Reposted by Belarmino Dabalos Saguing
Rome, Italy 17Jan2015
Forwarded Message
Open Letter To Pope Francis:
Your Holiness,
Greetings of Peace!
It is our great joy to see you visit the Philippines and blessed the Filipino people with your presence and positive intervention at a time when our people are facing innumerable challenges.
Indeed, as you wrote in Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel), you have proven once again that the Church ought to be Church for the poor. And as you said, "Christians, with the help of their pastors, are called to hear the cry of the poor... The need to resolve the structural causes of poverty cannot be delayed... Welfare projects, which meet certain urgent needs, should be considered merely as temporary responses. As long as problems of the poor are not radically resolved by rejecting the absolute autonomy of markets and financial speculation and by attacking the structural causes of inequality, no solution will be found for the world's needy... Inequality is the root of social ills."
In the Philippines, this inequality and concentration of the vast wealth of the nation in the hands of the few forced more than 10 million of the more than 101 million Filipinos to migrate. More than 5,000 Filipinos leave the country everyday seeking jobs and greener pastures in almost all corners of the world.
We urge you to help us pressure the Government of the Philippines (GPH) to heed the cry of the Filipino people: the unconditional release of more than 490 political prisoners who were imprisoned for their political beliefs; and the immediate resumption of the formal peace negotiations with the revolutionary National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in order to resolve the decades-old armed conflict and achieve a just and lasting peace.
We also urge you to support the indigenous people of the Philippines in their struggle to defend their ancestral land and assert their rights to self determination. Corporate greed, especially in mining and energy, threatens the survival of indigenous people all over the Philippines. They are the sacrificial lambs to the altar of false development and the super profit of a few. Under the mining liberalization programs of the present Aquino administration, an estimated 100,000 indigenous peoples from 39 tribal groups all over the country will be dislocated. Counter-insurgency program of the Aquino administration have already victimized tens of thousands of indigenous peoples in a nationwide scale. Forced evacuations, bombings, hamletings, and food blockades of indigenous communities have been going on and have worsened through the years.
We appeal to you to call on the US Government to stop intervening in the internal affairs of the Philippines through unequal treaties like the "Visiting Forces Agreement" and the "Enhance Defense Cooperation Agreement" and thereby convert hundreds of millions of US dollars of military aid to the Philippines into basic social services for the welfare of the American people.
It saddens us that our hard earned tax dollars are being used as military aid in the Philippines and witness at the same time the poverty and suffering of the American working class as they struggle to live decently day by day.
We are one with you in working for a just and better world where the poor will hunger no more; where they become free from all tyrants and from all forms of oppression as they organize, mobilize and empower themselves; and where the poor in their long and arduous journey can finally arrive at and rejoice in the promise land, the Kingdom of God on earth in a land filled with milk and honey.
Your Holiness, we are in solidarity with you!
Thank You!
Sincerely Yours,
Media Release
Contact Person:
Nerissa N. Allegretti
Mobile No. (1) 773.931.0891
Email: allegrettineris@yahoo.com
 |
| National Ecumenical Forum for Filipino Concerns logo |
14th January 2015
Open Letter To Pope Francis:
Message of the US-based National Ecumenical Forum for Filipino Concerns
Your Holiness,
Greetings of Peace!
We, friends and members of the National Ecumenical Forum for Filipino Concerns-NEFFC (Midwest Organizing Committee), wholeheartedly welcome you in the Philippines even as we ourselves are far away from home.
It is our great joy to see you visit the Philippines and blessed the Filipino people with your presence and positive intervention at a time when our people are facing innumerable challenges.
Indeed, as you wrote in Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel), you have proven once again that the Church ought to be Church for the poor. And as you said, "Christians, with the help of their pastors, are called to hear the cry of the poor... The need to resolve the structural causes of poverty cannot be delayed... Welfare projects, which meet certain urgent needs, should be considered merely as temporary responses. As long as problems of the poor are not radically resolved by rejecting the absolute autonomy of markets and financial speculation and by attacking the structural causes of inequality, no solution will be found for the world's needy... Inequality is the root of social ills."
In the Philippines, this inequality and concentration of the vast wealth of the nation in the hands of the few forced more than 10 million of the more than 101 million Filipinos to migrate. More than 5,000 Filipinos leave the country everyday seeking jobs and greener pastures in almost all corners of the world.
We urge you to help us pressure the Government of the Philippines (GPH) to heed the cry of the Filipino people: the unconditional release of more than 490 political prisoners who were imprisoned for their political beliefs; and the immediate resumption of the formal peace negotiations with the revolutionary National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in order to resolve the decades-old armed conflict and achieve a just and lasting peace.
We also urge you to support the indigenous people of the Philippines in their struggle to defend their ancestral land and assert their rights to self determination. Corporate greed, especially in mining and energy, threatens the survival of indigenous people all over the Philippines. They are the sacrificial lambs to the altar of false development and the super profit of a few. Under the mining liberalization programs of the present Aquino administration, an estimated 100,000 indigenous peoples from 39 tribal groups all over the country will be dislocated. Counter-insurgency program of the Aquino administration have already victimized tens of thousands of indigenous peoples in a nationwide scale. Forced evacuations, bombings, hamletings, and food blockades of indigenous communities have been going on and have worsened through the years.
We appeal to you to call on the US Government to stop intervening in the internal affairs of the Philippines through unequal treaties like the "Visiting Forces Agreement" and the "Enhance Defense Cooperation Agreement" and thereby convert hundreds of millions of US dollars of military aid to the Philippines into basic social services for the welfare of the American people.
It saddens us that our hard earned tax dollars are being used as military aid in the Philippines and witness at the same time the poverty and suffering of the American working class as they struggle to live decently day by day.
We are one with you in working for a just and better world where the poor will hunger no more; where they become free from all tyrants and from all forms of oppression as they organize, mobilize and empower themselves; and where the poor in their long and arduous journey can finally arrive at and rejoice in the promise land, the Kingdom of God on earth in a land filled with milk and honey.
Your Holiness, we are in solidarity with you!
Thank You!
In Christ We Remain,
Sincerely Yours,
Signed By:
1.
Bishop Robert Ilay
Diocesan Bishop
Diocese of Tampa-Eastern USA and Eastern Canada
Philippine Independent Church (PIC)
Tampa, Florida, USA
2.
Bishop Valentin Lorejo
Coadjutor Bishop
Diocese of Tampa-Eastern USA and Eastern Canada
Philippine Independent Church (PIC)
Tampa, Florida, USA
and
Pastor, Good Shepherd Congregation
Philippine Independent Church (PIC)
Lincolnwood, Illinois, USA
3.
Bishop Joshua Cuarteros
Bishop of Isabela
Diocese of Isabela
Philippine Independent Church (PIC)
Isabela, Philippines
and
Visiting Bishop, Diocese of Tampa
Philippine Independent Church (PIC)
Tampa, Florida, USA
4.
Bishop Eliezer Pascua
Former General Secretary, United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP)
and
Administrative Pastor
Philippine American Ecumenical Church-United Church of Christ (PAEC-UCC)
Chicago, Illinois, USA
5.
Rev. Fr. Primitivo Racimo
Priest-in-Charge
St. Margaret of Scotland Episcopal Church
Episcopalian Diocese of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois, USA
6.
Rev. Fr. Lito Capeding
Member, North American Maritime Ministry Association
Pastor, Shrine of the Holy cross Parish, Daphne, Alabama
Pastor, St. John's Catholic Church, Bromley, Alabama
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mobile
Mobile, Alabama, USA
7.
Rev. Fr. Julian Jagudilla, OFM
Director, Migrant Center
St. Francis of Assisi Church
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York
New York City, New York, USA
8.
Rev. Fr. Rex Familar
Ministry to the Filipinos
Roman Catholic Diocese of Orlando
Orlando, Florida, USA
and
Pastor, Holy Family Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Diocese of Orlando
Orlando, Florida, USA
9.
Rev. Fr. Florentino Santiago
St. Eloi Catholic Church, Theriot, Louisiana
Roman Catholic Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux
Houma, Louisiana, USA
10.
Sr. Rodita Rogador, mscs
Secretary, Our Lady of Fatima Province
Missionary Sisters of St. Charles Borromeo-Scalabrini
Melrose Park, Illinois, USA
11.
Nerissa Nabua- Allegretti
Midwest Regional Coordinator
National Alliance for Filipino Concerns (NAFCON)
and
General Councilor for Missionary Expansion in the East
Lay Scalabrinian Missionary Movement
Melrose Park, Illinois, USA
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines <icchrp@gmail.com>
To: "philconcerns@humanrightsphilippines.net" <philconcerns@humanrightsphilippines.net>
Cc:
Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2015 13:19:37 +0100
Subject: [PhilConcerns] News clips : Rights lawyers to sue BJMP for barring visits of political prisoners on hunger strike
Apologies for any cross-posting. Thank you for understanding.
Free all political prisoners
Free all political prisoners
