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Mr. Oscar Contreras, Jr. of Couples for Christ Foundation for Family and Life clarifies a point during the February 10, 2018 Lay Leaders’ Caucus.

March 19, 2018

To: All heads of Laiko Members: National Lay Organizations &
Arch/Diocesan Councils of the Laity

Re: Lay Leaders’ Lay Caucus

Dear Brothers & Sisters,

The peace and love of the Lord!

The political developments in our country are alarming and many are unaware of the implications of the moves in congress about the constitutional change to institutionalize federalism.  As lay leaders, we need to be aware of these implications and be able to bring it down to the level of our members.

With this, may we invite once again your officers to the Lay Leaders’ Caucus on Saturday, April 7, 2018, 1:00 P.M. to 5: 00 P.M.  at the 4th flr., Arzobispado de Manila, 121 Arzobispo St., Intramuros, Manila. We have invited former Chief Justice Hilario G. Davide, Jr., and former Congressman Neri Colmenares to speak to us on Charter Change and Federalism.  Their expertise and the ability to bring ideas down to earth to those unacquainted with judicial jargon will help us understand better the issues at hand.

Kindly confirm your active participation by calling LAIKO Secretariat at tel. nos: 527-5388, 527-3124, 0977-1794938, 0908-2496512. A P150.00 solidarity fee will be greatly appreciated to help us in our snacks and other incidental expenses.

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A total of 77 Christian organizations jointly signed the”No to Divorce”  statement published as full page advertisements in two national broadsheets- the Manila Bulletin and Philippine Daily Inquirer, on April  2 and 3, 2018.

Repost: April 4, 2018
Original post: December 2, 2017

We, members of the Council of the Laity of the Philippines, signify our objection to the House Bills that will enact into law the dissolution of marriages.

When a man and a woman pledge themselves to keep a covenant of unity for a lifetime, they are accountable to each other and to the rest of humanity. Marriages and families are the foundation of our communities, society and civilization- our whole way of life. We need strong marriages and families.

Numerous arguments have been given in favor of divorce and other forms of dissolution of marriage. Persons who seek divorce think and believe that divorce is the solution to their marital problems- at least it allows the individual to escape the miserable situation they are in. However, what are not popularly known are the resulting complicated problems from divorce. This ends up in greater misery for both parties, leaving them to lament, “If only I had known this would happen after the divorce.”

The tragic effects of divorce impact not only the lives of parties involved, but also their children, grandchildren up to the fourth generation.

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Photo from Katutubong Lilak’s Facebook page

Ms. Vicky Tauli-Corpuz, Beverly Longid and Joan Carling, Philippine indigenous women, are not terrorists.

LILAK stands by the three Indigenous Women leaders the Department of Justice (DOJ) seeks to be declared as “terrorists”, and we call on the DOJ to drop their names off the list it submitted to the court.

In February 21, 2018, the DOJ filed a petition to the Court to have the Communist Party of the Philippines-New Peoples Army (CPP-NPA) declared as terrorist organizations. Along with the petition submitted to the Manila Regional Trial Court (MRTC) by DOJ is a list of 600 names of alleged communists, and therefore should also be declared “terrorists”. As such, State forces can go after these persons in the pretext of suspicion of them committing a terrorist act, as stipulated in the Philippines Human Security Act of 2007 or Rep. Act 9372.

LILAK and its partner indigenous women have been working with each of these three indigenous women on different issues and campaigns. Previously as the Executive Director of Tebtebba Foundation, and now as UN Special Rapparteur on Indigenous Peoples rights, LILAK has undertaken joint activities with Ms. Vicky Tauli-Corpuz particularly in promoting indigenous women’s rights at different levels – local, national and international.

Ms. Beverly Longid, previously as Secretary General of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA), has been part of the different activities of LILAK particularly in learning sessions and national gatherings of indigenous women. With Ms. Joan Carling, as the Secretary General of the Asian Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP), she and her organization have supported the different activities and advocacies of indigenous peoples we work with – providing emergency funds to families of indigenous peoples (IP) victims of extra judicial killings and IP human rights defenders; and giving training support for communities to be able to access different international and UN human rights mechanisms. Aside from these, the indigenous women and indigenous communities that LILAK works with have had longer relationships with each of them, in the assertion of the latter’s human rights as indigenous peoples.

Is this terrorism?

This act of the DOJ to push for the declaration of these three indigenous women as terrorists is irresponsible, and deadly. It gives license to armed force of the State, and practically to everyone, to intimidate, and yes, to kill them. In a speech before the Lumad, or the indigenous peoples in Mindanao, (February 11, 2018 / Davao City), President Duterte offered them P20,000 for every communist that they kill. A few days after, in a speech among soldiers in Malacanang, (February 13, 2018), he ordered soldiers to shoot female communist rebels “in the vagina”.

This is terrorism.

Every woman, every one, has the right to act and work for change and for social justice. Every indigenous woman has the right to organize and empower indigenous communities to collectively assert their right to defend their territories, and to practice self-determination.

This is what Vicky Corpuz, Beverly Longid, Joan Carling is all about.

LILAK stands by them, as we call on the Duterte government to take them off the list of alleged terrorists; their safety as they go about their legitimate activities of being human rights defenders must be ensured.

We demand a stop to these acts of terror against human rights defenders.

We have the right to defend our rights, as we work for a more humane society, free from violence, poverty and discrimination.

Labour rights group slams Coca-Cola’s brazen disregard of labour laws, arrogant refusal to regularize its 675 contractual workers

Photo credit: Sentro

“When aggrieved workers have found recourse in law to get regular employment denied them by company squeezing them for decades, and corporations violate the law, it is a legitimate right of every worker to strike, says the Center for Trade Union and Human Rights in lending its solidarity and support for the striking workers of Coca-Cola FEMSA Philippines. Inc. (CCFPI) Sta. Rosa Plant in Laguna.

On March 21, 2018, workers led by Liga na Pinalakas ng Manggagawa sa Coca-Cola FEMSA Philippines – Liga ng Manggagawa para sa Regular na Hanapbuhay (LPMCCFP-LIGA) launched their strike in response to the CCFPI management’s refusal to implement the decision of Department of Labor and Employment Region IV-A to regularize their 675 contractual workers.

“This brazen refusal of CCFPI management to regularize its 675 workers despite DOLE’s order is an affront to Philippine laws and labour justice and a gross disrespect to international labour standards. For years, CCFPI has amassed billions of pesos from denying long-term contractual workers of regular status that could have given them benefits and better wages. It has employed various schemes such as mass-layoff, illegal retrenchment and “restructuring” to escape from the responsibility of regularizing workers after more than six months, then hand them over to the manpower agencies,” Daisy Arago, CTUHR Executive Director, said.

CTUHR also added that Coca-Cola management’s arrogance and blatant disregard of labor laws only reflects President Duterte’s failure to deliver his promises to workers.

“How can a government department enforce its decision over an arrogant capitalists like Coca-Cola, when President Duterte himself fails to fulfill his promise to end contractualization? He enticed the workers and labour centers hanging on his promise to sign the Executive Order to end to all forms of contractualization and dropped them flat, by saying endo cannot be stopped. The pro-capitalist and anti-worker character of this administration favors the already big capitalists as they continue to exploit their workers while ignoring labour laws and standards,” Arago said.

The labour rights NGO also slammed the silence of Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello on the issue of the contractual workers of Coca-Cola. The group warned the Coca-Cola striking workers on a possible move by Sec. Bello reversing DOLE itself decision similar to what he did when he overturned the DOLE-Region 4’s decision ordering the Alaska Milk Corp to regularize 800 workers.

Coca-Cola FEMSA, together with local government, deployed 100 security personnel, armed police and SWAT around the vicinity of the picketline, seemingly prepared to inflict violence on striking workers on a whip of an order.   “Government forces seem always ready to defend corporations against its own people fighting to making a living. Is this is not fascism and state terrorism? This is really disturbing”, CTUHR enthused.

CTUHR appeals on the public, Coke product consumers and other labor groups to support the strike of the 675 workers of Coca-Cola. Can you feel happiness when people who make the products you drink are kicked out of jobs to take in much-lower paid workers? Think first before you drink?#

‘Do Not Be Afraid, Follow Me.’

MARCH 31, 2018 ZENIT STAFF PAPAL TEXTS
Vatican Media Screenshot

Following is the text of the Holy Father’s homily during the Easter Vigil, March 31, 2018, in St. Peter’s Basilica. The Pope also administered the sacraments of Christian initiation to eight new members of the Church from Albania, Italy, Nigeria, Peru, and United States.

The text of the homily, provided by the Vatican:

We began this celebration outside, plunged into the darkness of the night and the cold. We felt an oppressive silence at the death of the Lord, a silence with which each of us can identify, a silence that penetrates to the depths of the heart of every disciple, who stands wordless before the cross.

These are the hours when the disciple stands speechless in pain at the death of Jesus. What words can be spoken at such a moment? The disciple keeps silent in the awareness of his or her own reactions during those crucial hours in the Lord’s life. Before the injustice that condemned the Master, his disciples were silent. Before the calumnies and the false testimony that the Master endured, his disciples said nothing. During the trying, painful hours of the Passion, his disciples dramatically experienced their inability to put their lives on the line to speak out on behalf of the Master. What is more, not only did they not acknowledge him: they hid, they escaped, they kept silent (cf. Jn 18:25-27).

It is the silent night of the disciples who remained numb, paralyzed and uncertain of what to do amid so many painful and disheartening situations. It is also that of today’s disciples, speechless in the face of situations we cannot control, that make us feel and, even worse, believe that nothing can be done to reverse all the injustices that our brothers and sisters are experiencing in their flesh.

It is the silent night of those disciples who are disoriented because they are plunged in a crushing routine that robs memory, silences hope and leads to thinking that “this is the way things have always been done”. Those disciples who, overwhelmed, have nothing to say and end up considering “normal” and unexceptional the words of Caiaphas: “Can you not see that it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed?” (Jn 11:50).

Amid our silence, our overpowering silence, the stones begin to cry out (cf. Lk 19:40) [1] and to clear the way for the greatest message that history has ever heard: “He is not here, for he has been raised” (Mt 28:6). The stone before the tomb cried out and proclaimed the opening of a new way for all. Creation itself was the first to echo the triumph of life over all that had attempted to silence and stifle the joy of the Gospel. The stone before the tomb was the first to leap up and in its own way intone a song of praise and wonder, of joy and hope, in which all of us are invited to join.

Yesterday, we joined the women in contemplating “the one who was pierced” (cf. Jn 19:36; cf. Zech 12:10). Today, with them, we are invited to contemplate the empty tomb and to hear the words of the angel: “Do not be afraid… for he has been raised” (Mt 28:5-6). Those words should affect our deepest convictions and certainties, the ways we judge and deal with the events of our daily lives, especially the ways we relate to others. The empty tomb should challenge us and rally our spirits. It should make us think, but above all, it should encourage us to trust and believe that God “happens” in every situation and every person and that his light can shine in the least expected and most hidden corners of our lives. He rose from the dead, from that place where nobody waits for anything, and now he waits for us – as he did the women – to enable us to share in his saving work. On this basis and with this strength, we Christians place our lives and our energy, our intelligence, our affections and our will, at the service of discovering, and above all creating, paths of dignity.

He is not here… he is risen! This is the message that sustains our hope and turns it into concrete gestures of charity. How greatly we need to let our frailty be anointed by this experience! How greatly we need to let our faith be revived! How greatly we need our myopic horizons to be challenged and renewed by this message! Christ is risen, and with him, he makes our hope and creativity rise so that we can face our present problems in the knowledge that we are not alone.

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Message

Lent and Easter

My brothers and sisters in the Lord! I am grateful for this opportunity to share with you my Lenten and Easter message, my thoughts and reflections these days. I have to tell you that I have been very much inspired by the Lenten Message of our Holy Father for us this liturgical year.

The Season of Lent

In the days of the season of Lent, we are supposed to prepare for the glorious celebration of Easter. In the words of Pope Francis: “Lent summons us and enables us to come back to the Lord wholeheartedly and in every aspect of our life.”

In one of the Prefaces of Lent, we pray… “You have given your children a sacred time for the renewing and purifying of their hearts, that freed from disordered affections, they may so deal with the things of this passing world as to hold rather to the things that eternally endure.” That is why, at the beginning of Lent, we were reminded: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Or, as in the popular Lenten song that quotes the prophet Hosea, the Lord says, “Come back to me with all your heart…” So, the real challenge and opportunity in these days of Lent is to return to the Lord and trust him to renew us.

Lent is about to end, my dear brothers and sisters. In fact it is ending this Holy Thursday, daytime; for in the evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper, we will already start the celebration of the Easter Mysteries.

The Church has kept the beautiful tradition of Lenten practices for us, to help us return to the Lord, and these are prayer, almsgiving and fasting.

Thus, we ask ourselves as we are about to conclude the preparatory days of Lent:

Have we prayed enough in silence, in the depths of our hearts, crying to the Lord, struggling to return to him?

And, have we prayed with the Church community in her beautiful Lenten liturgy, in the sacraments, especially through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, listening to God’s word, and participating in the table of the holy Eucharist so that, I hope by now, we have become closer to the Lord?

And how about our almsgiving? Almsgiving, but not in the sense that we give because we have extra resources to give, but really giving of what we really have, including even ourselves. An almsgiving that is closer to the giving of Jesus of himself for us. True almsgiving helps us to stay away from greed and self-centeredness and inspires us and allows ourselves to be Christ-like to others.

Fasting allows us to experience the pain and misery of the poor around us. And fasting also helps us discipline ourselves in our attachment to our worldly needs symbolized by the strong need and attraction of food and nourishment. And in fasting, we have the opportunity to bring our attention to the grace and mercy of God in our miserable human condition.

In short, Lent makes us realize how certainly we would return to dust, as we were reminded on Ash Wednesday, if we do not return to the Lord.

My dear brothers and sisters, Lent is about to end, but there is still ample time to bring ourselves closer to the Lord.

Easter

The Easter celebration is our prayerful memory of the Paschal Mystery of Jesus: his suffering, his crucifixion and death and his glorious resurrection.

May it be that our Lenten observances have made us ready to be with the Lord in his suffering, death and resurrection. May it be that our Lenten observances have made us ready to go through the many ‘darknesses’ of our present life, when often we are desperate and have lost hope, and still we walk with Jesus deeply believing that with him, we will see light and life. Our resurrection is possible, and our resurrection is ours because of Jesus. How deeply he loved us, painfully embracing death in order to conquer and defeat it, so that we might live, and live life eternally.

Thus, in the liturgy of the Easter Vigil, we hear this beautiful line in the prayer: “May the light of Christ, rising in glory, dispel the darkness of our hearts and minds.”

Easter is the most wonderful feast in our Church’s life of prayer and worship. In this feast, we are again at the heart of God’s loving presence. Easter is the Lord’s promise of eternal life and happiness.

Happy Easter!

+ ROMULO G. VALLES, D.D.

Archbishop of Davao

President, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines

P.N. 003/2018

Photo credit: Blink

Fr. Shay Cullen
February 9, 2018

The young man, Jake 22 year old and single laughed when I asked him whom he voted for in the local elections for mayor. He said he abstained, but he went to the house of the mayor and received a payment all the same. “Why not”, he reasoned, “it was for free everyone was going there”.

The mayor was “reelected” and his local family dynasty, linked to a bigger family dynasty became more influential. His father before him had been mayor several times and then became a congressman. The families of the elites are connected by marriage and by political allegiance to candidates for the presidency. Family dynasties have, in reality, replaced political parties; the children of the politician usually succeed the parent in office. In Philippine democracy allegiances shift and change with the shift in political power.

That is the way it is in Philippine democracy. Votes are bought and those candidates with the most money and favors to give away will get back into power. They use that power to establish their reign continually through relatives. It is the dance of the dynasties that rule through the so-called democratic process in the country. It is flawed and what remains of the democratic process is under threat from its own inherent weakness.

The top family dynasties are immensely wealthy. In the Philippines there are eight leading US dollar billionaires and estimates claim that 1% of the populations are super rich and control 70 % of the economy and the wealth. There are ten million in poverty and 5.3 million in extreme poverty. Many of them will sell their “democratic” vote to the highest bidder. Political power is essential for the dynasties to survive. The constitution demands an end to dynastic families but no legislation has been passed banning them.

The power of patronage is nothing new but a hangover of the client-ruler system that dominated the Philippines since the Spanish era. Then the rich families pacified the submissive poor and hungry with handouts of small favors. The poor were so miserable they took what they could get and were docile clients of the ruling families. The Spanish saw that their ruling class owned the land and property and the poor worked it for them. Eventually the poor rebelled and overthrew the Spanish elite but the properties are still controlled by the remaining wealthy elite passed down through the generations.

They ruled and reaped the riches and still do through their successors. They dominate the Philippine congress where most members are millionaires and they are there to promote and protect the business and political interests of their dynastic backers. The poor and lower middle class of workers are excluded from the political process and many sell their vote. Surveys show that the average approval rating of Philippine democracy is between 60 to 80 percent among Filipinos. In September 2017 it was a 86 % approval rating of those polled and this has dropped six points.

Although the system of government is based on the US model of elected representatives in two houses and a strong presidency, it is usually the president who gets the congress to support him by offering financial incentives to the congressional representatives and senators. It’s reality that payouts win support.

This is the pork barrel system of dolling out huge sums to the politicians to buy their support and most swing from opposition to back the president whoever he or she may be. While the Supreme Court ruled that pork barrel payouts are illegal it is still done one way or the other. But the President can also hurt the business interests of those in congress who oppose him.

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Activists march outside the House of Representatives in Manila to protest the extension for another year of martial law in the southern Philippine region of Mindanao. (Photo by Angie de Silva)

Rights groups warn extension of martial law in Mindanao will curtail people’s rights Philippine Supreme Court declares military rule legal

Joe Torres and Mark Saludes, Manila

Philippines February 7, 2018

Manila’s move to extend martial law for another year in the southern Philippine region of Mindanao is legal, according to the country’s Supreme Court.

The court ruled on Feb. 6 there were sufficient grounds for the extension of military rule in the region following a terrorist attack in the city of Marawi last year.”Public safety requires the extension [of the martial law] as shown by facts presented by the Armed Forces of the Philippines,” read the Supreme Court ruling.

Human rights groups warned the ruling “will create a favorable condition for the military to continue its rampage on people’s rights with impunity.”

Cristina Palabay, secretary-general of human rights group Karapatan, said her office has already documented cases where soldiers have used martial law to intimidate people.

Lawmakers last month approved a request by President Rodrigo Duterte to extend martial law across Mindanao to “totally eradicate” terrorist groups in the region.

The president placed the whole region under martial law following an attack by Islamic State-inspired gunmen on Marawi, resulting in the displacement of about 400,000 people.

Congress first extended military rule up to the end of last year, and extended it again for a year up to Dec. 31, 2018.

Opposition legislators put the legality of the move before the Supreme Court, saying it was against the constitution because there was no actual rebellion or invasion in Mindanao.

Government critics warned that the court ruling would justify “perpetual martial law” in the region.

Redemptorist priest Amado Picardal, a vocal critic of the Duterte administration, said military rule will not bring peace to the island and will only “escalate the spiral of violence.”

“It will justify crackdowns on any group identified as threat to national security,” said the priest.

Father Raymond Montero Ambray of Tandag Diocese in Mindanao said martial law “had already wreaked havoc on tribal and farming communities.”

He said extending military rule will give the military “more licenses to terrorize” communities that oppose mining and logging operations.

The military welcomed the Supreme Court ruling, saying that it will “boost the morale” of soldiers and allow troops “to better safeguard public safety in Mindanao.”

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, who is the administrator of martial law, said the government can now fully pursue “with great vigor its efforts to end continuing rebellion” in the region.

He said the ruling would also give aid agencies the “necessary space to undertake the rehabilitation of Marawi unhampered.”

Military spokesman Col. Edgard Arevalo said it was a “vote of confidence” in the soldiers.

“We would like to assure our people further that your [armed forces] will faithfully perform its duty to protect the people,” said the military official.