June 14, 2021
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
The peace and love of the Lord!
The Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life has launched a new website on “Initiatives for the formation of the lay faithful” http://laityinvolved.org/ The website is a good resource for updating and improving the formation of our respective groups.
We encourage everyone to make use of this valuable tool for the formation and growth of our members.
Sincerely yours in the service of the Lord,
Noted by:
+ MOST REV. BRODERICK S. PABILLO, D.D.
Chairman CBCP-Episcopal Commission on the Laity
Statement by the Movement Against Tyranny
June 17, 2021
The Movement Against Tyranny expresses its grave concern on military operations by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) that appear to have targeted and killed at least six unarmed civilians in Masbate and Surigao del Sur in a span of a week.
The first incident is the June 8 killing of three alleged New People’s Army combatants in Masbate City who the military accused as being involved in the killing of the Absalon cousins last June 6. Reports gathered by human rights groups indicate that Ailyn Bulalacao, Ramon Brioso and Antonio Poligrates were ordinary farmers who were abducted from their houses on the night of June 7 and then turned out dead the next day after supposedly fighting it out with government troops.
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Statement by the Movement Against Tyranny
June 16, 2021
The Movement Against Tyranny joins other human rights advocates and concerned groups in deploring the killing of two civilians and wounding of several others by elements of the New People’s Army in Masbate last June 6. The killing of unarmed civilians and non- combatants, intentional or not, are violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and cannot be condoned. We earnestly await the result of the investigation being conducted by the party involved.
We extend our condolences to the Absalon family. As a matter of justice, those found responsible for the incident should be held to account and indemnification be provided for the deaths of the two civilians and injuries to others.
This incident is a stark reminder of the untoward effect of the long- running armed conflict on civilians and non-combatants. It moreover underscores the need and urgency of addressing all violations of IHL as well as human rights as a whole by the protagonists in the armed conflict through mutually agreed mechanisms as provided for in the GRP-NDFP Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL). This unfortunate incident should not be allowed to lead to or be utilized for the further escalation of the violence, most especially leading to more civilian deaths.
Such tragedies will continue to happen unless all obstacles to resuming peace talks are removed and a political settlement is reached that addresses the roots of the armed conflict. Thus, we urge both parties to exert greater eforts to revive the peace talks.#
Ref.: Sr. Mary John Mananzan and Dr. Carol Araullo,
MAT co-convenors
Statement by the Movement Against Tyranny
June 15, 2021
The Movement Against Tyranny welcomes the filing of Internatonal Criminal Court Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda of a request for authorizaton from the ICC pre-trial chamber to formally investigate the Duterte government for its crime against humanity of murder in relation to Pres. Duterte’s war on drugs.
This is one big step in the quest for justice for thousands of victims of extrajudicial killings under Duterte’s brutal regime. It is a testament to the perseverance of the families of the victims, their lawyers, and all those who have dared to demand justice in these dark times.
We urge the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber to act favorably on Prosecutor Bensouda’s request so that the investgation can immediately proceed. This is of great urgency because the killings are ongoing, with Duterte continuing to give bloody orders to the police. The ICC should realize that the investgation can somehow put pressure on the perpetrators to stop the killings, which have now morphed into the wholesale murders of activists, government critics, and ordinary citizens tagged as communists and terrorists.
We demand no less than full cooperation from the Philippine authorities. Pres. Dutete cannot hide behind his self-serving withdrawal from the ICC as the crimes to be investigated happened when the Philippines was still a member of the Court.#
Ref.: Sr. Mary John Mananzan and Dr. Carol Araullo,
MAT co-convenors
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In line with the theme “Gifted to Give” during this year’s celebration of our 500YOC, may we forward and share with you this invitation from the CBCP-BEC commission under Bishop Joe Cabantan, D.D.
This “new way of being Church” is a gift to the Philippine Church. We have here the image of the Church as a community of believers, a community of disciples of Jesus who live in koinonia, in communion.
Please pass and share this invitation and link below to our fellow Laiko and together let us listen and learn how those in these BECs lived as a community of friends, sharing the word of God, sharing the bread of life, and sharing their material possessions, “so that no one was in need”.
Thank you very much,
June 14, 2021
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The peace and love of the Lord!
In line with the Sangguniang Laiko ng Pilipinas’ theme: “Celebrate as One in 2021…Celebrate the Gift of Christianity, the Gift of Unity and the Gift of Mission!”, may we send to you a monumental declaration of the different Bishops’ conferences and councils in the Philippines. We thank the Holy Spirit for moving our pastors towards this direction.
May we ask you to prayerfully read this and personally forward this statement to our fellow Christian servants and leaders. Our hope is that during this time (of the pandemic, the entry of the typhoon months and the preparation for the 2022 elections), the whole body of Christ in our country can engage in meaningful and cooperative works within our local contexts.
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Your Eminences,
Your Excellencies,
Reverend Monsignori and Fathers,
Consecrated Men and Women,
Partners in the Family and Life Apostolate,
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Peace be with you!
First, we commend all who are organizing conferences, seminars, and events on the national, regional, diocesan, parochial etc. levels to mark the Amoris Laetitia Family Year and the Year of Saint Joseph. Such initiatives not only attest to your pastoral zeal but also help incarnate the Holy Father’s vision of the Church as a “family of families” (AL 87).
Second, we are happy to inform you that the Episcopal Commission on Family and Life is offering conferences that can complement the regional and diocesan programs: “Fathers’ Day” in June, “Grandparents and the Elderly” in July, “Migrant Families” in August, etc.
Third, we invite you to join, promote and share the ECFL’s Fathers’ Day offering on 18-20 June 2021. We take our theme from the opening lines of Pope Francis’ Apostolic Letter Patris Corde: “With a father’s heart: that is how Joseph loved Jesus, whom all four Gospels refer to as ‘the son of Joseph’”. In order to facilitate participation and sharing here and abroad in the context of the pandemic, the event will be streamed live via Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archdioceseoflipa:
Finally, we invite you to mark the dates of the next ECFL event, the first virtual national conference of grandparents and the elderly on 22-24 July 2021. This is in view of the first World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly as announced by Pope Francis. The program will be sent to you in the first week of July.
Sincerely,
RMP National Office
UCCP leaders speak out in solidarity together with peasant and indigenous peoples advocates
#DefendTheDefenders #StandWithRMP
On June 11, 2021, at 10am, Church leaders and other supporters gathered outside the Manila Trial Court for a vigil protest, while legal counsels of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines(RMP) sought for the lifting of the Anti-Money Laundering Council’s freeze on their bank accounts.
The Rural Missionaries of the Philippines, who have been engaging ministry with poor communities for fifty years, are subjects of persecution and “red-tagging.” The United Church of Christ in the Philippines expressed a strong empathy for RMP, since the UCCP Haran Sanctuary is facing similar harassments. Bishop Emergencio Padillo of the UCCP expressed solidarity and lamented “rather than appreciating their contributions to society, the Duterte administration with their all-out war policies, seeks to attack RMP’s ministries by raising false allegations of ‘terrorism financing.’” Bishop Padillo commended RMP for being instrumental “in bringing health, literacy, and livelihood programs to some of the poorest and most marginalized areas of the country.”
“RMP is engaged in mission and ministry, which is part of their practice of their religious freedoms. The absurd allegations of ‘terrorism financing’ only unmask how far this government is prepared to go; they want to stifle dissent, and in the process, they are undermining democracy in the Philippines,” said Bishop Padillo.
Another UCCP pastor, Rev. Callum Tabada, also assailed the Duterte administration for impinging on the practice of religion, because they don’t understand ‘peacebuilding.’ He explained that people in the Duterte administration “misconstrue transformative love as rebellion.”
“The law is being ‘weaponized’ against any who do not petty after the National Task Force-End Local Communist Armed Conflict. Malicious legal maneuvers, like the case lodged against RMP, are intended to weaken the ministries of the church that are trying to help communities to empower themselves and protect their interests and welfare,” said Rev. Tabada.
Noting that the forces of exploitation through logging, mining and extraction of other resources, together with militarists who promote such endeavors, make life difficult in rural areas, the protesters insisted that Church ministries are under attack because rural communities are easier to dominate, when they are less educated and aware of their rights.
“The current predicament of RMP, where their banks accounts are frozen, denies much-needed services to poor communities. Under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, there will surely be even more harassments and false allegations against church ministries. The poor are the ones who will suffer most,” said Bishop Padillo.
Once again, the hearing was reset. Now scheduled for September 20, 2021, the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines will be denied access to their mission monies for months more. “After decades of service to the poor, this case against them is shameful and should be dismissed,” said Bishop Padillo.
11 June 2021
Shay Cullen | 11 June 2021
Have you ever seen the sun set upon the sea,
the migrating birds fly in formation proud?
Have you ever seen the mighty forest and heard the birds sing clear and loud?
Have you seen the flowers in the meadows and the fields that provide the nectar for the bee,
That gives the honey in the hive hanging from the tree?
Have you ever seen the dolphins race across the ocean wave,
The mighty whales that swim the oceans strong and brave?
A breathless sight of beauty you will ever see
If we will just allow them to live and to be.
We inhabit a most amazing planet filled with life forms and hundreds of thousands of amazing creatures, animals, birds, insects, and fish. In the natural world, the living forests and plants and oceans make up a living, evolving integrated planet with us humans. We the creatures that have a developed brain, conscientious, knowing and with awareness of self and all that is around us in the environment. have the responsibility to preserve it.
We are the ones that can admire, appreciate, and wonder at the beauty of the environment and the universe. We are the thinking consciousness of the universe. We can know good and bad and we have unique free will to choose one or the other. That is what makes us human and different from other creatures we share life with on this climate-sensitive planet.
We humans are changing it dramatically by the lifestyles that we have chosen and the industrial machines and methods we have created to maintain that lifestyle. Our way of living together, travelling, warming and cooling ourselves, producing our food and disposing off the material we manufacture is affecting the environment and the planet itself.
We humans are industrious, inventive, creative, intelligent, kindly, loving creatures to each other and the ecology and environment but many of us are also something else. Many of our species have chosen to act on their lower, thoughtless basic instincts to possess, control, dominate and subjugate others to achieve and satisfy desires and appetites. They impact the human environment. They act with violence and other negative impulses born perhaps from childhood neglect, abuse, deprivation or the evil example of other influencers. They act in anger with violence against the human environment, the human community, inflicting hurt and pain on others.
Some become intoxicated with power and destructive tendencies over their communities. They persecute and kill those that refuse to be subjugated, dominated and abused. These are the tyrants and dictators, and not only do they kill and maim and destroy those who do not approve of them, they attack the environment. Their self-serving policies expand industrial exploitation of the environment and exploit the natural resources. Their goal is to increase their personal wealth and political power and so all creatures, the environment and the planet greatly suffer. They are the humans that allow big and small corporations to destroy the forests and the oceans and create a destructive industrial juggernaut that leaves disorganized citizens divided and powerless.
We must not be silenced or intimidated. We must stand for the earth, act to stop the destruction on a political scale, on a community level and in our personal capacity. When people unite and speak with one voice, they have power to change the world and corrupt politicians unless they are shot and massacred. The environmental destruction by industry that is causing climate change by high levels of CO2 emissions has to be challenged .They cause climate fluctuations that damage sustainable food production and the natural world. Politicians in conspiracy with the industrial leaders, driven by greed, these mighty money moguls, are foremost in destroying the planet.
Australia is an example of government policy supporting the coal extraction industry. It is the biggest exporter of coal in the world. The emissions of the coal they export is equal to 3.3 percent of global emissions. Added to domestically-produced emissions of CO2, then Australia contributes 4.8 percent of world emissions and is a major contributor to dangerous climate change. If we add the emissions for natural gas exports, it is even a bigger footprint and a bigger responsibility. The super cold snap in Australia of late is a direct result of climate change, it seems.
The Australian political industrial complex has to be held accountable and drastically change direction to protect the environment. That is a decision that only the Australian people can make by voting into power a green, environmental-friendly government. Australia is now the sixth biggest polluter of the environment after China, the United States, Russia, India and Indonesia. Australia and all the high CO2 emissions producing countries should choose to obey the principle, “Do no Harm.” However, since basic instincts of greed, money and power are dominating the ruling elites and political establishments of these countries, there is no place for principles of caring and compassion for the people and the planet.
There is good news however. The global awareness of the damage and negative effects of climate change has business and industry concerned and committed to change. A survey by Deloitte in recent months shows that 80 percent of business and corporate executives have expressed serious concern about the impact of climate change and are planning to take mitigating action to address it. But will they?
The Climate Check Report surveyed 750 executives last January and February 2021 and found that 30 percent of them said that climate change is affecting their businesses causing a scarcity of resources and supply chain problems. Self-interest may bring concern for the environment. Political awareness building and peaceful social activism is having a positive effect. School children in Australia have taken to the streets to protest against coal production. Greta Thunberg is leading a global movement to stop industry burning fossil fuels and to build renewable energy sources. Now 18 years old, she blasts the empty promises of world leaders who promise much but do nothing positive but allow the destruction of the Amazon rain forests.
If we want to continue to admire the forests, the dolphins, the birds and creatures of the planet, we have to preserve and protect it with all our strength.
www.preda.org
