(We yield this space to the statement of the Promotion of Church People’s Response due to its timeliness. – Ed.)
GUIDED by the Christian teaching of the sanctity of life and recognizing the people’s aspiration for national freedom and democracy, we stand firm saying: Enough of lies, traitorous sell-out of national patrimony, widespread killings, and violations of people’s rights! Our faith impels us to join the peoples’ struggle for just and humane world.
The last three years of tyrannical rule have been full of woe and suffering. Though the ruling class and the President’s minions have benefited from their economic and political policies, the poor have only faced a deepening of poverty, hardship and travail.
We have witnessed the sufferings of the workers from unjust wages, lack of security of tenure, and worsening working conditions that degrade their dignity as our nation’s labor force. We are alarmed at how the farmers’ capacities to thrive have been weakened through the government’s inadequate support. Rice tariffication, privatization and deregulation have only exposed our nation’s poor farmers into further vulnerability. Any government claims of development are pure lies. We are indignant for how the administration has failed to deliver essential services, as needed by those who were hopeful for meaningful change.
Even more, we are outraged by the government’s feebleness and impotence in protecting and defending our seas and our people, as manifested in its kowtow (bending knees) to China, when this imperialist power bullied our poor fisherfolk in our own territory. Unceasing incursion and flexing of power by China in our territories speaks volumes on the government’s treachery against our national patrimony and sovereignty.
Out of the depths of lamentations, we grieve the state of our nation. The murder of the tens of thousands of poor victimized through murder-project “tokhang” is an affront to God and humanity. Those who have lost their loved ones continue to suffer the burden of financial debt, emotional trauma, and the terror brought about by this war on the poor in urban communities. Widespread killings and blatant violations of people’s rights remain a government policy, which in truth is cover for their ineptness in rendering services as well as a means to silence critics and dissent.
The incessant lies, treachery and killings put our national integrity and dignity in peril.
With the signs of the times, we, as faithful, renew our commitment as a community of disciples, embracing our prophetic duty to rise for peace and justice and resist lies, treachery and killings. Mandated and called to be with God’s anawim in a collective journey toward peace based on justice, together – in unison – we say, ENOUGH.
