Asian Federation of Catholic Bishops Condemn Suicide Bomb Attacks in Myanmar
Just the Facts: Foreign Funding Isn’t the Problem
Bobi Tiglao used to understand that. And used to think it was a good thing.
By Sheila S. Coronel*
A long time ago, when we were young and foolish, Malou Mangahas and I were booted out of The Manila Chronicle for standing up for Bobi Tiglao.
We had wanted Bobi to succeed Amando Doronila as editor of the newspaper. We thought he had the chops to lead the Chronicle, a paper shuttered by martial law but which had reopened months after the fall of Ferdinand Marcos.
How wrong we were.
Since then, Bobi has morphed from being a fact-based journalist to an intellectual apologist for a clampdown on our hard-won freedoms. As a columnist for The Manila Times, he wants us shut down or in jail, based on spurious claims that we are somehow violating the Constitution and are “tools to advance U.S. hegemony over Filipino consciousness.”
This is really more than just a story of a friendship gone sour. It is an assault on the idea of an independent press and on the role of journalists as watchdogs of society. Bobi’s attack on us, since echoed by Yen Makabenta, another Times columnist, is straight from the playbook of Russian President Vladimir Putin. It softens the ground for a clampdown on the press and civil society.
In 2012, Russia passed a law that branded certain NGOs as “foreign agents” simply because they received foreign funding. In 2015, Putin signed an even more restrictive law that would allow the government to shut down foreign-backed groups it – and no one else – deemed “undesirable.” The Putin playbook — aimed at crushing critical voices and silencing civil society – has been used in several other countries, including Hungary and recently, Brazil. Now Bobi wants to bring it to the Philippines.
Continue readingAdyenda ng mga Manggagawa para sa Halalan 2019
• Tuluyang wakasan ang lahat ng porma ng kontraktwalisasyon. Ipaglaban ang karapatan para sa regular at disenteng trabaho. Bigyang proteksyon ang kabuhayan ng mga mala-manggagawa tulad ng mga manininda, drayber, at iba pa.
• Itaas ang sahod tungo sa isang pambansang minimum: P750 kada araw para sa mga manggagawa sa pribado at P16,000 kada buwan para sa mga pampublikong manggagawa.
• Tiyakin ang ligtas at makataong kondisyon sa lugar-paggawa.
• Tiyakin ang abot-kaya, disente at pangmasang pabahay para sa lahat. Labanan ang demolisyon.
• Tiyakin na natatamasa ng mamamamayan ang abot-kaya at disenteng serbisyong panlipunan tulad ng edukasyon at kalusugan.
• Ibasura ang TRAIN Law at iba pang regresibong buwis.
• Itigil ang pagtaas sa presyo ng langis at iba pang pangunahing bilihin.
• Labanan ang jeepney phase-out.
• Lumikha ng sapat, nakabubuhay at disenteng trabaho sa sariling bansa. Itigil ang sistematikong pagluluwas ng mga Pilipino para magtrabaho sa ibang bansa. Garantiyahan ang karapatan at kagalingan ng lahat
ng migrante. Itaas ang budget para sa serbisyo at pigilan ang mga dagdag-bayarin tulad ng sapilitang pagbabayad ng SSS contribution at mandatory insurance.
• Itaguyod ang mga demokratikong karapatan ng mamamayan at labanan ang lahat ng paglabag sa karapatang pantao. Itigil ang pagsasampa ng mga gawa-gawang kaso sa mga manggagawa. Agad na palayain ang mga unyonista at iba pang bilanggong pulitikal.
• Itigil ang karahasan laban sa kababaihan sa lugar paggawa.
• Labanan ang lahat ng anyo at porma ng korapsyon at katiwalian.
More jobs, end to contractualization best gifts to workers on Labor Day – Bishops
(CBCP / MANILA BULLETIN)
April 30, 2019, 1:49 PM
By Leslie Ann Aquino Manila Bulletin
For Catholic prelates, the best gifts that the government can give to workers on May 1, Labor Day will be more jobs in the country, and an end to contractualization.
“For me the best gifts are: first to create jobs here so that they will never be forced to find work in foreign lands, be separated from their families and to avoid brain and manpower drain,” Balanga Bishop Ruperto Santos said in an interview.
“Second is to end contractual which there would be stability, mutual benefits,” he added.
Bishop Santos said this is also to show our appreciation for the sacrifices of the country’s workers.
“To be grateful and be appreciative of their sacrifices and services is to promote their wellbeing, make their jobs safe, stable and secured. Workers are the builders of the country, agents of progress and development,” he said.
Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo agreed with Santos.
Continue readingNegros bishop pays tribute to farmers on eve of Labor Day
By CBCP News
April 30, 2019
Manila, Philippines
In his Labor Day message, a Catholic bishop in Negros Occidental paid tribute to the province’s farmers who fell victims to violence in their struggle for their rights.
Bishop Gerardo Alminaza of San Carlos particularly remembered the nine sugar farmers killed at a hacienda in Sagay City in 2018 that are still awaiting justice.
“The impunity in senseless killings resulting from the landlessness of our agricultural and farm workers are sad manifestations of where we are in our journey towards God’s kingdom of love, justice and peace,” he said.
As a Christian response, Alminaza called on the Basic Ecclesial Communities to have a “pastoral accompaniment” among the Sagay massacre survivors and families of those killed.
The land issue, he said, must be part of reflections among the BEC cluster groups “so that our poor farmers may not feel alone in their plight”.
“Communal action on day-to-day economic life must be discerned in BEC meetings and activities,” Alminaza said.
The bishop also called on leaders of peasants’ groups to make paramount the well-being of their fellow farmers “rather than resort to adventurist steps”.
Addressing the land owners, the prelate urged them to prioritize the interest of common good and denounce violence and greed.
Bishop Alminaza also reiterated his call for justice for the Sagay 9 massacre victims and for the government to address land reform desputes.
500 Years of Christianity Catechetical Materials (Week 12, 17, 18 and 19)
Week 12 – March 17-23, 2019: Sub-Topic 12: Building a Church that is truly a faith-community immersed in the lives of her people
During the celebration of the “Year of the Parish as a Communion of Communities,” the Philippines Bishops note that “we are challenged to more deeply discern not only the structures of governance of our dioceses and parishes but also of the quality of faith life in the parish, the fellowship, belongingness, and participation experienced by its members.” We must constantly focus on “the building of a parish that is truly a faith community immersed in the lives of its people.”
In the Philippines, the vision of the Church as communion is today “finding expression in one ecclesial movement that is the movement to foster Basic Ecclesial Communities” (PCP-II 137). “Usually emerging at the grassroots, Basic Ecclesial Communities consciously strive to integrate their faith and their daily life. They are guided and encouraged by regular catechesis. Poverty and their faith urge their members towards solidarity with one another, action for justice, and towards a vibrant celebration of life in the liturgy” (PCP-II 139). We ask: “How can we all work at renewing our parish communities to better manifest Christ”?
One concrete way of fostering community in our parishes is to turn to our Mother, the Blessed Virgin. Year 2017 was the centennial year of the apparition of Our Lady to three children in Fatima. Our Bishops asserted that “the message of Fatima still rings clearly and strongly for us. If we dream of Church renewal, let us return to prayer, let us receive her Son in Holy Communion and let us offer reparation for our sin.” By these means, we can “pursue the dream to make every parish community a family of families and a communion of communities.”
Word of God
First Reading: GN 15:5-12, 17-18
The Lord God took Abram outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can. Just so,” he added, “shall your descendants be.” Abram put his faith in the LORD, who credited it to him as an act of righteousness (V 5-6).
Res. Ps.: PS 27:1, 7-8, 8-9, 13-14.
Your presence, O LORD, I seek. Hide not your face from me; do not in anger repel your servant. You are my helper: cast me not off (V 8-9).
Second Reading: PHIL 3:17—4:1
Join with others in being imitators of me, brothers and sisters, and observe those who thus conduct themselves according to the model you have in us. For many, as I have often told you and now tell you even in tears, conduct themselves as enemies of the cross of Christ (V 17-18).
Gospel: LK 9:28B-36
As they were about to part from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good that we are here; let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” But he did not know what he was saying (V 33).
Values/Attitude
Mission Solidarity Communion
Other-centered Steward United
Doctrine
God created the world for the sake of communion with his divine life, a communion brought about by the “convocation” of men in Christ, and this “convocation” is the Church (CCC 760).
Moral
PCP II calls for renewal as a “Church of the Poor” (cf. PCP II 125-36), courageously addressing the causes and conditions of poverty and social injustice (cf. PCP II 165, 247-49, 256-61, 290-329).
Worship
The Church is the People that God gathers in the whole world. She exists in local communities and is made real as a liturgical, above all a Eucharistic, assembly. She draws her life from the word and the Body of Christ and so herself becomes Christ’s Body (CCC 752). Prayer and an active sacramental life are the necessary means not only for clarifying the Christian vision, but especially for motivating responsible moral decisions and acts. (CFC 844).
A Winning, Principled and Patriotic Organizational Response
Seek the Common Good…Let us Win this Election!
“The year 2019 is not just an ordinary election year. The midterm election on May 13 is in itself already crucial. In our country today the checks and balances in the government are being undermined. So far the Senate is the institution in the government that is holding out as our country is inching towards total control. It is very crucial therefore that we elect public officials who are principled, courageous and who have the common good as their main concern and not their own political interests. We encourage voters to be very discerning in their votes. Let the lay groups engage in discernment circles to help one another know the candidates well and choose the candidates with the common good of the whole country in mind and not according to what the candidates promise, much less according to what voters have received from these candidates. Participation in politics for Christian lay people is not just to be limited to non-partisan involvement. Christians are also encouraged to engage in principled partisan politics. This means that they can campaign for good candidates as an exercise of their Christian faith.” (CBCP-Seek the Common Good)
As we enter the last few weeks of this midterm election’s campaign period, we call upon all Lay Groups and Christian Organizations to pause and consider their non-partisan stance in this particular and very crucial elections. If by being non-partisan our organizations would allow our countrymen to be exposed to more harm, then this is called “Harmful Non-partisanship”. If our reason for being apolitical is to keep our members united and loyal to our organizations, then for this election we are espousing “Unpatriotic Loyalty and False Unity”. If by remaining conveniently vague with our stand as an organization and we are quietly comfortable for our members to cast their personal “conscience votes” with a slim chance of winning, we call this a “Defeatist Mentality”.
In this election, when the sovereignty of our country, the lives of our people and the honor of the Philippines, etc., are at stake, we cannot anymore remain as NON-PARTISAN Organizations.
We therefore call all our Christian Leaders and Patriotic Filipinos to take the risk. True Leaders make a stand and DO WHATEVER IT TAKES! Let us win this election through our Principled and Patriotic Organizational Action, for this is for our common good.
Let us VOTE STRAIGHT the People’s Choice Movement’s Discerned and Selected 10 Best Candidates… The PCM 10:
Gary Alejano- No. 5, Bam Aquino- No. 9, Neri Colmenares- No. 22, Chel Diokno- No. 25, Samira Gutoc- No. 36, Florin Hilbay- No.37, Romy Macalintal- No. 41, Grace Poe – No. 55, Mar Roxas- No. 57, and Erin Tañada- No. 59.
A WINNING, PRINCIPLED AND PATRIOTIC ORGANIZATIONAL RESPONSE is the ONLY CHOICE!
For our country, we need to win. We must win!
For and with the entire Sangguniang Laiko ng Pilipinas Board,
MA. JULIETA F. WASAN, Ph.D.
President
Sangguniang Laiko ng Pilipinas
25 April 2019
https://news.mb.com.ph/2019/03/26/cbcp-official-asks-faithful-to-campaign-for-lay-leaders-10-choices-for-senate-seats/
https://www.rappler.com/nation/politics/elections/2019/226742-catholic-christian-groups-endorse-otso-diretso-other-bets
2019 Election Guide from the National Secretariat for Social Action
My Dear Brother Bishops, Priests and Social Action Staff:
Greetings of the Risen Lord!
On a personal note, I would like to share with you our 2019 Election Guide. Our voters need our accompaniment; many of them need our guidance and instruction on whom to vote, especially in the national level at this time.
While every vote is sacred and personal, consciousness should always be directed towards common good hence, in this extraordinary time, we feel that we need to come out to protect our people and country from the dangerous future – if the present administration’s candidates won in the midterm election – by being partisan.
Inspired and encouraged by Social Teaching and Church documents calling for electorate to be responsible voters through discernment, forum, debates, lay groups have come up with a list of candidates they consider to be competent, qualified and pro-people, pro-country and pro-God.
As also endorsed by Bishop Pabillo, we are sharing and informing you of the lay people’s choice as they underwent a tedious process of discernment to endorse senatorial candidates. Let us help the laity share the results of their discernment choices.
While we do our share, we fully entrust the fate of our country and people to God and we rely the intercession of our dear mother, Mama Mary, that the God of Justice, Truth and Peace will grant our prayers.
Yours in Christ,
Most Rev. Rolando J. Tria Tirona, OCD
Please find attached the election guide and other relevant election materials for your campaign and discernment.
Seek the Common Good
“Love and truth will meet; justice and peace will kiss.” (Ps 85:10)
Every election period is a promise of better times or a foreboding of what is worse to come. The choice is in our hands. It is as if God is telling us “I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live.” (Deut 30:19).
The year 2019 is not just an ordinary election year. The midterm election on May 13 is in itself already crucial. In our country today the checks and balances in the government are being undermined. So far the Senate is the institution in the government that is holding out as our country is inching towards total control. It is very crucial therefore that we elect public officials who are principled, courageous and who have the common good as their main concern and not their own political interests. We encourage voters to be very discerning in their votes. Let the lay groups engage in discernment circles to help one another know the candidates well and choose the candidates with the common good of the whole country in mind and not according to what the candidates promise, much less according to what voters have received from these candidates. Participation in politics for Christian lay people is not just to be limited to non-partisan involvement. Christians are also encouraged to engage in principled partisan politics. This means that they can campaign for good candidates as an exercise of their Christian faith.
However, more than the elections, another serious, and perhaps more insidious, matter that we should pay attention to is the threat the version of constitutional change and federalism approved by the Lower House and now being dangled to the senators. It takes away the term limits of most of the elected officials and allows political dynasties to continue. It opens the national resources to foreign ownership and eventual control. Its version of federalism is vague and it will do away with the 2019 elections.
We denounce any attempt to avoid the 2019 elections. This right of the people to vote should not be shelved. We reiterate what we have taught before: “If the Constitution is to be revised at all, the process should lead to a greater defense and promotion of the moral values of human dignity and human rights, integrity and truth, participation and solidarity, and the common good.” (CBCP PASTORAL GUIDELINES FOR DISCERNING THE MORAL DIMENSION OF THE PRESENT-DAY MOVES FOR CHARTER CHANGE issued on January 29, 2018) We do not see the proposed revised constitution approved by the Lower House as an improvement of the 1987 constitution but is a self-serving attempt of present politicians to remain in power. We stand by what we have stated in the aforementioned letter: “As servant leaders, we have listened to many others who believe that the solution to our problems is not a revision of the Constitution, but a full implementation of the 1987 Constitution (e.g., on political dynasties & on freedom of information), and a revision of the Local Government Code, originally designed to devolve power from central authority.”
Our dear People of God, we are in a crucial moment of our history. In our hands is the direction of our country. Let us be vigilant in what is happening. Let us not just be on- lookers but let us be involved. Pope Benedict said: “A big part of the vocation of Christian lay people is their participation in politics in order to bring justice, honesty and defense of true and authentic values, and to contribute to the real human and spiritual good of society. The role of the laity in the temporal order, and especially in politics, is key for the evangelization of society.” (Pope Benedict XVI on receiving the Bishops of Paraguay in September 2008) Pope Francis taught: “‘A good Catholic doesn’t meddle in politics.’ That’s not true. That is not a good path. A good Catholic meddles in politics, offering the best of himself, so that those who govern can govern…. None of us can say, ‘I have nothing to do with this, how they govern.’ … No, no, I am responsible for their governance, and I have to do the best so that they govern well, and I have to do my best by participating in politics according to my ability.” (Pope Francis September 16, 2013) Furthermore, we heed the appeal of Pope Francis in his message on the World Day of Prayer for Peace of this year that good politics is at the service of peace.
No one can say in this age of the social media that she/he cannot participate in politics. Each of us can let our voice be heard and be a part of national conversation by posting our views in the social media, but with great respect for others and with the end of advancing the truth. We especially encourage the youth whose future is very much at stake to participate in the electoral process especially by using their skills and knowledge of the social media to advance what is true, what is just, and what is for the common good.
Let the common good be the aim of our politicians and let the common good be the basis of our choice for our next set of public officials, then truly, “love and truth will meet; justice and peace will kiss” (Ps 85:11) in our land.
For the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines,
Why our Country Needs an INDEPENDENT Senate
This is a letter sent to Christian Filipino Bishops by Atty. Alex Lacson, the convenor of People’s Choice Movement.
Dear BISHOP:
I pray that this letter reaches you in good health and with the peace of our Lord.
May I please send you po this letter for your personal reflection. As to how you will handle or act on the information I share with you in this letter, I shall fully respect po.
I firmly believe that this 2019 Midterm Election is the MOST DANGEROUS Election ever in our history as a nation.
There are three (3) reasons why I say so.
FIRST, President Duterte has been threatening to declare Martial Law or a Revolutionary Government in the last 3 years. Three weeks ago, he made this threat again. Under the Constitution, ONLY A MAJORITY VOTE in Congress, voting jointly, is needed to legalize a declaration of Martial Law.
Once Martial Law has been declared, Duterte can declare a Revolutionary Government anytime. Under a Revolutionary Government, Duterte can do anything he wants as he will then be outside the Constitution and the law. He has the military and police to back him up.
To prevent this from happening, we need to elect at least 10 opposition senators to add to the 3 opposition senators who are already in the Senate. Thirteen (13) opposition senators would put the opposition in control of the Senate. That would make the Senate INDEPENDENT, not controlled by Duterte.
An INDEPENDENT Senate can oppose Martial Law or a Revolutionary Government.
The SECOND reason why we believe this 2019 Midterm election is the MOST DANGEROUS election ever in our history, is the fact that President Duterte has been plotting to ram through our throat his Federalism program, even if the majority of the Filipino people are against it.
If Duterte takes full control of the Senate, he may just order Congress to convert itself into a Constituent Assembly or ConAss. Under a ConAss, it will be the Congressmen, not the delegates of the people elected for that specific purpose, who will revise the Constitution.
Continue reading