Monday, August 30, 2010

Pro-lifers urge lawmakers to pass bills that promote life

Pro-lifers have renewed the call on legislators to pass two important bills in Congress which support the promotion and defence of life.

The lobby group in a statement urged lawmakers to deliberate on and pass two proposed life bills titled “Citizen Protection Act” and “Protection of the Unborn Child Act 2010.”

The call was made after a Manila policeman turned hostage taker killed eight HongKong tourists as seen in television worldwide.

“Why a dismissed policeman should be allowed to possess a high-powered rifle is an issue that lawmakers should address as they deliberate on a proposed bill calling for stricter measures for the carrying of firearms,” said Andrea Mendigo of Pro-Life Philippines Foundation.

But support for life should be applied in all human activities, said Mendigo, as one cannot condemn a law enforcer in torturing a prisoner and yet advocate the murder of defenceless and voiceless human beings through abortion.

“Respect for life must apply in all human activities, whether it be in sports, sexual encounters, or one’s profession,” Mendigo stressed.

She said doctors “who perform abortions on the one hand, and deliver healthy babies on the other hand, may feel conflicted in their professional psyche.”

“We all are part of the web of life,” she said. “When we begin to devalue the life of one member of the human race, we escalate into the cheapening of the rest of human life,” she added.

Mendigo said legislators should consider this “domino effect” when they deliberate on the bill calling for protection of the unborn child.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Movie proceeds to feed hungry Filipino children

Watch a movie and feed a hungry child.

A film that tells the greatest miracle of the 20th century will be shown in special screening to raise funds for the benefits of malnourished children.

Hapag-Asa, a program of the Pondo ng Pinoy that feeds at least 120,000 poor children each year, will be the recipient of the proceeds of “The 13th Day”—a movie on the miracle of Fatima.

The 13th Day, a film on the three young children who witnessed the apparition of Our Lady at Fatima will be shown in cinema in time for the commemoration of the Birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary on September 8.

The Pondo ng Pinoy Community Foundation and the Assissi Development Foundation which co-manage the feeding program invite the movie-going public to make a difference in the lives of hungry children by watching the film.

Organizers said it only “takes P10 a day or P1,200 for 6 months to feed a hungry child and help him improve his future.”

Being undertaken in partnership with dioceses, parishes and local organizations, the feeding program has already fed more than 500,000 poor and hungry children in the last five years.

Hapag-Asa is the local Church’s response to alleviate the problem of malnutrition and hunger which Pope Benedict XVI considered as “the most cruel and concrete sign of poverty.”

Both Pondo ng Pinoy and Assissi foundation are urging movie buffs to see the film and participate in Hapag-Asa’s mission to feed the hungry and malnourished Filipino children.

The movie’s release in Philippine theaters is made possible through the Marian Solidarity for Pope Benedict XVI.

Based on the memoirs of Lucia Santos, one of the three children of the apparition, “The 13th Day” re-create the true story of the three children chosen by the Blessed Virgin to bring the message of hope to the world.

Tickets at Ayala cinemas are priced at P75.00 for block screenings and at P100.00 for walk-in patrons.

For advanced online ticket purchase, check out Ayala’s www.sureseats.com. Interests for group and block screenings may call 632-1003 or send email to assisifoundation.13thday@gmail.com

“The 13th Day” will open September 8 at Greenbelt 3, Glorietta 4, TriNoma, Market!Market!, Alabang Town Center and in Ayala Center Cebu and in Marqueemall at Angeles Pampanga.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Corruption, sign of lack of democracy—EBF

The pervasive corruption in all levels of Philippine society is just but a symptom of a bigger problem, an ecumenical religious group said.

The Ecumenical Bishops’ Forum (EBF), a group of Catholic and Protestant Bishops, priests and nuns, in a statement said the bigger problem in the country today is the lack of democracy in economy and politics.

And it is seen in how the country patterned its economic policies to suit the “demands of globalization, specifically of the world-dominating US economy”, they said.

“…what has been considered as economic growth did not actually translate to jobs and welfare for the people… [but] was characterized by a widening disparity between the glaringly few rich and the numberless poor – the rich became richer and the poor were buried further in debt and poverty,” they further said.

According to statistics the annual net worth of the top 20 richest Filipinos is equivalent to the combined annual net worth of the more than 52 million Filipinos.

The Church leaders said elections may be an expression of democracy, but not the choice of leaders voted into office.

“Our historical experience shows that however repeatedly we underwent elections, the basic situation of our people never changed because those elected to office carry their vested interests instead of their constituents,” they stated.

A typical example, according to them, is the 30-year old agrarian reform program that has seen many presidents into office but was never implemented as required by law.

This lack of democracy is also apparent in the situation of the indigenous peoples and Bangsamoro communities in Mindanao, whose call for self-determination remain unheeded.

Aggressors have taken over the ancestral lands of the tribal communities in pursuit of so-called ‘development projects’ leaving the indigenous people “to fight among themselves for what meager resources are left,” they said.

‘Militaristic approach’


The EBF also criticized the government’s militaristic approach in solving the insurgency problem, saying the launching of Oplan Bantay Laya during Macapagal-Arroyo’s administration led to thousands of extra-judicial killings and forced disappearances.

The Aquino government has announced on August 16 that it would continue to implement Oplan Bantay Laya as an internal security policy.

“Instead of addressing the root causes of these rebellions, gun powder is addressed with more fire,” the group said on Aquino’s decision.

Resume peace talks

They urged President Aquino to go back to the negotiation table with the NDFP (National Democratic Front of the Philippines) and resume the peace talks.

The government (under Arroyo) and the NDFP were already advancing into its second substantive agenda of the peace talks when it was stalled due to rampant extra judicial killings.

“We call [on] the GRP and the NDFP to go back to the negotiation table and resume long stalled peace talks immediately and discuss and agree on measures to address the root cause of the armed conflict,” the church leaders said.

They challenged both groups to “manifest that the peace process is on top of their priority; [ have] emissaries from the parties to talk even outside the formal conferences if negotiating panels are not yet ready; constitute immediately their negotiating panels and schedule as soon as possible the resumption of talks; adhere to previously signed agreements such as the Hague Declaration, JASIG, the CARHRIHL, etc; move forward to the discussion of the second substantive agenda which is the Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-Economic Reforms (CASER); and acknowledge that the people are essential stakeholders in the issue of peace.”

“Justice should always be at the heart of our efforts in achieving a sustainable peace – a peace which is not the silence of graves but a peace which is the rightful reign of democracy,” they further said.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Implement genuine agrarian reform for farmers, Aquino told

A church-based lay organization has called on President Benigno Aquino III to implement a genuine agrarian reform for farmers in the interest of social justice.

The Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP), a national church organization who work with the rural poor for land, justice, freedom and integrity of creation, said Aquino should make sure farmers get the land they till.

In a statement, the group urged Aquino to “show his support for the social justice component underlying land reform and ensure that land distribution is paramount and not allow alternatives such as the stock distribution option.”

“We particularly call on him to express this principle in relation to Hacienda Luisita; we also call on him to enact a law carrying genuine agrarian reform for the tillers,” the group stated.

The statement was issued during the RMP’s 26th National Assembly held in Davao last August 12 to 16.

RMP pointed out the lack of services, landlessness and displacement as some of the underlying problems that burdened the rural poor.

“Land is still not distributed to the tiller, as there is no genuine agrarian reform and no basic services to the farmers. Land is still monopolized by landlords and corporations, as seen with the creation of Special Economic Zones, open-pit mining, logging, plantations for biofuels and export crops. As such, land is being converted, and the effect is the destruction of our ecology, the displacement of farmers, fisher folk and indigenous peoples, and the worsening of food security,” the statement partly read.

The group also decried the human rights violations against the poor perpetrated by some members of the armed forces.

“We see clearly how the Armed Forces of the Philippines, along with the paramilitary and private armies are being used to protect the interest of the landlords and corporations resulting to an ever increasing number of human rights violations,” the statement said.

It also criticized the armed forces’ counter insurgency program dubbed Oplan Bantay Laya, saying that it targeted those “who defend the legitimate interests of the rural poor.”

“Under Oplan Bantay Laya, civilians become ‘collateral damage’ as they become victims to militarization. This systematic disregard of human rights institutionalized through Oplan Bantay Laya under the guise of “wiping out insurgency” only exacerbates the poverty of the people, creating a culture of fear,” it further said.

The group urged Aquino to abolish the controversial anti-insurgency program, and as Commander in chief “lead the army to protect the people and not the interest of big business.”

Among other things, the group also asked for the resumption of the peace talks in Mindanao; the prosecution of former Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for her accountability on extra judicial killings; cancellation of the VFA agreement; scrapping of Mining Act of 1995; justice for human rights victims and their families; and freedom of all political prisoners, especially the Morong 43.

It was the RMP who begun in the 1970s the community based health program that the Morong 43 were doing when the military arrested them.

The gathering drew some 80 women and men, priests, religious and rural lay missionaries from all over Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

Themed “Paigtingin ang gawaing RMP tungo sa pagtugon sa mga hinaing ng mga dukha sa kanayunan”, the national assembly also coincided with the RMP’s 41st anniversary of foundation.

Friday, August 6, 2010

Bishop backs safe recycling program for waste pickers

Caloocan Bishop Deogracias Iñiguez, Jr. said the government should create a safe recycling program that would reduce exposure of waste pickers to harmful chemicals in dump sites.
"We owe it to the informal waste sector to create and support conditions for recycling that will not put their health and that of their families and communities in danger," he pointed out.

Iñiguez, who also heads the Public Affairs Committee of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, said that “the waste pickers belong to the poorest of the poor who work in the most difficult and toxic condition to make ends meet.”

Poor families who live near dump site areas make their living by picking discards and other recyclable materials. The nature of their work exposes them to hazardous chemicals and substances that can cause illness and death.

“In appreciation of their role in the recycling chain, let us do whatever is necessary to make their work more humane and less injurious to their health,” Iñiguez said.

The Bishop made the appeal during a workshop on chemical safety held last August 3 by environmental watchdog EcoWaste Coalition under its Project PROTECT, (People Responding and Organizing against Toxic Chemical Threats).

The workshop, first in a series on chemical safety, aimed “to raise public awareness and action on harmful substances that can endanger human as well as community health and safety.”

Aside from Bishop Iñiguez, other participants to the workshop include waste pickers’ group based in Pier 18 and Smokey Mountain in Tondo and representatives of the Manila Health Department, National Solid Waste Management Commission (NSWMC) and various civil society organizations.

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Indigenous leaders vow to pursue rights to self-determination

Leaders of various indigenous communities vowed to act collectively as they urge government to recognize their rights to self-determination.

Tribal leaders expressed disappointment on President Benigno Aquino’s SONA saying that as in past administrations, Aquino’s government seemed to exclude them.

IP leaders said Aquino’s SONA failed to address the issues of the indigenous communities “such as recognition of their right to self-determination and reversal of policies that have undermined their culture and their very existence.”

“As with previous presidents we barely deserved mention in his speech. And while we appreciate his statement that we will be part of any negotiation regarding peace in Mindanao, we are concerned that the direction he seems to be taking with respect to economic policy is to adopt the same old formulas that have already proven inadequate,” said Nilda Mangilay, a Subanen of Zamboanga del Sur.

Almost a hundred indigenous peoples’ representatives from Luzon and Mindanao gathered recently at Apu Agbibilin Community Center in Brgy. Songco during their State of the Indigenous Peoples Address (SIPA).
Recalling that the government had failed them in the past, the IP leaders said that they have committed themselves to pursue their demands through the SIPA.

“We will not wait for government to act on our demands. We have not forgotten our sad experiences in the past, when our demands were ignored and our rights systematically curtailed and undermined by governments which served only the interests of the rich and powerful, such as big business and foreign investors.” said Cristina Batiel Moyaen, a Kankaney from Apayao.

Quintol Labuayan, a B’laan of Sultan Kudarat said they want the government to recognize their customary laws, recognize their right to self-governance and give them equal status in the Mindanao peace negotiations.
He said there should be honest implementation of the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act and proper accountability of the National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP).

“We will strengthen our ranks and push our collective agenda together as a unified IP movement,” he added.
The IP delegates lamented the indigenous people’s assimilation into the Filipino “nation”, saying “it brought nothing but trouble for their people.”

“Our people were the original inhabitants of this land. We were here long before the Philippines came into existence. But through force or deception we were incorporated into this nation,” said Datu Vic Saway, one of the Talaandig delegates to the third SIPA assembly.

Subjected to centuries of abuse, the country’s indigenous communities have lost most of their ancestral lands with the entry of big business and development projects.

“Our incorporation into this political system has only brought the entry of destructive development projects such as mining, logging and plantations. Some of us have also suffered displacement and forced evacuation from wars that we were not even party to,” Peter Duyapat, an Ifugao representative from Nueva Vizcaya said.