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March 13, 2007
US, international Churches express support for RP human rights delegation
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Leaders of US, Canadian Churches and international
ecumenical groups expressed support for the effort of the Filipino human
rights delegation now in this city to seek an end to the political
killings in the Philippines.
“Unless the killings stop, we will not stop,” Dr. Antonios Kireopoulos,
Associate General Secretary for International Affairs and Peace of the
National Council of Churches USA, said in expressing his support for the
campaign to seek justice for human rights victims and end the violence in
the Philippines.
Dr. Kireopoulos and other Church and ecumenical leaders relayed their
respective Churches’ and group’s response to the unbridled political
killings in the Philippines during the International Ecumenical Conference
on Human Rights in the Philippines in this city.
The Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, general secretary of the World Council of
Churches (WCC), in his message relayed by Rev. Chris Ferguson of the WCC
International Affairs, Peace and Human Security office, said the report on
the political killings that was released by the National Council of
Churches in the Philippines during the conference was “profoundly alarming
and distressing”.
“The political killings is wrong as wrong could be,” Rev. Kobia said, who
also criticized the Philippine government for failing to put an end to the
killings. “The State exists to protect its citizens. The Philippine
government failed in that regard.”
Rev. Kobia urged the international and Church community to redouble its
effort to help human rights groups seek justice and end the violence. “The
political killings should move us (Church community) to deeper action,”
Rev. Ferguson quoted Rev. Kobia.
For his part, David Weaver, director of Mission Witness and Relations of
Church World Service, took exception to statements made by government and
military officials naming churches and their leaders as “sectoral front
organizations”, “communist-infiltrated” organizations and “enemies of the
state”.
“This is the language of the Cold War,” he said. “And it is emerging
again, to our consternation.”
A nine- member Filipino human rights delegation is now in Washington, D.C
to deliver a new report on the human rights situation in the Philippines
to US Congress and Church leaders and urge them to exert pressure on
Philippine President Gloria Arroyo to put an end to the extra-judicial
killings that has claimed the lives of 836 people.
The US Senate Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs chaired by
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-California) is set to conduct a hearing on the
extra-judicial killings in the Philippines on March 14, Wednesday. Two
members of the delegation -- Marie Hilao-Enriquez, general secretary of
the human rights alliance Karapatan, and the Rev. Eliezer Pascua, general
secretary of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines -- have been
invited to testify in the hearing.
At the conference, James Winkler, general secretary of the General Board
of Church and Society of the United Methodist Church, said the US
government is partly to blame for the political killings. “President Bush
said in 2001 that there are two fronts in the war on terror—Afghanistan
and the Philippines.”
Winkler said this statement from Bush emboldened governments to carry out
the war without respect for people’s civil liberties and basic human
rights, such as the right to live.
As an expression of solidarity, Winkler said he would accompany the
Filipino delegation to Geneva, Switzerland, the final leg of its mission,
where it will submit the report released by the NCCP to the United Nations
Human Rights Council.
The Episcopal Church’s ecumenical officer, Bishop Christopher Epting, told
participants that the Church’s Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori
has written Task Force Usig chief General Avelino Razon urging him to
speed up the task force’s investigation into the unsolved political
killings. “We will continue to walk this journey with you,” Bishop Epting
assured the delegation and the conference participants.
The Rev. Randy Day, general secretary of the General Board of Global
Ministries of the United Methodist Church (GBGM-UMC), said upholding human
rights is one of the highest priorities of the GBGM-UMC. He described
those who were felled by the series of political killings in the
Philippines as “common people, Jesus’ people,” he said. “And we will
always stand in solidarity with Jesus’ people.”
Both the Senate hearing and the House briefing were secured by the
concerted efforts of church and ecumenical bodies led by the Rev. Bob
Edgar, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches of Christ in
the USA and a former member of Congress, and grassroots organizations in
the US that lobbied their respective members of Congress to have the
committees of Sen. Boxer and Rep. Lantos hold these meetings at the time
that the high-level church delegation from the Philippines is in
Washington, DC.
The Philippine report, “’Let the Stones Cry Out‘: An Ecumenical Report on
Human Rights in the Philippines and a Call to Action.” was prepared by the
National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP). The 86-page report
details cases of political killings and studies the chilling pattern and
alarming proportions with which these assaults on life were perpetrated.
The report links the unbridled political killings to the Arroyo
government’s counter-insurgency program. “The manner with which the
victims were executed or abducted was done professionally and
systematically, establishing a connection between the national security
strategy and the incidents of
violations,” the NCCP says in the report.
The document likewise mentions the poor record of the Philippine
government in complying not only with the procedures required of a member
of the United Nations but also of its failure to adhere to its declared
commitments to the UN Human Rights Council. The report to be released by
the NCCP is the latest one to pin the responsibility for the killings to
Philippine military and security forces.
IECHRP Release #4
Download
statement in text format
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Members of the Philippine Human
Rights Delegation
1.
Dr. Eleazar Fernandez, Professor of Theology, United Theological
Seminary
2.
Ms. Sharon Rose Joy Ruiz-Duremdes, General Secretary, National
Council of Churches in the Philippines
3.
Marie Hilao-Enriquez, General Secretary KARAPATAN
4.
Atty. Edre Olalia, President of the International Association of
People's Lawyers
5.
Athea Penaloza, information and publicity coordinator Children's
Rehabilitation Center
6.
Rev. Fr. Jose P Dizon, Executive Director of the Workers Assistance
Center
7.
Amirah Ali Lidasan, National President, Suara Bangsamoro Partylist
Organization
8.
Bp. Solito Toquero, Resident Bishop in the Manila Episcopal Area,
co-chair of the Ecumenical Bishop's forum
9.
Dr. Constancio "Chandu" Claver, Regional Vice-Chairperson, BAYAN
Muna Partylist
10. The Most
Rev. Deogracias Iniguez, DD, Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of
Caloocan, Co-Chair of the Ecumenical Bishop's Forum |
