PROMOTE HUMAN DIGNITY, RESPECT HUMAN RIGHTS, END THE INHUMAN SITUATION OF OUR PEOPLE Statement of the Bishops of the IFI Then God said, Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.(Gen. 1:26-27 RSV) 1. The right to human dignity is one of the three basic human rights. The others are the right to life and the right to human development. 2. The Scriptures declare that human beings are created in the image of God, thus, the human dignity must be safeguarded and promoted at all cost and in all ends. The struggle to stop oppression and corruption must be pursued relentlessly in order to uphold and keep pristine God’s image within each human person. 3. The Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) supports the struggle for the protection of the basic human rights of the people, beginning with the safeguarding of human dignity. The IFI steadfastly calls her clergy and people to participate in all forms of struggle resisting all systems, forces and structures in society which breed poverty, oppression and corruption and which negate human dignity, desecrate human life and deny full human development. The IFI teaches her clergy and faithful to advocate for the fullest respect of human rights, in whatever time and situation, and to ensure that these rights are best protected and upheld with in every person. 4. We live in a time and in a society where the Filipino people are experiencing so much assault to their human dignity, human rights and human life as persons. These are aggravated by wanton oppression and corruption among those in power. These compound the Filipino situation and drive our people to struggle daily to keep their dignity and rights intact in the midst of various factors and forces denying and compromising their same dignity and rights as human persons. 5. This situation is best seen in the lives of the Filipino people who are part of 11.8 million country’s poor, with 4.5 million unemployed and 7.3 million underemployed who always worry where to get food for their next meal. The fact that there are 56 million Filipinos who are just earning P100 per day and there are 66 million who just earned a living with P125 per day are enough for us to wonder how these people would survive and keep their dignity and rights intact. These are the saddest situation for us, Filipinos, who are blest with fertile vast areas of land, archipelagic land surrounded by seas, rivers and bays with and abundant of natural and mineral resources. 6. The same reality is present with the peasantry and the indigenous peoples who are continuously suffering. The deceptive land reform program of the government aggravates the life of the poor farmers because the government favours agribusinesses and entices the supposed agrarian reform beneficiaries with SDO or stock distribution option instead of distributing the lands to the deserving farmers. Haciendas, like Hacienda Luisita, which is covered by land reform and the land lords, are instead compensated. Land grabbing and militarization force the people to abandon their farms and livelihoods, while indigenous people have to leave their communities and ancestral lands which are their natural habitat and find their sacred places desecrated. 7. The migration of Filipino professionals and skilled workers mirror the deplorable situation of our country. There are 12 millions of Filipinos now who work abroad as overseas contract workers, with around 5,031 OFW’s leaving the country every day, and, worse, with around 10 OFW’s going home in boxes and body bags. They decided to leave their love ones than to remain miserably living in their own country. They opted to risk their lives abroad rather than live with misfortune in their own land. Despite these harsh realities, millions of Filipinos chose to seek employment in overseas for them and their families to live a decent, humane life. Living a life with dignity is, for our OFW’s, has become a hard choice, and this is exercised in the context of utter inadequacy of our government to provide job opportunities and of gross callousness to pursue a labor policy which exports its workers. For a blessed country like the Philippines this is a state of oppression to the Filipino people. 8. To us, oppression and corruption make people less human. Their human dignity is lost. Some of them are engaged in thievery while the politicians - the bureaucrat capitalist and feudal lords– have enjoyed the pork barrel system, justifying misuse of lump sum amounts and realigning big savings from appropriations not itemized in the national budget. Part of the efforts in restoring human dignity among Filipinos and in closing the valve of seemingly unlimited source of public funds warranting corruption by politicians is the people’s initiative which harnesses people’s power to pass a legislation abolishing pork barrel system in our government, either congressional and presidential, to eventually change the political, economic and cultural system in the country, hoping to weed out oppression and corruption. 9. We see however, on the other hand, the plunderers of our natural and mineral resources – the foreign capitalists, the hacienderos and other feudal lords, the local politicians and the state security forces – enjoying the protection of the President who is supposedly the son of a victim of a dictatorial rule but now aiming to extend his term as the highest officer of the land. The laws of the land and state forces are mobilized to cater the needs of the foreign investors and the elite without minding that these mining companies destroy our environment, displace human communities, harass people who oppose their entry and operations, disrespect ancestral lands and traditions, and take advantage cheap of our labor and labor laws. 10. The foundation of morality is the belief in the dignity of the human person. Human dignity is grounded in human freedom. Human dignity is realized and protected in community with others. Belief on and affirmation of human dignity is among the basic tenets of Christian faith. Promoting human dignity and respecting human rights of all persons constitute the basic task of any baptized person or any Filipino for that matter. 11. The role of the state is to protect rights, promote the general welfare of its citizens and ensure public order. Therefore, if the public officials lost their mandates, the people are morally bound to exercise their sovereign power. Today, we hear loud and clear the voice of our people. We urge those who are in the government to listen to the voice of the Filipino people, especially those who are victims of systemic corruption and institutionalized violence, who are the real source of their mandates in serving the government. 12. It is time to change the social, economic and political system in our country. Let the power of the people rule our land. Let the promotion of human dignity and the respect of human rights become the seedbed of this change. For God’s sake, and with strong resolve, let us end the inhuman situation of our people. Adopted during the last session of the Regular Meeting of the Supreme Council of Bishops, Iglesia Filipina Independiente held on September 2-5, 2014 in Pandan Beach Resort, Pandan, Antique, Philippines. + Antonio N. Ablon Secretary, Supreme Council of Bishops Iglesia Filipina Independiente + Rhee M. Timbang President, Supreme Council of Bishops Iglesia Filipina Independiente + Ephraim S. Fajutagana Obispo Maximo Iglesia Filipina Independiente
Posted on: Fri, 26 Sep 2014 22:33:06 +0000
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