We are living through historic times as the Corona virus pandemic has turned our world upside down. But Laudato Si’ teaches us how to build a better world–together.

Pope Francis has invited Catholics everywhere to participate in the Laudato Si’ Week, 16-24 May 2020. We’re coming together as a Catholic family to reflect, pray, and prepare for a more just and sustainable tomorrow.

As a leading partner in this global initiative, Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences – Office of Human Development and Climate Change Desk invites you to stand with us and Catholics all around Asia as we grow through the crisis of this moment to build a better world together.

We have prepared a short booklet of various activities that could be held by groups and families to celebrate Laudato Si Week for each day during the lock down period.

I humbly request you to share it with other bishops, priests, religious, communities, families and become part of the global church movement.

On behalf of our Chairman Emeritus Archbishop Yvon Ambroise, I invite you to accept the invitation of Pope Francis and celebrate Laudato Si Week. You can also Join in here.

With Prayerful Regards
Fr. Joseph Gonsalves
Executive Secretary FABC-OHD/CCD

Circular No. 20-33
May 12, 2020
TO ALL BISHOPS AND DIOCESAN ADMINISTRATORS
Your Eminences, Excellencies, and Diocesan Administrators:

RE:  MAY 14 – DAY OF PRAYER AND FASTING

We are respectfully sending you the statement of Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, FABC President, joining in the appeal of religious leaders to believers in God worldwide to set aside May 14, 2020, as a day for prayer, fasting and supplications. This is supported by the Holy Father Pope Francis.

In this regard the CBCP Permanent Council requests you to invite all men and women “believers in God, the All-Creator, to join in the said appeal in whatever available means of communication currently at your disposal.

Thank you.

Sincerely yours,

Fr. Marvin S. Mejia
Secretary General, CBCP

Living a crisis with hope

A time to stretch our imagination and intelligence to learn in new ways, to prepare for a changed world

By Charles BO (9- May 2020)

The Covid-19 pandemic around the world is now a “perfect storm”. It challenges our ways of living, working and celebrating. The impact in Myanmar until now has been slower in coming, but that may only mean it will last longer. Country by country the impact has differed depending on geography, border controls, government leadership and decisions, and preparedness of public health systems. These are testing times for all. In every case the worst affected are those who cannot socially isolate, who do not have water to wash, who have lost their jobs and so have no daily income, who return to their country as unemployed, hungry migrant workers, who do not have a government that looks out for them. For many the priority is to Uflatten the curve” of hunger.

I want to encourage all to live this time fruitfully, generously, and  with hope. Let us look out for one another. I join in the appeal of religious leaders to believers in God worldwide, to set aside “a day for fasting, prayers and supplications” next week on 14 May.

In most countries of Asia we live now under restrictions. Schools are closed, factories are closed, markets are running out of stock, travel is forbidden. Yet with unbelievable, obscene folly, conflicts continue. Military commanders of government and ethnic armies, as if they believe that their weapons are more powerful than this virus, continue to expose their soldiers, continuously endanger civilians, and risk a conflagration of contagion among the people of their nations.

Many people ask “when will all this end so that we return to normal?” The answer to the question “when will this end?” is never. It will not end, not just in the sense that things will never be the same again, which they won’t. But in the sense that what we do now will remain. Asia has lived through many never ending conflicts, wars and crises, the Tsunami, Cyclone Nargis, and frequent, devastating typhoons. We know that each crisis left us changed. This time every country in the world is affected. It will leave our world profoundly changed. Politics will change. International relations will be different.

A catastrophe that hits over 200 countries changes the world. It’s like a world war. Even if Covid-19 can be contained within a few months, the legacy will live with us for decades. It will affect how we see and understand community, it will change how we connect, how we travel, how we construct our relationships. If governments do not meet the challenge they will lose the trust of their people.

In a crisis we see leadership at work. The experts say that key elements of good leadership in crisis are: direction giving, meaning making and empathy. A good leader offers a transparent framework for making decisions, makes sense of what is happening, understands how people feel, and so creates trust. A good leader persuades the collective to take collective responsibility in order to approach collective challenges. Good leaders protect the weak and model inclusiveness, quickly banishing any racism or division. A good leader takes special care of the at-risk communities. A good leader builds community and activates the antibodies against fear, anxiety and dislike. A well -informed people is more effective and powerful than an ignorant people. People deserve to know the facts. Countries with honest reporting are earning the willing cooperation of wellinformed publics. The gravest epidemic we face is the erosion of trust. In a crisis like this the real leaders use their opportunities to build trust.

Nation building does not simply occur in our capital cities and decision makers. Building the nation begins with listening to and accompanying people on the edges of society. It involves building up everyone. All have a role. The world was full of serious problems before coronavirus. Inequality was rampant, between and within nations. The poor will suffer disproportionately in this crisis, the slum dwellers, the day labourers, the returning migrant workers. People on the periphery of society have long been neglected. We now face an epochal change characterized by fear, xenophobia, and racism. Populist leaders arise in many countries today. The antidote to populism lies in the efforts of organized citizens who are ready to promote the experience of the “we” over the cult of the self.

Many decisions and practices adopted in a time of crisis become permanent. That applies to the way governments decide their priorities and it applies to small things at home. How you behave now, the steps you take now, will stay with you through your life. Your way of living as families, the way you face or avoid your neighbours, the way you have fun and the way you rest. These will stick. You will find that you have, you are having, an enduring shift of consciousness. It applies to how we see and relate to our world. There is no return to business as usual. Our lives will not resume as if this never happened. The question to ask ourselves is “what sort of world do we want when the storm passes?”

The absence of social connection makes us more ardent for it. Why did we allow so much division in the world? Why has such conflict been allowed to consume Myanmar for so many decades? Why are parts of the Philippines and Asia subjected to such dispute? Why do we have in Asia the longest running wars in the world? Looking at our histories until now, let us ask why were stronger bonds not built when we had the chance? Why do millions have to migrate abroad, just to be able to live? Now, losing their jobs abroad, they trickle home by the thousands, back to the villages that they left in despair. Going forward from here, can we build an economy that has a place for all, that puts people first? Can we have a solidarity that is tenacious? A desire for the common good that is grounded in respect?

We enter isolation and stay home for the sake of the common good. We go inside, but we must look outside. This is a time for patience, energy and intelligence. Patience is learned by practising it. This is a time for wisely organising our lives and energies; a time for stretching our imagination and intelligence; to learn in new ways; and to prepare for a new world. It is a time to realise how we depend on one another and to learn to work collectively and cooperatively, sharing responsibilities and appreciating solidarity. Above all, this is a time to put hatred and weapons aside and face the common enemy that is attacking all humanity.

Nothing has affected the whole world as radically as this virus. But do not put your lives on hold. The pandemic offers us time to go inside, but it gives us also time to be aware of others, to encourage one another, a time for solidarity with vulnerable people, and a time to pray to understand what is happening in our world. Welcome each day for its freshness. Don’t just wait for all this to be over. Use this time creatively.

Year after year in global surveys, Myanmar citizens are listed among the most generous people in the world. Not because they give more, but because more people in Myanmar give to others. This is evident in our current crisis. Even when we suffer hardship, the generosity of people is manifest. Many international aid workers may have left, but the local non-government organisations are coming into their own, volunteers, selflessly ready to channel basic needs to those in distress.

Across Asia, many people are now hurt, physically, emotionally, financially and spiritually. With its national response to the COVID19 pandemic led by KMSS, the Catholic Church of Myanmar joins this movement of generosity that is typical of our country. We reach out to support others. Neighbours and ward authorities have an eye out for those who may not have enough to eat. This is a time to take to our world the goodness, mercy and love of God.

In any crisis there is a natural temptation to wait it out. But solutions won’t reveal themselves by waiting. As Amartya Sen and many others have said, a better society can emerge from this time of isolation. Don’t just sit down on your hands and wait. Don’t deny reality. We must be proactive. Start moving. Take advantage of this time to find and live the rhythms and relationships that you want to characterise our future. Imagine and prepare for a changed world. Build working relationships of trust that will stand by you for decades to come.

Arundhati Roy says that Covid-19 is a “portal”, a doorway, that it is a moment of rupture between the old times and the new, from a world where a few are privileged and many neglected, to a changed world where the dignity of every human person is recognised. Are you preparing to pass through to that world?

PH has Strictest Lockdown In Asia, but Ineffective vs. COVID-19

If you feel that the COVID-19 lockdown being imposed by the Duterte regime is very strict, data say you are right. In fact, Duterte’s lockdown is the strictest in the region, even more rigid than that of his fellow authoritarian ruler Narendra Modi of India.

Compiling Google’s data on six categories of public mobility (retail and recreation; grocery stores and pharmacies; parks; transit stations; workplaces; and residential areas), the Nikkei Asian Review reported that the Philippines posted the largest average decline at 50.83 percent. With severe restrictions, the Duterte administration brought down public mobility by 85% in transit stations; by 79% in retail and recreation; and by 71% in workplaces. India ranked second with an average decline in public mobility by 47.83 percent.

But data also say these repressive lockdowns are not effective in the fight against COVID-19. While the Philippines and India are imposing very tight rules to restrict public mobility, they are still failing to bring down the number of new COVID-19 cases, which continue their upward trajectory after almost two months of lockdown.

On the contrary, countries that implemented less severe measures to control public mobility like Taiwan (2.16% decline in public mobility); South Korea (11.0%); Japan (13.83%); Vietnam (29.5%); and Thailand (31.66%) are significantly doing better in terms of bringing down the number of their daily new cases, as shown in the charts.

Lockdowns are meant to hide the sorry state of public health systems and a convenient cover for leaders like Duterte (and Modi) to consolidate their authoritarian rule. The effective way to contain the spread of the new coronavirus are not repressive measures but reliable health and medical interventions, including testing.

Not surprisingly, there is an inverse correlation between testing and severity of lockdowns. Countries that conduct less tests tend to implement more severe lockdowns. India only conducts 1,042 tests per 1 million people while the Philippines conducts 1,379. Compare these figures to those countries that restricted public mobility less severely: Taiwan (2,790 tests per 1 million people); South Korea (12,773); Japan (1,502); Vietnam (2,681); and Thailand (3,264).

Sources and references:
Nikkei Asian Review (https://s.nikkei.com/2YPd15x)
Worldometer (https://bit.ly/3dnNmos)
EndCoronavirus.org (https://bit.ly/2L8jtg2)

My dear people of God in the Archdiocese of Manila,

We have started the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ESQ) last March 15. Now the month of May is upon us. We never thought then, that the quarantine would be so long. We have accepted the lockdown for the sake of the common good, though by now it is taking its toll on us. There is restlessness, and even fear, mostly because of its economic effects. Many people are unsure of their future. It is in this situation that we need to be strong with the strength that comes from above. St. Paul wrote: “When I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12:10). This strength no longer comes from him.

As we enter the month of May, what comes to our mind is the Blessed Virgin Mary. May is the month of Mama Mary. We have many fiestas of our Lady on this month. We have the Flores de Mayo celebrations. We will all miss these this year. Nevertheless, let us keep the month of May as a Marian month. During this month let us intensify the devotion to our Blessed Mother in our homes. We can decorate the altar of Mama Mary. We can daily pray the Holy Rosary as a family. We may not be able to offer flowers but we can daily offer some small good deed to Our Mother.

As we try to do these individually in our homes, let us also do something together as an Archdiocese. The main patron of our Archdiocese is the Immaculate Conception. We are a Marian local church. On May 13, which is the 103rd anniversary of the apparition of Our Lady at Fatima, at 12 noon, we will have a Holy Mass in the Manila Cathedral during which we will consecrate the whole Archdiocese of Manila to the Blessed Virgin. The prayer of consecration will be done by all of the faithful of the Archdiocese to be led by the mayors of the five cities that comprise the Archdiocese: Manila, Mandaluyong, Pasay, Makati, and San Juan. It will be beautiful when all the people God, led by their civil and religious leaders, put themselves under the protection of the Blessed Virgin.

In order that this act of consecration be meaningful, from the first week of May, there will be a series of catechetical instructions online explaining the meaning and implication of such consecration. Then from May 10, we will start a triduum (three days) of daily penance and rosary which will culminate on the common Act of Consecration on the 13th. We do this to implore the protection of the powerful intercession of our Blessed Mother in this difficult time, especially as we move to the transition to a new way of life after the quarantine. We need strength from above, and we have a powerful intercessor in Mama Mary to get that heavenly help.

Already I thank the honorable mayors of our cities, Mayor Francisco ‘Isko’ Domagoso, Mayor Carmelita Abalos, Mayor Abigail Binay, Mayor Imelda Calixto-Rubiano, and Mayor Francisco Zamora, for showing their willingness to join us in the Holy Eucharist to pray together in filial devotion to the Blessed Mother. We thank them for their gigantic effort to serve their constituents in this difficult time.

Yours sincerely in Christ,

+ BRODERICK PABILLO
Apostolic Administrator of Manila
April 28, 2020

Church People-Workers Solidarity stands in solidarity with ABS CBN workers
Denounces unjust and inhumane closure of the media network

We from the Church People-Workers Solidarity stand in solidarity with ABS CBN Workers and with the Filipino people in denouncing the unjust and inhumane closure of media network ABS-CBN by the National Telecommunication Commission. 

We believe that the closure is unjust.

More than ever, in this time of Covid-19 pandemic where people need genuine and up-to-date information, media such as the ABS-CBN plays an important role in providing lifesaving information to the greater public from the cities to the remote barangays in the country and in different parts of the world. This means that the government itself attacks the right of people to information.  Information that will possibly save them from the Covid 19.

We believe that the closure attacks ABS-CBN workers’ right to work.

Again, in this time of health and jobs crisis, workers deserve full protection of their human right to’ job security from the government.  Yet, more than 11 000 ABS CBN workers all over the country are in the brink of losing their jobs and sources of income brought by the government’s closure order of the media network. NTC in the first place should put a heavy weight on the effect of a closure order to the workers, their children and families.

We believe that the closure is an attack to press freedom.

ABS-CBN news and current affairs department has been very active in providing information regarding the delays and problems in the distribution of financial assistance to the workers as well as anomalies on the Social Amelioration Program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development. Also, in the past, some shows and anchors of the network strongly exposed destructive mining and reclamation activities among others.  And recently, the POGO operations were also exposed.   With the closure of ABS-CBN, freedom of the press is also shutdown and dissent is silenced.  Workers and the peoples’ right to be informed and to be part of the debate and to demand change are also being thwarted.

We stand for workers’ right, press freedom and justice.

We stand that the government should put the interest and welfare of the Filipino people first. 

We hope that this incident will be resolved immediately and will not lead to the acquisition of the network by business tycoon who supported and funded President Duterte’s election campaign. 

We urge the government to let the network operate and post haste the process of the long overdue application for franchise renewal of ABS-CBN. By this, thousands of ABS-CBN workers who are also frontliners in the battle against Covid-19 can go back to work and provide service to the Filipino people.

Finally, to the workers of ABS-CBN, we are with you in your fight for justice. Together, we will stand for workers’ and people’s rights, press freedom and justice. ###

Signed:

Most Rev. Gerardo A. Alminaza, D.D.
Bishop, Diocese of San Carlos
CWS Co-Chairperson

LiCAS.News
Ryan Christopher J. Sorote, Philippines
May 8, 2020

A Catholic bishop in the central Philippines called for an end to what he described as a “creeping culture of impunity” in his diocese following the killing on May 5 of a radio broadcaster in the city of Dumaguete.

“When did Dumaguete became a place of such unsolved murders and creeping culture of impunity?” said Bishop Julito Cortes of the Diocese of Dumaguete in the province of Negros Oriental.

Unidentified gunmen shot and killed 48-year old radio broadcaster Rex Cornelio Pepino, or “Rex Cornelio” of Energy 93.7 FM radio, on May 5.

The broadcaster was on his motorcycle with his wife when he was shot by still unidentified gunmen on another motorcycle.

The killing of Cornelio occurred two days after World Press Freedom Day on May 3. He was the third radio journalist to be murdered in Dumaguete City since 2018.

Another radio broadcaster Dindo Generoso was shot dead, also by riding-in-tandem gunmen, in November 2019, while Edmund Sestoso was shot dead in April 2018.

In a statement on May 7, the prelate noted that Dumaguete “used to be named as ‘The City of Gentle People’ and … ‘one of the seven best places to retire in the world.’”

“Whatever happened to us?” said the prelate.

“Placing all our hopes in Jesus who rose from the dead, let us pray that, in due time, our mourning shall be turned into joy,” said Bishop Cortes.

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