NATIONAL COUNCIL OF CHURCHES IN THE PHILIPPINES

PRESS RELEASE

2007 March 15

Bishops, Other Church Leaders,
Back Call to Review US Military Aid to RP

Human rights report submitted to U.S. Congress also presented to reporters

QUEZON CITY – Bishops and church leaders today supported the church-led delegation (Ecumenical Voice on Peace and Human Rights in the Philippines) currently in Washington, D.C. in their call to the U.S. Congress to exert pressure on President Gloria Arroyo to put an end to the extra-judicial killings that have claimed the lives of 836 people. Twenty-five church people were among those killed. The delegation also called for a review of the U.S.’ security cooperation with the Philippine government particularly in the fight against terrorism to ensure that this does not support Mrs. Arroyo’s national security policy that exacerbates the violations of human rights.

In a news conference today, the church leaders also presented “Let the Stones Cry Out: An Ecumenical Report on Human Rights in the Philippines and a Call to Action” to reporters. The report, released by the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP), was endorsed by churches and ecumenical bodies in the international community including member communions of Church World Service and the National Council of Churches in the United States. It was submitted by a church-led delegation to U.S. members of the Senate and House of Representatives, in Washington, D.C., as well as to members of the Parliament in Canada where some members of the delegation went before going to the U.S. The report documents the spate of extrajudicial killings, as well as the continuing rampant human rights violations among the various sectors of Philippine society.

Fr. Rex Reyes, Program Secretary of the Christian Unity and Ecumenical Relations of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP), said the church-led delegation also traveled to various Canadian cities and held mini-conferences to publicly launch the report. He added that “The delegation will proceed to Geneva, Switzerland, the final leg of its mission, where the report will be submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Council.”

At the news conference, the Most Rev. Ignacio Soliba, Chairperson of the NCCP and Prime Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the Philippines (ECP) stressed the importance of the report. “This human rights report is critically urgent; it is an ecumenical contribution to the human rights struggle in the Philippines and as such comes from our understanding of the Christian gospel and its demands upon us in bringing about God’s reign of justice and peace,” he said. “It is multi-sectoral in coverage, even as it gives prominent focus to the spate of killings of church people, including pastors, priests, and lay workers, never before seen and experienced by the Philippine churches.”

The Most Rev. Godofredo David, Obispo Maximo of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI), on the other hand, said that “at no time in Philippine historical past, including the time of the dreaded military dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos, have so many men and women of the cloth, including a bishop, in this case, Bp. Alberto Ramento, been killed. The cry of the Filipino people is to stop the killings. It is a cry against impunity.”

The Report, according to Bishop David, “documents this cry of protest. It pleads for the immediate stop to the killings and urges for the just redress of human rights violations. We hope that with this report, the U.S. will reconsider its support to the Philippine military, as various international and national fact-finding missions already show, that the unbridled political killings are linked to the Arroyo government’s counter-insurgency program.”

The report likewise mentions the poor record of the Philippine government in complying not only with the procedures required of a member of the UN but also of its failure to put its declared commitments to the UN Human Rights Council into reality.

Also present at the news conference was Rev. Mariesol Villalon of the United Methodist Church (UMC) and Fr. Charly Ricafort, OSC, Fr. Gerry Sabado, OCarm, and Sr. Maureen Catabian, RGS. The Roman Catholic priests and the religious sister said that they fully support the ecumenical report and they will help spread it among Roman Catholics.

The members of the delegation include: Ms. Sharon Rose Joy Ruiz-Duremdes, general secretary of National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP); Bp Eliezer M. Pascua, general secretary of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP); Bishop Solito Toquero, resident bishop of the United Methodist Church-Manila Episcopal Area (UMC-MEA); The Most Rev. Deogracias Iñiguez, the Roman Catholic bishop of the Diocese of Kalookan; Fr. Jose P. Dizon, executive director of the Workers Assistance Center, Inc. (WAC); Ms. Marie Hilao-Enriquez, secretary general of Karapatan; Atty. Edre Olalia, of the Counsels for the Defense of Liberties (CODAL; Athea Peñalosa, information and publicity coordinator of the Children’s Rehabilitation Center (CRC); Amirah Ali Lidasan, secretary-general and co-founder of the Moro-Christian People’s Alliance.

“Let the Stones Cry Out: An Ecumenical Report on Human Rights in the Philippines and a Call to Action” is available at www.nccphilippines.org.

REFERENCE:

Rev. Fr. Rex Reyes

Officer-in-charge, NCCP

Tel: 929-37-45, 925-17-65, mobile: 09212076707

Email: padirexnccphilippines.org, librarynccphilippines.org