Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year to all!

NCCP Christmas Message 2010

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

Statement by Living Letters delegation to the Philippines

(A team of church representatives from Africa, Asia, Europe and North America made this statement at the end of a solidarity visit to churches, ecumenical organizations and civil society organizations in the Philippines. - www.oikoumene.org)

“Living letters” (2 Corinthians 3:3) is a symbol of the living Church which we represent by coming together under the auspices of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and at the kind invitation of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP).

When asked by the disciples where He lived, Jesus answered, “Come and see” (John 1:39), then He commanded John, “write down what you see and send a letter to the churches” (Revelations 1:12). Every visit is a revelation when the knower and the known become one.

This visit has been an opportunity for us to come and see: to see a culture, to see a people, to see a church, to see concerns, turmoil and hopes. First we were warmly welcomed by the general secretary of the NCCP, Rev. Rex Reyes. With hospitality and assistance from him and his colleagues:

We saw and heard the heart-breaking stories of victims of human rights abuses and their family members. We saw and felt the pain of those who have lost loved ones by extra-judicial killings, arbitrary detentions, torture and enforced disappearances.

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An appeal to free the 43 Health Workers (Morong 43)

An appeal from our General Secretary

October 29, 2010

To Our Friends and Partners Around the World:

Please Sign the Paid Ad to

Free the 43 Health Workers (Morong 43)

May I appeal you to please sign the paid ad below. It is calling for the immediate release of the forty three health workers, known collectivley as the Morong 43 from continued detention. This issue is very close to us not only because it involves human rights and social justice but also because one of those detained include Dr. Alexis Montes, a member and former national health program coordinator of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines. Dr. Montes was also a member of the NCCP’s Commission on Faith, Witness and Service at one time.

To indicate your support, just send your name, position and name of church/organization and send it to pcprnatl@gmail.com on or before November 10, 2010.

Thank you for your unwavering support and commitment to our struggle for human rights.

Sincerely,

(sgd) REV. REX RB REYES, JR.

General Secretary

National Council of Churches in the Philippines

Another day in prison for the "Morong 43" is another day justice is denied.

President Benigno Aquino III should act now and release the Morong 43.

Nine months ago in February 6, 43 health workers including 26 women – two of whom have already given birth while in prison – were illegally arrested, searched, detained and tortured. Their rights continue to be violated and their families tormented.

The Department of Justice has submitted its recommendations regarding the case of the 43 health workers. The President himself has commented on the defect of the search warrant and that evidence against the Morong 43 are the “fruit of the poisonous tree.” Various local and international organizations have called for the health workers’ release.

When Malacanang granted amnesty to rebel soldiers, many asked why the Morong 43 remained in prison.

We call on the Aquino government to withdraw the charges against the Morong 43 and see to their immediate and unconditional release!

Statement on the recent ACT Alliance General Assembly

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

"Poverty is wrong: we must make our voices heard,” says ACT Alliance leader

ACT Alliance pledges to speak out on global injustice 

GENEVA, October 26, 2010

The head of one of the world’s largest faith-based humanitarian and development alliances has vowed to take a bolder and more vocal stance on the worst inequalities of our age. 

"We have a duty to be brave in standing up against oppression,” ACT Alliance General Secretary John Nduna said on the final day of ACT Alliance’s four-yearly assembly in Arusha, Tanzania.

ACT Alliance’s 105 church and church-related members employ 33,000 staff and volunteers in 140 countries and have an income of US $1.6 billion a year. With decades of experience, most ACT Alliance members are from globally poor countries, working at grass roots level and immersed in the culture of the places they are based.   

Nduna promised that the alliance would be outspoken on injustice and poverty as never before, hinting at the kinds of campaigns the world could expect to see from ACT Alliance. "In today’s world, a billion people are going to bed hungry, only 30% of children in rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa have access to anti-malarial drugs and climate change is devastating the world poorest people. We know this is wrong. We know we must make our voices heard against all these gross injustices.

“We are powerful, we are committed, and we mean business. We are fired up and motivated to challenge political figures, big business and the vested interests of the world's richest nations,” Nduna said.

The assembly affirmed that ending poverty and inequality was not just a goal but an obligation.

Leaders of the alliance’s organisations set the alliance’s strategy for the next four years, emphasising the importance of improving the lives of the world's poor. Even as the assembly was meeting, ACT Alliance staff were responding to the floods in Pakistan and the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake, healthcare in Palestine, education in India, land rights in Brazil and HIV prevention in southern Africa.

In other agreements made at the assembly, ACT Alliance committed itself to improving the speed and strength of co-ordination between member organisations so as to respond more effectively to support communities in crisis. It also pledged to prioritise preventative measures in all its work and ensure continuity of care and recovery after an emergency.

The meeting ensured that ACT Alliance's uniquely democratic 'forum' structure - in which major decisions on strategy, financial resources and campaigns are taken at a country level rather than at the Alliance's headquarters in Geneva - was strengthened. The alliance acknowledged the importance of its national members, with delegates agreeing to make these country-level forums stronger and better resourced.

About ACT Alliance

ACT Alliance is second only to Caritas in size as a faith-based humanitarian, development and advocacy alliance. Member organisations operate from an egalitarian belief in treating all people with dignity, and an absolute commitment to serving people of all faiths and none. ACT Alliance is a signatory to The Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and NGOs in Disaster Relief which stipulates, among others, that aid will not be used to further political or religious standpoints. 

ACT Alliance's website is at www.actalliance.org

For general enquiries about the ACT Alliance and interviews with John Nduna, ACT Alliance General Secretary, please contact:

Sandra Cox, Communications Officer on +41 22 791 6711 or +41 79 681 1868

Basic Ecumenical Course (BEC) 2010

Congratulations to the participants, and staff of the Basic Ecumenical Course (BEC) 2010!

the participants

 the participants with the NCCP General Secretary, Rev. Rex RB Reyes, Jr. (left)

For more info on the Basic Ecumenical Course and the life and work of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines, please check out our website at www.nccphilippines.org