by ruralmissionaries
We, the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP), a national organization of women and men religious, priests and lay, condemn the tagging of our organization as a “communist front”, this time through the complaints filed by the National Security Council Deputy Director General Vicente Agdamag to the United Nations (UN). The report, which was submitted to the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva on Feb. 21, alleged that we are trafficking tribal children.
This is such a desperate move to vilify us for we have been effective in raising people’s awareness on the plight and demands of our farmers, fisher folk, and indigenous peoples and in exposing the grave abuses of human rights in the country. It only reflects the cowardice of those behind this malicious act.
We condemn in the highest terms this slander of our organization. We reiterate that our commitment to serve the rural poor drives us to provide programs for them including literacy and numeracy for Lumad children, livelihood programs, relief and rehabilitation, training and education for rural communities.
This is definitely alarming as it can be used as justification to go after rural missionaries, priests, sisters and lay workers, and so we urge our fellow Christians to condemn these preposterous accusations and echo the call to end the attack against rural poor and peace advocates
Human rights defenders in our country are in such perilous situation. We must be ever vigilant and stand together with the Filipino people in exposing and resisting the state’s attacks against those who oppose them.
-Rural Missionaries of the Philippines
February 26, 2019
