advocacy days

Photos courtesy of Suara Bangsa Moro partylist

Several church and human rights workers from the Philippines attended the Ecumenical Advocacy Days conference held in Arlington, Virginia, USA from March 9 to 12. Ecumenical Advocacy Days is a movement of the ecumenical Christian community, and its recognized partners and allies, grounded in biblical witness and shared traditions of justice, peace and the integrity of creation. Its goal is to strengthen the Christian voice and to mobilize for advocacy on a wide variety of U.S. domestic and international policy issues. The conference attended by over 1,000 religious advocates will conclude with a visit to Capitol Hill where participants will ask their Congressional representatives to make the needs of children the center of the 2007 legislative agenda. The Philippine presentations include the following: Presentation 1: Cost of War on Children by Athea Penalosa of the Children’s Rehabilitation Center, Quezon City, Philippines This presentation features the stories of children who struggle to recover from violent and abrupt loss.. Ms.Penalosa is knowledgeable about the abhorrent losses experienced by Filipino children that can so terrorize the child so as to bring them to complete silence.. Media, stories and art of the children will help tell the stories of loss and terror experienced by the children who witness political killings and experience manifestations of counter-insurgency warfare in their daily lives. Presentation 2: Development Aggression: A Violation of the Children’s Future by the Cordillera People’s Alliance, Northern Luzon, Philippines Foreign mining investments contribute to the loss of natural resources and cause massive displacement of Filipino communities. Our speaker will speak about violations to the ancestral domain of the indigenous peoples of the Cordillera and their resolve as indigenous persons, not to disgrace the ancestors, but to continue to defend the ancestral domain. The loss to the ancestral domain is loss is a violation of their right to the material base to their culture, identity and ability to create a sustainable economy. Once the mining companies intrude, “we lose everything: our productive farmland’s rich forests and rivers will disappear… and human rights violations follow. Our speaker will speak to the losses specific losses of the children and their resolve as indigenous persons, not to disgrace the ancestors, but to continue to defend the ancestral domain. Presentation 3: Mudslides: an Avoidable Violation of Human Rights by Bishop Eliezer Pascua, General Secretary of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines Each year, foreign logging industries contribute to the natural calamities and displacement of Filipino communities. One year ago almost the entire community of Guinsaugon in Southern Leyte was buried beneath a massive mudslide.. Buried in the mud was the entire school, households and the local congregation United Church of Christ. Bishop Pascua will recount the devastation to barangay Guinsaugon and how changes in logging practices might prevent these massive violation of human rights. Presentation 4: Given and Inch and They Take a Mile by Reverend Father Jose P. Dizon, a Roman Catholic priest who is the founder and current executive director of the Workers Assistance Center, Inc. (WAC). Aggressive development schemes and international trade policies are part of the broader context led to repression and political killings of trade unionists and leaders of anti-mining campaigns.
			Reverend Robert Edgar, secretary general of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States, addresses the press about his support on the lobbying of the Philippine delegation to the US Senate and Congress in exposing the extra-judicial killings in the Philippines. Reveren Edgar's church is one of the convenors of the Ecumenical Advocacy Days. One of the EAD's mission is to mobilize for advocacy on a wide variety of U.S. domestic and international policy issues. The issue of extra-judicial killings in the Philippines is one of their goals for this 2007 conference


			Bp. Solito Toquero, the resident bishop of the United Methodist Church (UMC) in the Manila Episcopal Area of the Philippines Central Conference of the United Methodist Church, talks on the HR situation, especially among church workers. Bishop Toquero is the co-chairperson of the Ecumenical Bishops' Forum.

			The other members of the Philippine delegation include the following: Most Reverend Deogracias Iniguez, from the Diocese of Caloocan and Co-Chair of the Ecumenical Bishops' Forum and convenor of Pilgrims of Peace; Amirah Ali Lidasan, Moro leader from Mindanao and the secretary-general of the Moro-Christian People's Alliance and the National President of the Suara Bangsamoro PArtylist; Ms. Athea Penalosa, is the information and publicity coordinator of the Children's REhabilitation Center; and, Atty. Edre Olalia, International Officer for the Counsels for the Defense of Liberties (CODAL).

The US Congress hearings on extrajudicial killings in the Philippines

News Release March 7, 2007 Reference: Rachel Redondiez, Vice-Chair, BAYAN USA Eemail: vc@bayanusa.org, phone: (415) 244-9734 US Congress Holds Hearings on Political Killings in the Philippinesl Filipino-American Community Demands Withdrawal of US Aid to Arroyo Government Washington DC-- Th recent statements issued by US Ambassador to the Philippines Kristie Kenney and the US State Department on the human rights crisis in the Philippines has prompted a broad alliance of Filipinos, Filipino-Americans, and US human rights advocates to challenge the US government to put its money where it's mouth is-- and NOT in the hands of the Arroyo administration. The foreign relations committees of both the House of Representatives and Senate will both hold sessions on the political killings in the Philippines on Wednesday, March 14th, in Washington DC, the same day an eleven person human rights delegation from the Philippines will be DC en route to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva. The central demand remains a halt of US military aid to the Philippine government. "The bottom line is we don't want our money going to Arroyo. This money goes directly towards death squads. If the US government wants to be serious about this, it must halt all aid to the Philippines immediately. Reports are not enough, and will produce no concrete results unless concrete steps are taken," states Berna Ellorin, Secretary-General of BAYAN USA. Both sessions were made possible by a collaboration of grassroot efforts from Filipino-American alliance National Alliance for Filipino Concerns (NAFCON), BAYAN USA, the United Methodist Church, and local legislative advocates in Washington. As an overseas chapter of the BAYAN alliance in the Philippines, from which over 835 members have been killed since 2001, BAYAN USA has been coordinating with Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and several church denominations to raise awareness of the killings in Capitol Hill and to press the U.S. government to restrict military aid to the Philippines. The U.S. allocated over $230 million in military aid to the Philippines during Arroyo's administration. Upon the urging of the local Filipino community in the California Bay Area, Congressman Tom Lantos will be holding a briefing in the House Foreign Relations Committee on the Philippine human rights issue, at 10am on March 14. That afternoon at 2:30pm, Senator Boxer, Chair of the East Asia Sub-Committee of the Senate will hold also hold a hearing. BAYAN USA has also been actively fundraising for the Permanent People's Tribunal Second Session on the Philippines this month in The Hague. The trial stands to try to Arroyo administration for serious charges of gross human rights violations. For more information, visit: Bayan Phlippines website Bayan-USA website			Schedule of hearing UNITED STATES Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Committee Notice Hearing: Extrajudicial Killings in the Philippines: Strategies to end the violence Date: Wednesday, MArch 14, 2007 Time: 2:30 pm Place: SD 419 Witness: Panel 1 Mr. Eric G John Deputy Assistant Secretary for East ASian and Pacific Affairs Department of State Washington DC Mr. Jonathan D. Farrar Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Department of State Washington DC PANEL 2 Mr. T. Kumar Advocacy Director for Asia and the Pacific Amnesty International USA Washington, DC Mr. Eugene Martin Executive Director Philippine Facilitation Project US Institute of Peace Washington DC Ms. Sharon Rose Duremdez Secretary-General NAtional Council of Churches in the Philippines Quezon City, Philippines Bp. Eliezer Pascua General Secretary United Church of Christ in the Philippines Quezon City, Philippines Ms. Marie Hilao-Enriquez General Secretary of KARAPATAN Quezon City, Philippines KARAPATAN press release: Filipino human right advocates testifying at U.S. Senate hearing on killings in RP



Press Conference after the EAD conference Fr. Jose P. Dizon, founder and executive director of the Workers Assistance Center, Inc. (WAC) makes a presentation on aggressive development schemes and international trade policies that are part of the broader context that lead to repression and political killings of trade unionists and leaders of anti-mining campaigns. Ms. Marie Hilao-Enriquez (left), General Secretary of KARAPATAN, discussed the human rights situation in the country. She is scheduled to testify on the extra-judicial killings of activists and human rights defenders, at the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Probe headed by Senator Barbara Boxer.KARAPATAN Secretary General on March 14,	Ms. Sharon Rose Joy Ruiz-Duremdes (center) is the General Secretary of the NCCP and a lay leader of the Convention of Philippine Baptist Church. Duremdes talked about the church people who were victims of members of the protestant church and paid dearly for their human rights and justice advocacy. Twenty-two Protestant ministers and workers have been killed since 2001. Bp. Solito Toquero (right) is the resident bishop of the United Methodist Church (UMC) in the Manila Episcopal Area of the Philippines Central Conference of the United Methodist Church. He is the co-chairperson of the Ecumenical Bishops' Forum. The four church and human rights workers attended the 2007 conference of the Ecumenical Advocacy Days in Virginia, USA.