midst trying times for our country, it is necessary for men and women of goodwill to take a stand on the burning issues engulfing the nation. The situation impels us as major religious superiors in the Philippines, together with our mission partners, to express our concern on these issues. We hope that the national leadership, as part of its state obligations and accountability, will undertake resolute steps to address them.
LIFE IS SACRED. We are alarmed at the increasing incidents of unresolved extra-judicial killings, massacres, disappearances and other human rights violations done against the lives of ordinary people as well as political activist, journalists and organizations involved in exposing corruption and the abuses of those in power and fighting for social reform.
In the first quarter of 2005 alone, 20 activists and four journalists have been murdered. Entire communities tagged as rebel sympathizers of terrorist lairs have been subjected by the military and police to indiscriminate bombings, arbitrary and illegal searches, mass arrest and detentions, political persecution and other atrocities.
Considering that in most cases the main suspects are agents of the State itself, we urge the national leadership to strongly condemn these crimes and, more importantly, take the necessary steps to stop the perpetrators and bring them to justice. To do otherwise would only bolster the strong suspicion that these crimes are being tolerated by those in power, leading to what has been called a culture of impunity.
LAND IS LIFE. Coming at the heels of the logging-induced disasters if Quezon, Aurora, Isabela and the Bicol region is the recent Supreme Court decision on the Mining Act of 1995 that removes any obstacle to large-scale, commercial mining operations in the country. Once again, the environment and the indigenous peoples in the mining areas face the risk of development aggression, plunder and environmental destruction. The suspension of the logging ban in various regions is an added threat our environment.
We therefore reiterate our stand to oppose destructive mining operations and support calls for a more sustainable and pro=people mining industry. We urge the government to reinstate the log ban in order to preserve our much needed forest cover.
FREEDOM IS INALIENABLE. WE are afraid that moves to institute an internal passport and profiling system in the guise of a national ID, coupled with proposals to enact an anti-terrorism law patterned after the US Patriot Act, would unduly infringe on our cherished rights and freedoms.
While we recognize the real threat of terrorism, we are worried that in the guise of counter-terrorism and national security, draconian measures like a national ID and the anti-terrorism bills’ provisions on warrant less arrests and searches, wiretapping and electronic surveillance, extended 30-day detention period without charges, and the arbitrary tagging of “terrorist” groups will be used to quell legitimate opposition and dissent. We should learn from the mistakes of martial law. We similarly reject proposals to form a junta or nay military-backed dictatorship.
GOVERNANCE IS PEOPLE CENTERED AND RIGHTS-BASED. We are dismayed at the continuing marginalization of indigenous peoples (IPs) in the government’s development projects. Many of our IPs have been uprooted from their ancestral lands and ancestral domains. Thousands of urban poor have been ejected violently without proper process and relocation. Access to basic services decrease as privatization gives more control to foreign investors.
We urge the government to review and to correct its economic plans from a human rights perspective. In this manner, people become the primary and lasting beneficiaries of land reform and development plans.
DEBT IS BONDAGE. In trying to solve the fiscal crisis, the national government has become obsessed with additional tax measures while completely ignoring the issue of our onerous and odious debts. With debt service payments eating up to 85% of government revenues and till growing bigger by the day, it is time that we squarely address the issue of which debts to pay and not to pay.
Thus, we urge the government to seriously consider options like debt condonation or debt repudiation especially of behest and odious loans acquired during the Marcos dictatorship. We also urge Congress to speed up the creation of a debt commission to audit the public debt.
PEACE AND JUSTICE SHOULD REIGN. The perceived resurgence of the revolutionary Left and the continued conflict in Muslim Mindanao indicate the inefficacy of purely militarist solutions in resolving armed conflict. To allow a comprehensive peace process to work, the negotiations should center not so much on the armed struggle itself, but on resolving the injustices and inequalities that are at the roots of the armed conflict.
We believe more sincerity and effort should be put in implementing agreements already made with communist and Muslim rebels. Particular attention should be made in reviving the stalled GRP-NDFP peace talks based on previously agreed, mutually acceptable principles and frameworks.
Life, land and freedoms are God’s creation, the integrity of which must be preserved so that peace and justice could genuinely reign. We hope that the State realizes the importance of working much more earnestly in the defense of God’s creation and our people’s quest for a better life.
Peace be to all of you!
(From Association of Major Religious Superiors)