Circular: Guidelines and ‘Oratio” on 2019 Novel Corona Virus

Circular No. 20-05
January 29, 2020

TO ALL THE BISHOPS AND THE DIOCESAN ADMINISTRATORS
Your Eminences, Your Excellencies and Reverend Administrators,

Re:   Guidelines and ‘Oratio” On 2019 Novel Corona Virus

As the world watches with anxiety and vigilance the spread of 2019 Novel Corona Virus (2019-N CoV), we turn to our Loving Father in heaven for protection and guidance. Acting upon the instruction of Abp. Romulo G. Valles, CBCP President, we are issuing these guidelines and Oratio Imperata on 2019-N CoV so that we can, as a Church and a nation, bring our supplication through prayer.

We exhort all our parishes to pray this “Oratio” in all of our weekdays and Sunday Masses, after Holy Communion, kneeling down, starting on February 2 (Sunday), Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. In praying we invite ourselves with all our brothers and sisters suffering with the disease brought by this virus, bring up to God our longing for them to be restored to full health and humbly pray that we may be spared from infection of this virus.

Let it also be our pastoral duty to remind our faithful to heed the health recommendations of medical experts and officials so that we prevent the acquisition and spread of the disease. You will find attached the official communications from DOH.  The advisory about what the public can do to prevent the spread of 2019-nCoV is in #9 of the FAQs on Novel CoronaVirus (2019-nCoV) at (https://www.doh.gov.ph/2019-nCov/FAQs), and also in their updated press releases, the latest is January 28 on their official website (https://www.doh.gov.ph/2019-nCoV).

We exhort all parishes, churches and chapels dedicated to St. Raphael the Archangel and St. Roch (Roche or Roque), to make special prayers and penitential processions. St. Raphael the Archangel and St. Roch are patrons in times of pestilence and experience of incurable illnesses.

In this moment of uncertainty about the illness caused by this virus, and upon the health recommendations of our medical experts, we strongly recommend the following:

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Marriage and Family is a Gift!

(Our Stand Against Divorce)

The Sangguniang Laiko ng Pilipinas, is strongly against the introduction of the Divorce Law as an easier way for the dissolution of marriage in the Philippines. The proponents of the law often state that aside from the Vatican, the Philippines is the only country in the world where there is no divorce, hence we should also allow it. We should learn from the experience of other countries who have a Divorce Law where families have not been strengthened and as a result, causing a lot of problems to the deserted spouse and their children.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church may serve as a firm and valuable guide when in 2385 it states:

‘Divorce is immoral also because it introduces disorder into the family and into society. This disorder brings grave harm to the deserted spouse, to children traumatized by the separation of their parents and often torn between them, and because of its contagious effect which makes it truly a plague on society.’

We firmly believe that the Family is a Gift from God and Marriage is a Sacred Bond instituted by the Church. It is our hope, therefore, that the Philippines shall forever stand as a beacon of hope for the family and society.

Inspired by this conviction and mindful of the plight of many fellow Filipinos suffering from failing marriages, we call on the Family Life organizations to seek them out and accompany them with helpful interventions through education, formation and accompaniment of this generation and the next, along the values of life-long commitment and steadfast love. The Sangguniang Laiko ng Pilipinas pledges its full support to you and together we push for this advocacy.

For the LAIKO Board of Directors,

ROUQUEL A. PONTE
President

 03 February 2020

2019 Philippine Human Rights Situationer- Part II

“I can promise you a comfortable life under me. Nakakakain, walang masyadong krimen (not a lot of crime), and drugs—I will suppress it.”

Two days before the presidential elections in 2016, candidate Rodrigo Duterte issued one last campaign promise before his supporters: A comfortable life for Filipinos.

A quick review of the Philippine economic numbers hints that he may be on the way to fulfilling that promise. The administration reported a 6.4 percent year- on-year growth in the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) during the fourth quarter of 2019. Inflation eased to 0.8 percent in October 2019 compared to the 6.7 all-time high rate recorded in 2018. Year-on-year, Philippine inflation in 2019 settled at 2.5 percent from 5.1 percent in 2018.

In December, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) also released the government’s official poverty figures for 2018. It estimated poverty incidence among the population at 16.6 percent or 17.6 million Filipinos for 2018. PSA defines poverty incidence as the proportion of poor Filipinos whose per capita income is not sufficient to meet their basic food and non-food needs. The poverty threshold in 2018 is estimated at ₱10,727 on average, for a family of five per month.

Meanwhile, subsistence incidence—the proportion of Filipinos whose income is not enough to meet basic food needs—was rated at 5.2 percent in 2018. The monthly food threshold in 2018 is estimated at ₱7,528 on average, for a family of five per month. PSA compared these results to 2015 numbers, where poverty incidence was at 23.3 percent and subsidence incidence was at 9.1 percent.

Poverty and hunger figures from Social Weather Stations’ (SWS) quarterly Social Weather Surveys in 2019 also paint a generally positive picture. Although self-rated poverty increased in the fourth quarter to a five-year high at 54 percent, or 13.1 million families, 2019’s average self-rated poverty is at 45 percent, still a decrease from the 48 percent recorded in 2018. Self-rated poverty represents the proportion of respondents who rated their family as poor.

The hunger rate in the fourth quarter of 2019 was pegged at 8.8 percent, or 2.1 million families. The annual average hunger rate is 9.3 percent against the 10.8 percent recorded in 2018. The hunger rate represents families who reported experiencing involuntary hunger at least once in the past three months.

The latest employment figures, courtesy of PSA’s preliminary results of the Annual Labor and Employment Estimates for 2019, also suggest improvements. The unemployment rate estimate for 2019 is at 5.1 percent, a small improvement from the 5.3 percent recorded in 2018. Underemployment estimates in 2019 is at 14 percent, declining from 16.4 percent in 2018.

PSA classifies employed persons as belonging to any of these four classes: wage and salary workers; self-employed workers without any paid employee; employers in their own family-operated farm or business; and unpaid family workers. Underemployed persons are defined as those who express the desire to have additional work hours in their present job, or to have an additional job, or to have a new job with longer working hours.

The (Un)Truth in Numbers

Taken at face value, these numbers offer hope that progress is happening. However, there are serious questions about whether these postive numbers translate to better opportunities and better lives for Filipinos.

The economic boom, as it were, only worsens inequality in the country as it benefits mostly corporations and oligarchs. As research group IBON pointed out, wages of workers continue to fall in 2019 despite improved labor productivity.

The daily minimum wage rates in the country remain disappointing, going as low as ₱282 in Region I to a high of ₱537 in the National Capital Region. Research by Portugal-based e-commerce site Picodi described the Philippines as one of the worst ountries in the world to live in for minimum wage earners. Picodi’s report compared the prices of basic food needs of an adult against the minimum net wages of 54 countries and found that basic food costs amount to 62.3 percent of the minimum net wage in the Philippines. This places the Philippines at 51 among 54 countries reviewed for the report.

A booming economy is also expected to create more and better jobs for Filipinos. However, the country’s economic growth appears to be a jobless one. This idea was echoed in economist JC Punongbayan’s analysis of the country’s economic growth under Pres. Duterte. Punongbayan revealed that only 81,000 jobs were created each year between 2016–2018—way below the annual average jobs created in previous administrations, which are around 500,000 to 800,000.

The government’s declining unemployment figures also remain in question, as it continues to use a 2005 redefinition of unemployment which excludes persons who are“actively seeking work or not seeking work within the last six months upon survey.” This redefinition essentially “stops counting millions of discouraged jobless Filipino workers,” according to IBON.

Indeed, IBON’s own estimate of unemployed Filipinos in October 2019 is at four million, double the government’s two million figure. The group also adds that the few new jobs created were “temporary and poor-quality.”

Anti-Poor Dutertenomics

The Duterte administration’s economic policies and reforms supposedly aimed to improve the lives of Filipinos also appeared to have caused the opposite effect.

For instance, the passage of the Rice Tariffication Law, signed in February 2019, has allowed for the almost unlimited importation of rice. As a consequence, farmgate prices of palay have drastically dropped, hurting the livelihood of local rice farmers. Rice farmers reportedly now sell their produce for as low as ₱17 per kilo, as compared to 2018’s ₱22 per kilo. In provinces like Nueva Ecija, farmgate prices are as low as ₱7 to ₱8 per kilo despite production costs being around ₱12 per kilo. Moreover, the drastic drop in farmgate prices does not

translate to lower market prices of rice, meaning that consumers are still affected by high rice prices.

Just like rice farmers, coconut farmers are also hurting from the very low farmgate price of coconut. A Mindanao Times report depicted the downtrend in the buying price of coconut where an already low ₱8 to ₱9 per kilo price level in 2018 plummeted to ₱3.50 in 2019.

The president’s vetoing of the Coconut Farmers and Industry Development Bill and the Philippine Coconut Authority Bill did not make the situation any better for local coconut farmers. These bills were intended to commence the long-delayed distribution of coco levy funds and could have helped ease the burden for the country’s coconut farmers.


Moreover, the deadly anti-drug policy of the government also pushed thousands of families into deeper poverty. Beyond the thousands of deaths, Duterte’s so-called war on drugs has led to multidimensional impacts on the lives of the families of the victims.

PhilRights’ 2019 monitoring and docu- mentation report on extrajudicial killings (EJK) showed that the administration’s so-called drug war does not only violate the civil and political rights (CPR) of the families, but also their economic, social, and cultural rights (ESCR).

The Duterte administration’s approach to ensuring a safe and comfortable life for Filipinos, predicated on a peace and order agenda, instead surfaced a lot of negative consequences for victims of human rights violations: families experienced deteriorating physical and psychological health conditions; children were forced to quit school; and livelihoods were affected, aggravating the food insecurity the families were already experiencing.

Infrastructure development, a priority area for the Duterte administration through its centerpiece program dubbed ‘Build! Build! Build!’, remains beset in controversy.

The New Centennial Water Supply- Kaliwa Dam Project (NCWS-KPD), meant to address the water supply problem in Metro Manila, has been marked with irregularities. The project received flak from indigenous communities, environmental groups, and other concerned civil society organizations because it will displace thousands of indigenous peoples from their ancestral domains—causing the loss of livelihood sources and other basic needs such as food and medicine. Even with the promise of safeguards, indigenous communities also fear the destruction of their sacred lands.

It has become increasingly clear that this administration’s approach to economic development has a blinkered view of the relationship between socioeconomic progress and human rights.

The project also has yet to secure Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) from the indigenous communities in the area. This has not stopped the project to commence, which is a clear violation under the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA). Reports show that half of the access roads to the dam were already built and military were deployed in the area.

Another point against the project is the irreversible damage it will bring to the rich biodiversity of the Sierra Madre mountains. This sparked questions on how the project was granted an Environmental Clearance Certificate (ECC) given the destruction it poses to the environment.

In the president’s mid-term report, he vowed to “ensure that [the tribes’] cultural heritage, rights, and norms are respected and carefully considered.” With the way the project has been railroaded towards implementation, there are serious doubts about the sincerity of these words.

The midpoint of a president’s term is an opportune time to take stock of what has or hasn’t been accomplished. In 2019, the Duterte administration’s socioeconomic policies and programs have achieved very little in terms of genuine improvement in the lives of Filipinos. Despite early promises and a boisterous anti-elite persona, Pres. Duterte has shown himself just as beholden, if not more so, than his predecessors to the interests of the already powerful.

Indeed, it has become increasingly clear that this administration’s approach to economic development has a blinkered view of the relationship between socioeconomic progress and human rights—one that disregards the rights of many for the benefit of a few.

2019 Philippine Human Rights Situationer- Part I

Content

PART 1 Kill Policies: Testing the Extremes of Violence and Impunity   1

PART 2 A Comfortable Life? Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights Remain Compromised   10

PART 3 A Chilling Effect: Violence Consumes Civic Spaces in the Philippines   18

PART 4 The Killing State: A Legacy of Violence   28

Permission to Reproduce

The information in this publication may be reproduced for non-commercial purposes, in part or in whole, and by any means, without charge or further permission from the institution, provided that due diligence is exercised in ensuring the accuracy of the information reproduced; that the institution is identified as the source of the information; and that the reproduction is not presented as the official version of the information reproduced, nor as having been made in affiliation with or with the endorsement of the Philippine Human Rights Information Center.

Preface

Halfway through the Duterte regime, the human rights situation in the Philippines continued its descent to violence, fear, and impunity.

In 2019, three years into President Rodrigo Duterte’s rule, the strongman’s impulse for violence manifested itself through even more harmful and lethal means. The continuation of the so-called war on drugs, the escalation of attacks against human rights defenders, activists, and the media, and the disregard for social and economic justice has festered into a full-blown human rights crisis.

This report, a product of a yearlong effort to monitor and analyze developments impacting the human rights and dignity of Filipinos, is an opportunity to confront our country’s worsening reality— one where an autocratic regime so boldly circumvents the State’s obligations to the dignity and well-being of its people.

Beyond chronicling the contours and dimensions of this crisis, we aspire for action. We believe that our people, guided by the ideals and principles of human rights and democratic rule, can seize this country from the clutches of authoritarianism and work towards a society where their innate dignity as human beings is valued.

Prof. Nymia Pimentel-Simbulan, Dr. PH 
Executive Director

On the truth of the local police claim that Myka’s father used her as a human shield, PNP spokesperson Colonel Bernard Banac was careful: “We are not accepting it yet. That is the initial report submitted by the operatives and we are looking also into the other statements of witnesses and the family.”

Meanwhile, former police chief and neophyte senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa could not be bothered: “Sabi ko nga (As I said) imperfect world…Shit happens.”

That a three-year-old’s death can be reduced to these words by the same man who was the lead enforcer of the so-called war on drugs is not any less upsetting given its predictability. Equally upsetting is that the same man was elected by 19 million Filipinos in May 2019 and then assumed leadership of the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs, the very committee that could hold investigations on irregularities of the so- called drug war. Walking back on his words, the senator later clarified that the comment was not intended for the general public, but only for the police community.

What is clear is that Sen. dela Rosa remains unwilling to admit State accountability for how the campaign he led has triggered large- scale human rights violations. Indeed, Myka’s death is but one among thousands since the start of the campaign on July 1, 2016. Three years on, government numbers have pegged the killings at 5,552 “drug personalities” as of November 30, 2019. The latest numbers also report total arrests at 220,728, including 8,185 so-called high-value targets.

These numbers tell one story, one that is markedly different from those reported by human rights organizations documenting and monitoring the so-called drug war. But as Carlos Conde, Philippines researcher for Human Rights Watch, pointed out, this isn’t solely a debate about numbers, it is about demanding accountability.

That these official numbers have gone up and down depending on PNP’s arbitrary categorization is a further reminder that transparency and honesty is not a government priority. What this amounts to is a direct evasion of accountability and a deliberate demonstration of impunity by State forces.

These numbers also create a chilling effect as a culture of fear and silence envelops communities in the country.

This isn’t solely a debate about numbers, it is about demanding accountability.

Multidimensional Impacts of the So-called War on Drugs

Our September 2019 report concluded that alleged extrajudicial killings and other human rights violations in the context of the so-called war on drugs have multi-dimensional impacts not only on the victims, but also on their families and communities left behind. The State’s violations of the basic rights of Filipinos are interrelated in their impacts, like dominoes falling one after another.

Crucially, the violations emanating from the first violation—an extrajudicial killing, for instance—are sequential in nature. As we determined in our documentation, an extrajudicial killing of a family member exposes the family left behind to other violations of their civil and political rights (CPR) and economic, social, and cultural rights (ESCR). During and after the deaths of the victims, various forms of assaults on the rights of the families left behind are still experienced. PhilRights documented four cases of alleged illegal arrest and arbitrary detention of family members after the victim was killed and 11 cases of alleged harassment of families during and after the killing. Many families have reported cases of missing or destroyed properties after the incidents.

In Navotas and other urban poor communities, the police are still conducting rounds of arrests, house-to-house profiling, and area patrols, instilling fear among residents.

Hindi na namin nararamdaman na may seguridad pa kami. Hanggang ngayon, kapag may pumasok na pulis sa lugar namin, inaatake ng nerbiyos ang mga magulang ko kasi natatakot sila na baka may patayin na naman

(We no longer feel secure. Until now, whenever there are police officers entering our community, my parents get so nervous, fearing that someone else will get killed), says Elsa*, a resident of Navotas.

*Not her real name

Assaults on Human Rights Defenders

These patterns of violence and abuse of State power are also present in the intensifying crackdown against human rights defenders, activists, and journalists in the country. The justification of the police on the brutality and violence in their operations and the attacks and threats of the State to progressive individuals and organizations who condemn their anti-poor policies often fall under the tired nanlaban narrative. And this justification, brutal in its finality, has sown fear among civil society organizations, progressive groups, media workers, and citizens who wish to claim their rights and raise questions against State policies.

In November, 57 individuals including 15 minors were arrested in simultaneous operations in Bacolod City and Escalante City in the island of Negros. Among those arrested, 44 were charged with illegal possession of firearms, explosives, and were accused of being members of the New People’s Army.

State forces also raided the offices of progressive groups including Gabriela, Bayan, and the National Federation of Sugar Workers. Even the homes of some progressive individuals were not spared; the residences of Gabriela–Manila Spokesperson Cora Agovida and Bayan Muna Regional Coordinator Romulo Bito-on were also raided.

These incidents have been attributed by progressive groups as the direct consequences of Memorandum Order No. 32, which was then followed by Executive Order No. 70, both signed by Pres. Duterte, resulting in the deployment of more military and police forces to intimidate, control, and curtail the movements of progressive individuals and groups in the country.

Attacks on the media have continued. The State of Media Freedom in the Philippines, drafted by the Freedom for Media, Freedom for All Network reported in December that there have been 154 cases of threats and attacks against the press since 2016. In 69 of these cases, State agents were the known or alleged perpetrators. The report also highlighted the escalating attacks on the media in the last six months of 2019, which included the red-tagging of journalists and media organizations and “public broadsides and attacks” by Pres. Duterte and Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. against the media.

Anti-Human Rights Policies

On his fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA) in July, Pres. Duterte yet again urged Congress to reimpose the death penalty. Premised both as deterrent and hardline punishment for heinous crimes, the insistence to bring back the death penalty not only goes against a worldwide shift away from capital punishment, but also deliberately ignores the country’s obligations to international human rights law as a State party to the Second Optional Protocol of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

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Greenresearch Echoes the Urgent Call to Ban Illegal Wildlife Markets and Trade

Greenresearch alert as of January 26, 2020

Our organization, Greenresearch echoes the Joint Statement made by nineteen Chinese academicians and scholars in response to the outbreak of the new coronavirus1: Ban and severely crack down on illegal wildlife markets and trade! Excerpts from this joint statement issued on January 24, 2020:

“We solemnly call for an end to the illegal trade and consumption of wild animals and control of major public health risks from the source.

It is hoped that the competent government departments, academics and the general public will work together to transform the crisis into actions to protect ecology and public safety in a timely and effective manner!”

Greenresearch also agrees with the analysis made by the EcoHealth Alliance (global environmental health non-profit organization):

“The market for wild animals and animal products comes with a significant risk to wildlife worldwide due to extinction, spread of disease and the introduction of invasive species into delicate ecosystems.”

The above-mentioned Joint Statement and EcoHealth Alliance’s stance emphasized that banning illegal wildlife trade and even eliminating wild animal food should be done not only in order to promote ecological balance or integrity, but also to ensure public health risk control.

EcoHealth Alliance recommended:
“expanded investment in prevention when it comes to infectious diseases as well, so that we can work to stop diseases like this one before they start making people sick. This investment could be into better sanitation in markets, working to educate people on the risk of hunting, butchering and eating wildlife, better long term health surveillance for farmers and market workers in emerging disease hotspots, and better surveillance for unknown viruses in wildlife.”

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2019-NCOV FAQS

FAQs on Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV)

1.   What are coronaviruses?

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses causing a range of illnesses, from the common cold to more serious infections such as those caused by Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-related Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-related Coronavirus (SARS-CoV). Coronavirus can also cause a variety of diseases in farm animals and domesticated pets.

2.   What are the symptoms and possible complications of a coronavirus infection?

Common signs of coronavirus infection include flu-like and respiratory symptoms, fever, cough, shortness of breath, and breathing difficulties. In severe cases, it can cause pneumonia, acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure, and even death.

3.   Where did the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) originate?

On 31 December 2019, a clustering of pneumonia cases of unknown etiology was reported in Wuhan, China. The outbreak was later determined to be caused by a novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), a new coronavirus strain that has not been previously identified in humans.

4.   How is the 2019-nCoV transmitted?

On January 24, 2020, the World Health Organization has confirmed human-to-human transmission largely in Wuhan City, China. However, there is not enough information yet to draw a definitive conclusion about the intensity of human-to-human transmission, full clinical features, and the original source of the outbreak.

Health experts are accelerating research to study the origins of the virus and how it is spreading. The virus has been differentiated from SARS and MERS, but its contagiousness and virulence is still being studied.

5.   Is there a treatment and vaccine for the 2019-nCoV?

There is no specific treatment for any coronavirus including the 2019-nCoV. However, many of the symptoms can be treated based on the patient’s clinical conditions. Supportive care for infected persons can also be highly effective.

To date, there remains to be no vaccines for the new strain of coronavirus, hence, the existing Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccines (PCVs) are ineffective against 2019-nCoV.

6.   What should you do if you traveled recently to Wuhan, China and is experiencing symptoms of the 2019-nCoV?

Patients, particularly travelers from affected areas, who show symptoms of severe respiratory illness and other signs of the 2019-nCoV should seek medical attention immediately and have themselves screened for common causes of respiratory illness.

7.   What should you do if you are experiencing mild flu-like symptoms, but have not traveled to China recently or have not been in close contact with anyone who traveled to China?

In this case, there is no need to be tested for 2019-nCoV. Please consult at your nearest health facility as deemed necessary.

8.   What should hospitals with suspected case/s of the 2019-nCoV do?

The designated infection control committee (ICC) of the hospital shall be responsible for the preliminary investigation of suspected cases. Once the case is classified as a person under investigation (PUI), he/she should be quarantined. The ICC should then notify the DOH Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Units (RESU), who shall then report to the DOH Epidemiology Bureau.

Hospitals with PUIs in quarantine will also send the collected specimens (oropharyngeal and nasal swabs) to Research Institute of Tropical Medicine (RITM) for screening.

The DOH also encourages health workers to be vigilant and take extra precautionary measures when in contact with patients with acute respiratory infection, especially those with travel history to China.

Finally, all health facilities must enhance their standard infection prevention and control practices, especially in their emergency departments.

9.   What can the public do to prevent the spread of 2019-nCoV?

DOH advises the public to:  

a.   Practice frequent and proper handwashing,

b.   Practice proper cough etiquette

          i.      Always bring a handkerchief/tissue

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Invitation to pray the Prayer for Peace in the Philippines

A letter from the Prayer for Peace in the Philippines organizers.

A blessed New Year to you, your Excellency.
We at PasaLord have been praying for you.

As you may already know, PasaLord is an interfaith movement interceding for peace, unity and prosperity in our country. It was founded on July 7, 2017 at the height of the Marawi conflict. Since then, people of various creeds and denominations have joined us to intercede for our country, our leaders and our families. Our vehicle is by the one-minute interfaith Prayer for Peace in the Philippines. We have been promoting this prayer because it encapsulates our hopes and aspirations for our nation.

Last year, we launched a nationwide synchronized moment of prayer at 12 noon on February 7, 2019. We asked Filipinos to pray the Prayer for Peace in the Philippines together with us, wherever they were. With the help of the media, which amplified the call to prayer, the response was tremendous.

Miracles, little and large, happened. Let me cite just two. Senate President Vicente Sotto III filed a resolution, which was adopted by the Senate, declaring every first Thursday of February as the day for the Synchronized Interfaith National Prayer for Peace and Reconciliation. A bigger miracle was that the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government prayed for peace in solidarity with the people. This has never happened before in the Philippines nor anywhere else in the world! It was truly moving to watch so many people praying for the nation.

Senate Resolution No. 1002 – National Prayer for PeaceDownload

Now we are mobilizing for the second synchronized moment of prayer to be held on February 6, 2020, the day reserved for Filipinos to unite in prayer. Once again, our vehicle will be the Prayer for Peace in the Philippines.

We are hoping to reach more people this year so we need your help. Excellency, please mobilize your flock and parishes to pray with us. If possible, have the church bells in your parishes rung at 12 noon on February 6 to remind people to say the prayer.

The prayer may be downloaded from our website www.pasalord.org. For more information, contact Coylee Gamboa at +63 918 935 7617.

Yours sincerely,
Mrs. Lourdes “Bing” Ll. Pimentel
Founder and Lead Convenor
PasaLord Prayer Movement

Pastoral Message on the Natural Calamities Happening in the Country

FIRE AND HEAT, LIGHTNINGS AND CLOUDS BLESS THE LORD! (Dan 3:66, 73)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

This is not the first time the scenic Taal volcano erupts. It will most certainly not be the last. And throughout its fiery and violent history, it has always taken a toll on human lives and on human well-being.

But coming in the heels of other natural disasters like the destructive typhoons that hit the country, the devastating floods that left many of our countrymen homeless and prostrate, earthquakes that have wrecked buildings, lives and the basic sense of security without which we cannot live in tranquility, sicknesses and infections never heard before threatening us — our people ask themselves what they might have done to deserve chastisement from God. And not only us, the plants and trees and animals suffer and moan too but unlike us, unable to speak.

Lord Help Us We are Perishing! (Mt 8:25)

It has always been the witness of the Scriptures that God’s mercy overlooks our sins and that he does not deal with us as our failings deserve.“If you, Oh Lord, marked iniquities, Lord, who would endure?” (Ps 130:3)

We miss our steps and fall. A bus that loses traction on a mountain track plunges into a ravine. What is at work is not God’s wrath but the law of gravity– the very same law that keeps our feet, our homes and the objects with which we deal firmly rooted on the ground, the same gravity that makes life easier to live on earth.

Typhoons are not the scourges of a vengeful God.

“While it is true that suffering has a meaning as punishment, when it is connected with a fault, it is not true that all suffering is a consequence of a fault and has the nature of a punishment. The figure of the just man Job is a special proof of this in the Old Testament. Revelation, which is the word of God himself, with complete frankness presents the problem of the suffering of an innocent man: suffering without guilt. (St. John Paul, Salvifici Doloris, 11)

The point is that our world – the very same world that nurtures and nourishes us – is made up of processes: the very processes by which the wonderful miracle of evolution has taken place and continues to take place.

If we are grateful for the earth and its resources, then we must be grateful for the very same processes that bring them about.  Unfortunately, persons who live close to volcanoes, or who build their homes along waterways, or who live along the corridor of typhoons and hurricanes are the victims of destruction and the hapless sufferers, not because God punishes them. It is not because God hates them, but because that is just the nature of this imperfect world.  It is a world where the activities of humankind and the processes of nature do not always coincide with each other.

One who takes to the seas in search of its resources must be prepared to face the risks of wave and wind. The very same sea that yields a trove of sea-life is also the very same sea that can serve as the watery grave of some.  There is nothing about God’s anger or punishment or vengeance in all this. 

This is just how our world is.

All Creation is Groaning in Labor Pains (Rom 8:29)

Earthquakes and typhoons and ash falls are signs that we are still living in an imperfect natural world. They are natural disasters.

Indeed it is not the unpredictable processes of the earth that militate against God’s existence and his goodness.  It is rather the resolve that we will rise from where we fall, that we will extend helping hands to those who can no longer rise. It likewise involves putting our scientific acumen and our human intelligence into understanding volcanoes and earthquakes and typhoons and draughts and floods better so that we can plan our lives relying less on chance and more on human providence. It is all this that allow us to utter the Holy Name of God in the midst of earth’s birth pangs that await the dawning of God’s Eternal Day.

God accompanies us in the earthquakes and volcanic eruptions and floods and storms not as a Great Punisher but as the Great Loving Emmanuel, One to whom we can turn assured that He will never forsake the people who call on His name. These calamities can be opportunities for grace and blessings. We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him. (Rom 8:28).”

The Greatest of These is Love (1Cor 13:13)

Many can go to Taal to view the spectacle.  While there is nothing intrinsically wrong about observing an eruption, to do so without empathy for those who suffer is certainly not Christian. To be a spectator and to make of the misery of our brothers and sisters a mere object of curiosity is certainly to be like the priest and the Levite who passed by, even as the wounded man was bleeding to death by the roadside (cfr. Lk 29:30-37). Certainly he was not the victim of either, but the sin of these “holy men” consisted precisely in passing by without heeding the ethical demand that the situation made on them.

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Cardinal Tagle bids farewell to Manila faithful

LiCAS.news reporter, Philippines | January 28, 2020

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle bids farewell to the faithful of the Archdiocese of Manila during a Thanksgiving Mass attended by hundreds of people, priests, and bishops on Jan. 27. (Photo by Angie de Silva)

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle bid farewell to the faithful in the Archdiocese of Manila on Jan. 27, before his expected transfer to Rome in the coming weeks.

He thanked the bishops, priests, religious men and women, and lay people for attending the Thanksgiving Mass that he celebrated at the Manila Cathedral.

In his homily, he asked the faithful to always be thankful to God. “We may not always understand, but in faith we know God is good,” he said.

“God’s design are not our design. Sometimes, God’s design disrupts our plans, but we say I believe God is good,” said the outgoing prelate of Manila.

“We fall, we falter. We are disappointed … but we know God is good and his mercy endures forever,” he added.

Pope Francis has named Cardinal Tagle prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, also known as Propaganda Fide.

The congregation oversees the Church’s work in most of the dioceses in Africa, Asia and Oceania, which is around one-third of the world’s 4,000 dioceses.

Cardinal Tagle is only the second Asian to be the prefect of Propaganda Fide, with the other being Indian Cardinal Ivan Dias who served from 2006 to 2011.

Members of the clergy in the Archdiocese of Manila pose with Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle at the end of a Thanksgiving Mass at the Manila Cathedral on Jan. 27. (Photo by Angie de Silva)

Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo, meanwhile, assured the outgoing Manila prelate that he is always in Manila.

“In case you feel tired of the work on that part of the world, be assured that you have a home among us here in Manila,” said Bishop Pabillo during the Thanksgiving Mass.

“Every departure, every separation brings pain. But if we look at it on the other side, we in the Archdiocese of Manila have been very much privileged in the eight years you have been with us,” he told Cardinal Tagle.

“We have been privileged that you have been our shepherd,” added Bishop Pabillo. “We appreciate very much your ministry among us,” he said.

Bishop Pabillo later led everyone in praying for the Manila prelate.

“Thank you for his heart conformed to the likeness of the Good Shepherd, your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,” prayed the bishop.

“Protect him with your loving embrace. Hold him by the hand and keep him close to your heart as he embarks on his new mission,” he added.

The Eucharistic celebration was Cardinal Tagle’s last Mass with members of the Manila clergy.

Cardinal Tagle was ordained a priest in 1982 for the Diocese of Imus where he was made bishop of in 2001 at the age of 44. He was given the cardinal’s hat in late 2012.

Cardinal Tagle is also president of Caritas Internationalis and the Catholic Biblical Federation.

He is the second Filipino to become prefect of a dicastery, following the late Cardinal Jose Tomas Sanchez, who was prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy from 1991 to 1996.

The 62-year-old Cardinal Tagle is popular at home and around the Catholic world and has been mentioned in the past as a potential candidate for the papacy.

Invitation to Deep Journey Into Laudato Sí

January 20, 2020

Dear FRIENDS and PARTNERS,

Greetings of peace and love exuberantly flowing from our Triune God deeply manifested in all

Creation.

We move forward in our mission to the care of our common home by accompanying Filipino communities in responding to Laudato Si’. The Global Catholic Climate Movement-Pilipinas (GCCM- Pilipinas), in partnership with Our Lady of Remedies Parish (Malate Church), continues to offer a bi- monthly schedule of the Deep Journey into Laudato Si’ Symposium. Since May 2019, four symposia had already been conducted which were participated by over two hundred seventy (270) individuals from fifty-seven (57) groups/organizations/institutions.

Inspired by the positive feedback and affirmations, we are encouraged to continue this program and reach out to more people from different sectors. For this reason, we would like to invite your organization/institution/group/parish/community to join the first schedule of Deep Journey into Laudato Si Symposium which will be held in Malate Church, Our Lady of Remedies Parish, M.H. Del Pilar Street, Malate Manila on February 15, 2020, Saturday, 8:00AM-3:30 PM at the Audio Visual Room, 2nd Floor, RJMC Building, Malate Church Compound. Please note that this is a “No Registration Fee’ activity.

The purpose of the Deep Journey into Laudato Si Symposium is to raise awareness on the urgency to respond to Pope Francis’ encyclical letter Laudato Si’, to care for our common home. In paragraph 14, our Pope appeals that:

“Everyone’s talents and involvement are needed to redress the damage caused by human abuse of God’s creation. All of us can cooperate as instruments of God for the care of creation, each according to his or her own culture, experience, involvements and talents.”

Enclosed is the event poster. Likewise, the video ad link is sent to your email. We highly appreciate if this invitation will be announced, shared in your circle and posted on your bulletin boards, website and/or FB accounts.

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