instead of spending billions for dams without the assurance of success.

November 7-9, 2018, Cebu City

We, church leaders from various denominations and diverse Christian traditions from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, gathered to reflect and discern our ways forward to attain peace based on justice in our country.

We gathered driven by our faith in God and in our belief that peace is possible. Our coming together is deliberate because of the status of the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations. President Duterte cancelled the fifth round of formal talks last June 2018, formally terminated the peace talks and subsequently declared the Communist Party of the Philippines – New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) as a “terror organization”.

The situation has turned for the worse. Several peace consultants of the NDFP were arrested, and just yesterday, Mr. Vicente Ladlad was also arrested. There were also significant increases in armed encounters between the Philippine military and the New People’s Army (NPA) and alarming reports of an increase in violations of human rights and international humanitarian law that have mostly affected civilians. During our Summit, we learned of the killing of Atty. Ben Ramos, a well-known human rights lawyer in Negros Occidental and just two weeks after the killing of the Sagay 9. We are very much concerned and alarmed by these reports because of our conviction that respect for human rights and human dignity is a basic condition of peace.

There was a bright prospect when the formal peace talks resumed in earnest in 2016 after four years of impasse. Through the third party facilitation of the Royal Norwegian Government, four successful rounds of formal talks were held in 2016 and 2017.

We are thus saddened that the cancellation of the formal peace talks has aborted the signing of an interim peace agreement consisting of a general amnesty for NDFP-listed political prisoners, agrarian reform and rural development as well as national industrialization and economic development agreements and a coordinated unilateral ceasefire. These would have addressed the root causes of the armed conflict – the long-standing issues of poverty, landlessness and inequality in the country.
We affirm our belief that peace is possible through principled dialogue. The talks are still the most viable option to attain a just and enduring peace in the country. A survey by Pulse Asia this year found 74% of Filipinos are aware of the GRP-NDFP peace talks. Of those who are aware, nearly 80% believe that peace talks can end the hostilities between the warring forces.

On this 7th Ecumenical Church Leaders’ Summit on Peace, we continue to call on the GRP and the NDFP to:

The Philippine Movement for Transformational Leadership (PMTL) a coalition of faith-based organizations, together with Sangguniang Laiko ng Pilipinas and People’s Choice Movement have put together the main arguments why charter change and federalism should be rejected.  Below are the infographics from a presentation that can be used in a public forum. A link to a leaflet that can be reproduced for distribution is included here:  Arguments Against ChaCha and Federalism in English and Arguments Against ChaCha and Federalism in Filipino, 

The following appeal is issued by the Church leaders of the continental groupings of episcopal conferences. It is addressed to government leaders and representatives and it calls on them to work towards an ambitious implementation of the Paris Agreement for the people and the planet. In particular, we ask for a COP24 Summit (Katowice, Poland, December 2018) able to prove a milestone on the path set out in 2015 in Paris.

Faced with the growing urgency of the current ecological and social crisis, building on and inspired by the work done on the ground over the past three years by so many courageous actors around the world – within the Catholic Church and beyond – to promote and “live” the messages carried by the Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’ , we call for ambitious and immediate action to be taken in order to tackle and overcome the devastating effects of the climate crisis. These actions need to be taken by the international community at all levels: by persons, communities, cities, regions, nations.

We have heard “the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor”. We have listened to the call of the Holy Father, Pope Francis, and we stand in solidarity with our Brother Bishops who have already taken stances against the limitless and dangerous use and exploitation of our Mother Earth’s resources, as well as our current models of development, supported by financial institutions and systems that put life, community, solidarity, and well-being on earth after profit, wealth and unbridled growth. We must be prepared to make rapid and radical changes (LS171) and resist the temptation to look for solutions to our current situation in short-term technological fixes without addressing the root causes and the long-term consequences.
Our call is based on the following principles:

• Urgency: “Time is a luxury we do not have” . There is a growing awareness in the public opinion, also thanks to scientific research and data, that there is no time to waste and we want to bring that urgency into concrete plans aiming to move towards a fair share of resources and responsibilities, where the big emitters take political accountability and meet their climate finance commitments. “We can see signs that things are now reaching a breaking point, due to the rapid pace of change and degradation” (LS 61).
• Intergenerational justice: “Young people demand change” (LS, 13). Their future is in grave danger and our generation is not doing enough to leave them a healthy planet. Being so short-sighted is an unacceptable injustice. “Consequently, intergenerational solidarity is not optional, but rather a basic question of justice, since the world we have received also belongs to those who will follow us” (LS 159).
• Human dignity and rights, in particular of the most vulnerable, must always be at the center of the climate agenda. In implementing the Paris Agreement, human rights must be effectively protected, respected and upheld both in national policies and on the ground. Governments should show their efforts in this sense in their Nationally Determined Contributions and in their funding choices for adaptation and resilience.

And therefore we demand policies that include and acknowledge the following calls and elements:

• 1.5°C to stay alive: We have a moral duty to keep global warming to “well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels”, as agreed by governments in the Paris Agreement. Pope Francis: As we know, everyone is affected by the climate crisis. Yet the effects of climate change are not evenly distributed. It is the poor who suffer most from the ravages of global warming […] Many of those who can least afford it are already being forced to leave their homes and migrate to other places that may or may not prove welcoming . Many millions of migrants will follow. A fair and just ecological transition, as required by the Paris Agreement, is a matter of life or death for vulnerable countries and people living in coastal areas.
• We need a deep and durable shift towards sustainable lifestyles and bold political choices that could back those efforts to address overconsumption and drastically cut ecological footprints at individual and community levels . “All these actions presuppose a transformation on a deeper level, namely a change of hearts and minds” .
• Special traditions and knowledge of Indigenous communities must be listened to, effectively protected and preserved: they offer valuable solutions for the care and sustainable management of natural resources. “It grieves us to see the lands of indigenous peoples expropriated and their cultures trampled on by predatory schemes and by new forms of colonialism, fueled by the culture of waste and consumerism“ . False solutions which use natural resources as production commodities (such as large hydro, agrofuel or cash crops) at the expense of indigenous communities’ rights cannot be defended.

Right now, pilgrims are on the road in Italy, making a courageous stand for climate justice. They are walking from the Vatican to Katowice, Poland, the site of this year’s UN climate talks.

You are invited to join in. Pray for the pilgrims and their mission. Your prayer will be written on a prayer ribbon, carried on a pilgrim’s back, and presented to leaders at the UN climate summit in Poland.

The pilgrims’ journey is an incredible witness to the power of love.They are walking up mountains, across nations, and through all weather.  We’d like to share a few photos from their journey.

Encountering a supporter on pilgrimage

Prayer ribbons in St. Peter’s Square

On the road with prayer ribbons

Invigorating local action

The road continues

The Climate Pilgrimage is lifting up an urgent cry for action on climate change. Your community is invited to join them.

Send a prayer to the pilgrims here.

Host an event in your community. A full event planning guideis here.

Tweet @ your leaders to tell them you want action. Yourenvironment minister’s and head of state’s twitter handles are here. Be sure touse the hashtag #TheClimatePilgrimage.

However you take part, your prayers and action are deeply appreciated.  On behalf of young people, pilgrims, and all who share our common home, thank you.

Yours in faith,
Marisa for GCCM

Message of the Holy Father

Dear young people, I would like to reflect with you on the mission that we have received from Christ. In speaking to you, I also address all Christians who live out in the Church the adventure of their life as children of God. What leads me to speak to everyone through this conversation with you is the certainty that the Christian faith remains ever young when it is open to the mission that Christ entrusts to us. “Mission revitalizes faith” (Redemptoris Missio, 2), in the words of Saint John Paul II, a Pope who showed such great love and concern for young people.

The Synod to be held in Rome this coming October, the month of the missions, offers us an opportunity to understand more fully, in the light of faith, what the Lord Jesus wants to say to you young people, and, through you, to all Christian communities.

Life is a mission

Every man and woman is a mission; that is the reason for our life on this earth. To be attracted and to be sent are two movements that our hearts, especially when we are young, feel as interior forces of love; they hold out promise for our future and they give direction to our lives. More than anyone else, young people feel the power of life breaking in upon us and attracting us. To live out joyfully our responsibility for the world is a great challenge. I am well aware of lights and shadows of youth; when I think back to my youth and my family, I remember the strength of my hope for a better future. The fact that we are not in this world by our own choice makes us sense that there is an initiative that precedes us and makes us exist. Each one of us is called to reflect on this fact: “I am a mission on this Earth; that is the reason why I am here in this world” (Evangelii Gaudium, 273).

We proclaim Jesus Christ

The Church, by proclaiming what she freely received (cf. Mt 10:8; Acts 3:6), can share with you young people the way and truth which give meaning to our life on this earth. Jesus Christ, Who died and rose for us, appeals to our freedom and challenges us to seek, discover and proclaim this message of truth and fulfillment. Dear young people, do not be afraid of Christ and His Church! For there we find the treasure that fills life with joy. I can tell you this from my own experience: thanks to faith, I found the sure foundation of my dreams and the strength to realize them. I have seen great suffering and poverty mar the faces of so many of our brothers and sisters. And yet, for those who stand by Jesus, evil is an incentive to ever greater love. Many men and women and many young people have generously sacrificed themselves, even at times to martyrdom, out of love for the Gospel and service to their brothers and sisters. From the cross of Jesus, we learn the divine logic of self-sacrifice (cf. 1 Cor 1:17-25) as a proclamation of the Gospel for the life of the world (cf. Jn 3:16). To be set afire by the love of Christ is to be consumed by that fire, to grow in understanding by its light and to be warmed by its love (cf. 2 Cor 5:14). At the school of the saints, who open us to the vast horizons of God, I invite you never to stop wondering: “What would Christ do if He were in my place?”