NCCP Supports Campaign to Free All Political Prisoners, Join the Campaign

“I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”

Luke 9:40

click here to go to the online petition site

The declaration and pursuit of justice in the Philippines is a continuing apostolate of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines, for as long as people are unjustly vexed. We recognize the importance of relating with church bodies in countries similarly situated. We value immensely the solidarity of people and church agencies advocating the upholding of human rights everywhere. A violation of human rights anywhere is a violation of human rights everywhere.

Wherewith, I issue this appeal for you to stay on course with us by signing on to the enclosed signature campaign. Our similar endeavors in the past contributed enormously in upholding peace and justice.

We are calling for the general, unconditional and omnibus amnesty to all political prisoners in the country. It has been done before it can be done again.

In the name of the 354 political prisoners as of June 2011, and in the name of all that is just and peaceful, we sincerely covet your support.

Sincerely,

REV. REX RB REYES, JR.

General Secretary

sources and related links:
NCCP, Free All Political Prisoners petition site, Free All Political Prisoners Phils

Drop the Trumped-up Charges Against Pastor Edwin Egar and the Rest of the ST 72

The National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) is extremely alarmed over the revival of charges against the “Southern Tagalog 72” or “ST 72”.  The ST 72 is the collective name for church people, lawyers, human rights workers and leaders of people’s organizations who were charged by the military with fabricated cases of multiple murders and frustrated multiple murders.  This is the third time that charges were filed against the 72.  The two previous cases were dismissed.  This new case is clearly a form of harassment.  It further reflects the gnawing thought that when it comes to human rights, there seems to be no difference between the old and new dispensations. 

What makes this very alarming for the NCCP is that two church people are on the list:  Pastor Mel Abesamis of the United Methodist Church (UMC) and Pastor Edwin Egar of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP).  The UMC and UCCP are member churches of the NCCP.  Moreover, this issue strikes home because Pastor Egar is responsible for the Advocacy and Campaign component of the NCCP’s Human Rights Program – “Defending the Defenders”, aimed at strengthening human rights defenders and bettering the situation of victims and families of human rights violations, which is also funded by the European Union under the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR). He had previous stints with NCCP, as Human Rights Program Regional Coordinator for South Luzon from 2003-2004 and later on was a volunteer staff of our Relief and Rehabilitation services.

In February 11, 2009, Pastor Egar was abducted by armed men in Macalamcam, Rosario, Batangas.  It was only through the quick response of his church as well as friends in the human rights community that he was released a few hours later.  Since then he and his family had to relocate.  When the cases against him were dismissed, the NCCP took him in again as staff member to help him rebuild his life and enable him to continue in his ministry for peace and human rights.  This new case against him and the 71 others, one of who has since died, is reliving a nightmare.

We condemn in the strongest terms this latest attempt to harass human rights defenders and leaders of people’s organizations critical of government policies and the continuing climate of impunity.  Would that the government focus on ensuring that justice be accorded to victims of human rights violations by prosecuting violators and not going after those who are working for human rights like Pastor Egar.  In the name of justice, we urge that these charges be withdrawn immediately. END

For more information, please contact:

REV. FR. REX REYES, JR., NCCP General Secretary

Ms. Biyaya Quizon, NCCP Media Liaison Officer

The above NCCP statement was forwarded to the Databank and Library by Ms. Quizon.  The ecumenical community continuously appeal to all partners (local and abroad) and freedom-loving fellows to concretely support this campaign in solidarity to the victims and their families in ending the climate of impunity in the country - the library staff

Churches as Havens and Sanctuaries for Human Rights

Quezon City, April 7, 2011: Around 60 participants including members of the clergy, church workers, and human rights advocates, came together for the Unity Forum on Churches as Havens and Sanctuaries for Human Rights to reflect on the churches’ role in the context of the human rights situation under the present administration. The said activity was sponsored by the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP). 

The one day unity forum involved speakers who helped set the agenda. Mr. Jigs Clamor, Secretary General of KARAPATAN Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights, started the day by providing the human rights situation. He said that the human rights situation in the country remains bleak as violations continue under the present dispensation. Clamor shared that there are already 42 victims of extrajudicial killings and 5 victims of enforced disappearance since President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III took office. 

Clamor was followed by the moving testimonies of Dr. Edith Burgos, chair of Desaparecidos and mother of missing activist, Jonas Burgos; Mr. Jonathan Sta. Rosa, of the Ecumenical Mission for Peace and Development (EMPD) and brother of slain UMC pastor Isaias Sta. Rosa; and Mr. Raymond Manalo of Hustisya, who along with his brother were abducted and tortured but eventually managed to escape from their captors after 18 months in captivity from the military. All of them underscored the importance of the churches' role in upholding and defending human rights. Dr. Burgos even stated that the parable of the Good Samaritan is a good example of being in solidarity with human rights victims. 

After the testimonies, Fr. Rex RB. Reyes, Jr., General Secretary of NCCP gave a Biblico-theological Reflection. Echoing Dr. Burgos' illustration of the Good Samaritan in the churches' role for human rights work, Fr. Reyes stated that “churches as sanctuaries and havens for human rights victims is the statement of the Ecumenical Movement that where and when vulnerable people are assaulted, robbed of their rights, killed or left wounded, we shall not pass by.” 

In the afternoon, Mr. Tadz Ifurong, Head of Services of KARAPATAN, gave an orientation on human rights. He was followed (by) Mr. Mervin Toquero, Assistant Program Secretary of Faith, Witness and Service of the NCCP, who shared about the Council's human rights work. 

After listening to the presentations, the participants, who came from different churches and organizations, broke up into small groups to share their reflections and to come up with recommendations on how churches can mobilize its resources toward human rights advocacy and to support HR victims and their families. 

The participants realized that while the complex issue of human rights was discussed and presented in a comprehensive manner, the one-day event just scratched the surface of the issue. The participants were encouraged to begin the process of thinking about the challenges presented and to continue their analyses within their own churches and organizations. They acknowledged that understanding the human rights situation in the country is very much required in order to enable the churches to strengthen their witnessing and solidarity. They affirmed that education, both in churches' leadership bodies and to the grassroots membership should be done. They also saw the need for continuing advocacy and lobbying and the need for networking. They all committed to following the example of the “Good Samaritan” to be human rights defenders and they will work hard so that they can open up their churches and organizations to be sanctuaries for victims and families of human rights violations. 

The activity ended through a symbolic closing worship headed by Dr. Rommel Linatoc, Program Secretary of the Christian Unity and Ecumenical Relations, also of the NCCP.

Article and photos by Mervin Toquero, Assistant Program Secretary of the Program Unit on Faith Witness and Service of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines

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NCCP on the Announcement to Withdraw Charges Against the Morong 43

The National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) welcomes the announcement of President Benigno C. Aquino III ordering the Department of Justice (DOJ) to withdraw the charges against the 43 health workers, also known as the Morong 43. The health workers were arrested in February 6, 2010 without warrants and detained illegally, by a composite team of the Philippine Army and Philippine National Police. News of the President’s announcement was greeted with applause at an ecumenical gathering timed to mark Human Rights Day. Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno who was featured the resource speakers at this gathering was also happy at this development.

The illegal arrest and detention of the health workers was loudly criticized by human rights groups and church advocates in the Philippines. The campaign for their immediate and unconditional release reached the international level with the ecumenical community lending its voice. The last group to call for their release was the Living Letters Delegation organized by the World Council of Churches and the Christian Conference of Asia who visited the Philippines in December 1-5, 2010. The clamor for the President for their release was also boosted by his previous statement that the arrest had legal infirmities and was a product of the “fruit of the poisoned tree” that is “evidence wrongly gotten cannot be used”.

We hope that the Morong 43 will be released from detention at the soonest possible time so they can be home and re-united with their families and friends. We are glad for the families and relatives who never gave up and stood on principled grounds in maintaining the wrong done to their loved ones.

We would also like to express our most profound thanks to the solidarity and unwavering support of the international community, especially our partners led by the World Council of Churches, the Christian Conference of Asia, the National Council of Churches in Australia and the United Church of Canada. We thank the Filipinos overseas who, individually and in groups added their voices to the call. We also note with constructive pride the member churches of the NCCP who prayed and supported the campaign for the release of the health workers in various ways. We thank the print and broadcast media outfits here and abroad for their help in highlighting this issue since their arrest.

Even as we express elation over this development, we continue to urge that our President look with favor on the plight of the 369 other political detainees, 13 of them arrested since he assumed office. We pray that the Department of Justice under the leadership of Secretary Leila de Lima will persevere in rendering speedy justice to all victims of human rights.

Finally, vigilance with hope is the primary message of the Advent season. The release of these health workers is the result of this vigilance with hope where Christians work hard to turn the hope into reality. After all the greatest hope of all was made real when God sent Jesus Christ to be with us on that first Christmas

Rev. Fr. REX RB Reyes, JR.

General Secretary

Human Rights Day, 2010

UNITY STATEMENT*

A Reflection Gathering: Human Rights Under Nine Years of the Arroyo Government

We gathered at the Angelicum College in Quezon City on April 28, 2010 to reflect on the human rights situation in the country in the nine years of the Arroyo Government. Our reflection was marked by the stories of the kith and kin of victims of human rights violations and how these violations have been brought about by the government’s counter insurgency program through the Oplan Bantay Laya (OBL).

We shared the anguish of these relatives. We grieved over the extra-judicial killings of more than a thousand people since 2001. We were saddened by stories of torture and the enforced disappearance of more than 200 people. We lamented the forcible evacuation and displacement of thousands of people in the rural areas as a result of military operations. We expressed alarm at the continuing detention of 43 health workers who were illegally arrested in Morong, Rizal.

The statistics are no mere figures. They represent the scale and magnitude of the gruesome impact of OBL. It is a counter-insurgency program that has not made a distinction between armed combatants and civilians propelled by the burning desire to serve and promote significant changes for the better in the lives of people mired in systemic poverty and neglect. The victims are farmers, workers, community leaders, indigenous people, Muslims, activists, students, health workers, churchworkers, lawyers, journalists, human rights defenders and party-list organizers and volunteers. None in recent memory can match the viciousness of the OBL and the human toll on civilians whose only crime, if indeed it was a crime that warranted their deaths and suffering, was principled dissent against government and in favor of the welfare of the majority, the safeguarding of posterity and patrimony of this country. The OBL is very much in place. With the year 2010 as the deadline to beat. To meet the target means more bloodbath.

To this day not a single perpetrator of these killings and violence to human life has been convicted. It is a chilling indictment on a government which claims adherence to democracy. It breeds righteous indignation and fuels further discontent.

The human rights situation under the Arroyo Government is the worst since that of the Martial Law years under Marcos. None in recent years, can compare to the culture of impunity that characterized these assaults on human dignity. We recall with horror the massacre in Maguindanao characterized among others by the fact that it had the most number of journalists killed in a single incident.

Our reflection bids us to hold high the struggle for the vindication of the innocent and the punishment of those who willfully destroyed life. Our reflection bids us demand of those in power that perpetrators of extra-judicial killings, enforced disappearances and other human rights violation be brought to the bars of justice. The Arroyo Government must be held accountable for the repressive OBL and the death, disappearance and abuse of innocent civilians in the name of counter-insurgency.

We are people who believe in God’s redeeming love and call to be one people under God’s sovereignty. There can be no more compelling reason for us to bear witness and denounce this travesty, than the call to live out and bear witness to our baptism that calls us to uphold the sanctity of life. One killing is one too many. Oplan Bantay Laya is an abomination – an instrument of violence, bloodshed and defiance of the divine will of abundant life for all. It must be stopped.

Finally, we issue this challenge to those who will be victorious following the May 10 elections: fulfill your promises; give justice to the victims of human rights violations; end political repression; discontinue the OBL as a policy and never embark on any similar policy; and, address the roots of the insurgency namely, poverty and injustice.

*This Unity Statement was approved and signed by the 175 participants composed of church people and human rights advocates who attended “A Reflection Gathering: Human Rights Under Nine Years of the Arroyo Government” organized by the Ecumenical Voice for Peace and Human Rights. The signatories include:

·         Rev. Fr. Rex RB. Reyes, Jr., General Secretary, National Council of Churches in the Philippines

·         Bp. Deogracias Iniguez, Jr. co-chairperson, Ecumenical Bishops' Forum

·         Bishop Ephraim Fajutagana, General Secretary, Iglesia Filipina Independiente

·         Dr. Edith Burgos, Chairperson, Desaparecidos

·         Mr. Jigs Clamor, Deputy Secretary General, Karapatan

·         Bishop Gabriel Garol, Bishop Emeritus, United Church of Christ in the Philippines

·         Bishop Lito Cruz, Diocese of Rizal-Pampanga, Iglesia Filipina Independiente

·         Sr. Maureen Catabian, Coordinator for Women, Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation, Religious of the Good Shepherd

·         Fr. Joe Dizon, Promoter, Solidarity Philippines

·         Ms. Norma Dollaga, General Secretary, KASIMBAYAN

·         Rev. Mariesol Villalon , Co-chairperson, Promotion of Church People's Response

·         Mr. Nardy Sabino, Secretary General, Promotion of Church People's Response

·         Fr. Bong Sarabia, CM, Chairperson, Promotion of Church People's Response – National Capital Region

·         Rev. Aniceto Villalon, Jr., Chairperson, Board of Church and Society, United Methodist Church

·         Fr. Terry Revullido, Dean, Aglipay Central Theological Seminary

·         Ms. Donna Lou Galingan, General Secretary, Kalipunan ng Kristianong Kabataan sa Pilipinas

free the 43

Video and photo collage of the gathering outside the Commission on Human Rights building along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City last March 18, 2010 during the hearing the Commission held for the continuous detention of the 43 health workers in Camp Capinpin.

NCCP Statement on the arrest and continued detention of forty three health workers

Women's Gathering for Justice

A gathering for justice and a call to end impunity held December 11, 2009 at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani shrine in Quezon City.

Message of the NCCP General Secretary on the First Anniversary of the Enforced Disappearance of James Balao

Kasimbayan Statement on the Killing of Fr. Cecilio Lucero

Below is the statement being read by Ms. Norma Dollaga, Kasimbayan General Secretary:

PCPR Statement on the Killing of Fr. Cecilio Lucero

Below is the statement being read by Rev. Marie Sol Villalon, Co-Chairperson of the Promotion for Church People's Response and Mr. Nardy Sabino PCPR General Secretary:

NCCP Statement on the killing of Fr Cecilio Lucero

Below is the YouTube link of the NCCP Statement on the killing of Fr. Cecilio Lucero being read by Rev. Fr. Rex RB Reyes, Jr. during the press conference last September 8, 2009.

Fr. Lucero is the first Roman Catholic Priest killed from 2001 to present. He is the 28th Church person killed from the same time period.

Father Cecilio Lucero: Human-rights defender (Photo courtesy of PCPR)

Please forward to friends for wider circulation.

The State of Human Rights in Eleven Asian Nations - 2008

For more info on the content of the book, please visit us at the library. For more info about the publisher, please visit the Asian Human Rights Commission website.

Human Rights Agenda V.13 Issue 1 Jan-Feb 2008

Received from the Mail.

For more information on the content of the above periodical, please visit us at the library. For more info on the Institute of Human Rights, you can check out their page in the UP College of Law website.

Let the Stones Cry Out: The Continuing Search for Justice

The production of the ecumenical report "Let The Stones Cry Out" is a high point in the involvement of the Christian Churches in the promotion and defense of human rights in the Philippines at a time when the respect for life and the inviolable dignity of human person was under attack.

Let the Stones Cry Out is not simply a write up about the human rights situation in the Philippines, it is a description of the dark years of suffering of the Filipino people when even the church was under attack, a condemnation of the intrinsically evil acts of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances, and a call to action.

It is a fulfillment of the church imperative of witnessing, of its ministry of accompanying and uplifting the downtrodden, and of its prophetic mission of spreading the good news of our salvation.


For more info on the above material, call us at the Library and Documentation Office (632) 9270182 or you can email us at library@nccphilippines.org.