ILOILO City — Jaro Archbishop Midyphil Bermejo Billones has called on Ilonggos to turn faith into action against corruption and systemic injustice, urging the public to scrutinize social issues, demand government accountability and join peaceful initiatives for genuine reforms.
Billones said Filipinos should not simply “move on” from the painful lessons of history or remain indifferent to present-day injustices, warning that corruption and other social problems eventually exact a price on ordinary families.
“Who wants to remember the painful past? They say, ‘dapat mag move-on ka na.’ We say, not move on, but move forward with the lessons of the past so as not to repeat it,” Archbishop Billones declared.
“Because the truth of the matter is this: we may have been freed from the visible shackles that enslave us, but we can still be afflicted by invisible walls and chains that diminish our pursuit of full freedom,” he added.
The prelate warned against treating corruption, economic hardship and other forms of injustice as problems affecting only certain sectors of society.
“What delimits us is the thought that only the sectors directly affected are the ones who should speak up, whereas the truth is, we are all impacted by massive injustice that can result in high inflation and difficult living conditions,” Billones explained.
He cited alleged corruption involving flood-control infrastructure as an example of how an issue that may initially appear distant can eventually directly affect ordinary citizens.
“Flood corruption victimizes a few only until the waters enter our houses or trap you on the highway for hours,” he said.
Billones also raised concerns over privatization and rising utility costs.
“Unbridled privatization is not my concern until I see the ballooning bills I have to pay,” he added.
He likewise linked the struggles of ordinary workers to the broader problem of increasing commodity prices.
“The plight of an ordinary worker is far from my own, until the prices of basic commodities hit home,” he said.
Billones laid down concrete courses of action for parishes, religious organizations and ordinary citizens as he sought to translate expressions of concern into civic engagement.
Parishes and religious communities were encouraged to dedicate Holy Masses, Eucharistic Adoration and Holy Rosary recitations to national healing and social transformation.
The archbishop also called on the Jaro Archdiocesan Social Action Center and the Archdiocesan Council of the Laity to spearhead a peaceful, non-violent solidarity march to demonstrate the public’s demand for reforms.
Billones urged Ilonggo Catholics, regardless of age, to choose at least one pressing social issue, study and scrutinize it, and determine how they could respond through the lens of their faith.
Among the issues he identified were transparency, truth and fairness in power supply agreements and electricity rate structures; government accountability and the exposure of corruption; institutional justice; greater state budget priority for youth education; and the oil crisis, rising cost of living and inflation.
Billones warned that although overt authoritarian structures of the past may have disappeared, other forms of oppression could take their place.
“Yes, the steel bars have been removed, but they have been replaced by the bars of self-vested profiteering; yes, the physical walls have been removed, but the walls of individualism can impede the heights of our leap for change,” he added.
He stressed that remembering history should not be an exercise in dwelling on the past but a means of preventing old injustices from being repeated and inspiring continuing social transformation.
“We choose to remember in order to remind ourselves that the struggle still continues. Only by doing so can we rise towards new heights of freedom and transformation,” he stressed./PN
