Missionary group calls for response to Philippines violence
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Bishop Leo Soriano |
Aug. 18, 2006
By United Methodist News Service*
About 60 mostly retired United Methodist missionaries and colleagues who served
in the Philippines are urging the heads of the U.S. and Philippine governments
to address the ongoing violence against church workers and others in the Asian
country.
Church employees and people who work with poor and marginalized
Filipinos have been subjected to detentions, beatings and killings since
2001. The statement by the United Methodist Philippine Reunion came as
news broke about a United Methodist local pastor being shot to death in
the Philippines.
“We call upon the Philippine government to investigate the extrajudicial
killings and illegal detentions immediately, seriously, and impartially; to
avoid labeling those working for economic justice, particularly among the poor,
as ‘subversives’; and to expose the linkages between the current
abuses and the police or the military,” the United Methodists stated.
The letter was addressed to the presidents of the Republic of the Philippines
and the United States, as well as to the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries
and Board of Church and Society. It was written and adopted by the United Methodist
Philippine Reunion during its Aug. 4-7 gathering at Lake Junaluska, N.C.
“We call upon the United States government to bring pressure to bear
upon authorities in the Philippines to respect civil liberties and human rights
and to enforce effective policing and judicial process,” the group said.
It also called on the U.S. government “to use its influence to prevent
the imposition of martial rule or other severe means which would hinder democratic
process in addressing abuses.”
“We wonder to what extent arms, ammunition, training, and encouragement
given in our name and with our tax money are exacerbating this crisis,” the
group added.
Earlier this month, Isaias Santa Rosa became the 21st victim in the series
of killings that began in 2001, according to the National Council of Churches
in the Philippines. His body was found Aug. 3 in Malabago, Daraga, Albay, after
he was abducted by masked gunmen who broke into his home, according to news
reports. Sta. Rosa, in his mid-40s, was a United Methodist local pastor, freelance
writer and project consultant for nongovernmental organizations and a member
of Legazpi City United Methodist Church.
United Methodist Bishop Leo A. Soriano, who leads
the church’s Davao
Area, condemned the killing and urged civil and military authorities to bring
the guilty parties to justice. The National Council of Churches in the Philippines
also issued a statement Aug. 7 calling for an end to the killings, an independent
investigation and “a thorough inquiry by the United Nations High Commissioner
for Human Rights and the United Nations Human Rights Council and other international
courts of justice to ferret out the truth and to hold accountable those responsible
for such wrongdoings.”
United Methodist executives with the Board of Global Ministries and the Board
of Church and Society have denounced the violence and called for action by
the international community.
In its statement, the United Methodist Philippine
Reunion also called on the church’s general agencies, including those
two boards, to make the violence a priority concern and to use their resources
in addressing
it.
The group expressed appreciation “for the
courageous Filipino church leaders who continue to speak prophetically to
this tragic
crisis at great
personal risk. We pledge to them our advocacy and our prayers.”
On Aug. 15, Amnesty International said the Philippine
government “has
failed to protect individuals.” The human rights group said the number
of political killings in the country increased for a second year, “with
at least 51 killings in the first six months of 2006 compared to 66 collated
by Amnesty International in the whole of 2005.” The killings have occurred “in
the context of an intensified counter-insurgency operation,” the London-based
group said.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has been quoted in news stories as vowing
to end such killings.
News media contact: Tim Tanton, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470, or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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