Conger

Church leaders from the Philippines and Japan have issued a joint statement denouncing US military policies in East Asia, and condemned plans for a free trade agreement between the two countries.

“We stand against the forces of war and militarism: we lament the sustained US military war exercises in Mindanao and their presence in the rest of the Philippines, and the expansion of its bases in Okinawa,” delegates from the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) and the National Christian Council in Japan (NCCJ) said at the close of their joint Jan 21-25 meeting in Davao City.

Church leaders from the two countries noted that though the social and economic realities of their societies were very different, both nations were linked “are inextricably linked to the designs of the Empire especially its use of militarism as a tool for control and dominance.”

“We do not want our countries as launching pads for the US wars of aggression against the peoples of the world for its sole economic and political interests,” they said.

The church groups called the proposed Japan Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement, a free trade pact, “one sided, unequal and deceptive pact.” It would be “hugely beneficial” for Japan “but will surely aggravate the Filipino people’s misery.”

The conference also denounced “the continued political killings and other human rights violations in the Philippines whose targets are known critics of the policies of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.” (pictured)

In his conference address, the Rev. Rex Reyes, Jr., General Secretary of the NCCP accused the government of President Arroyo of having betrayed the people. The Anglican priest said the Arroyo presidency had led to “the repression and the militarization of the countryside.”

“The government’s counter-insurgency campaign, under the guise of war against terror,” had been implemented to enrich the government and its cronies through “the implementation of the economic policies of liberalization and privatization.”

The “repressive policies of the government” which had banned strikes and placed the country in a “state of emergency” were “meant to stifle principled dissent.”

“Peace and justice” remained an “enduring concern” for the Episcopal Church in the Philippines and the NCCP he said. The churches sought not to replace one regime with another, but to foster a “theology and spirituality that affirms the sanctity of life and the gifts of grace and providence bestowed on us by the Creator,” he said, and lead to the transformation of Filipino society.

The Presiding Bishop of the Philippines, the Most Rev. Ignacio Soliba.  Photo taken Feb 18, 2007 in Zanzibar.

The Philippine government has placed the urban canon of Leicester Cathedral, the Rev. Barry Naylor, on a “watch list” of politically suspect individuals, the Philippine human rights news service, Bulatlat reported on Aug 26.

Canon Naylor, along with 30 other Europeans has been placed on a blacklist by the government of President Gloria Arroyo due to their opposition to the government’s human rights record, and may ban his future entry to the country.

In August 2005, Canon Naylor served as spokesman for the International Solidarity Mission to the Philippines that looked into the spate of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances.

Canon Naylor told The Church of England Newspaper that he believed his appearance on the government’s enemies list arose from his “continuing commitment to speaking out about human rights abuses, forced disappearances and slayings that continue to take place in that land.”

The government saw enemies everywhere, he observed. “In a radio interview I participated in, when in the Philippines, my views were dismissed by a Colonel from the military who said they had incontrovertible evidence that I was in the pay of Osama Bin laden and the Abu Sayyaf (Islamist) militants,” he noted, whereas “my only funding came from my stipend, the Diocese of Leicester and USPG.”

Writing in the USPG’s journal Canon Naylor claimed the police and army were behind much of the violence aimed at keeping the poor and marginalized in place.

On Oct 3, 2006 Bishop Alberto Ramento of the Philippine Independent Church, a church in full Communion with the US Episcopal Church, was found stabbed to death at his Tarlac City rectory. An outspoken critic of the government, Bishop Ramento received threats warning him to cease his civil rights work prior to his murder.

Canon Naylor said that during his 2005 mission “We listened to many testimonies from witnesses and victims of human rights abuses, all alleging the involvement of the forces of ‘law and order’. We heard of forced disappearances and the forced displacement of communities, especially where foreign companies want to pursue mining or mineral extraction.”

He stated he met one “group of peasants who spoke about homes burnt, livelihoods lost and relations injured during forced mass evacuations by the military. We met weeping widows and distraught children, and their number is being added to week by week.’ In the summer of 2005, three Filipino priests were killed by masked assassins after speaking out on behalf of the poor.”

In the Philippines Canon Naylor said he found “a real darkness; a pervading sense of fear and terror.”

“There is a culture of corruption and collusion, as recent reports from both the United Nations and Amnesty International have highlighted as they have looked at the spate of extra-judicial killings,” he told us.