Freed Irish missioner returns to the Philippines

Irish Catholic priest Michael Sinnott is escorted by soldiers on his way to a waiting plane that will take him to Manila after his release in Zamboanga City in Mindanao in November 12, 2009. Sinnott returned Friday, January 15, 2010 to the Philippines to resume his missionary work. (Mindanao Examiner)

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / January 16, 2010) – An elderly Irish Catholic priest kidnapped by Moro rebels in the Philippines has returned to the country to continue his missionary work.

The 80-year Michael Sinnot arrived late Friday in Manila after a two-month vacation in Ireland following his release in November in Zamboanga City, said the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines.

“It’s very nice to be back and am looking forward to going back to my work in Pagadian,” Sinnot said.

Sinnott was taken by six gunmen on October 11 from his Columban missionary house in Pagadian City in Zamboanga del Sur province and brought to Lanao province. The kidnappers originally demanded $2 million for the release of the missionary, but Manila said no ransom was paid and that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front helped secure Sinnott’s freedom.

“I was amazed when I came out of here there were a lot of people who prayed for me and I would like to thank them very, very sincerely from the bottom of my heart,” he said, adding, he would “like to do the little bit I can for as long as I can.”

Shortly after he was freed, Sinnott, who belongs to the Missionary Society of St. Columban, spoke with reporters at a Philippine Air Force base in Zamboanga City and told them his ordeal during his captivity. He said he was treated well by his captors, whom he identified as members of a “lost command” headed by Kikay. The priest said his captors told him that he was kidnapped because of ransom.

Sinnott was the third Irish missioner to be kidnapped in Mindanao since 1997. Father Des Hartford was held by Moro rebels for 12 days, and in 2001, Father Rufus Hally, a missioner from Waterford, was shot dead during an attempted abduction in the volatile region.

In June 2007, gunmen also kidnapped an Italian missioner Giancarlo Bossi, of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions, in Payao town in Zamboanga del Sur province. Bossi, then 57, was freed more than a month later after private negotiators paid a huge ransom. Bossi’s kidnappers had demanded P50 million for his safe release.

Philippine authorities said Bossi was kidnapped while celebrating mass in the village of Bulawan by brothers Akiddin and Wanning Abdusallam, both rogue members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Abu Sayyaf. Bossi was the third Italian priest kidnapped in southern Philippines decade.

Moro rebels kidnapped Fr Luciano Benedetti, 62, in Zamboanga del Norte province in 1998 and held for nearly 10 weeks until he was freed in exchange for a huge government ransom.

In 2001, renegade MILF rebels and members of the bandit group called Pentagon Gang also snatched Fr Giuseppe Pierantoni as the 51-year-old from Bologna said mass in the parish church of Dimataling town in Zamboanga del Sur.

The priest was freed after six months in captivity in exchange for an unspecified ransom, but he claimed to have escaped from his kidnappers. (Mindanao Examiner)

Silsilah movement calls for mining closure in Zamboanga City

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (CBCP / Mar. 24, 2009) - Proving that social advocacy goes beyond the issue of religion, the Silsilah Dialogue Movement (SDM) has urged authorities to stop mining activities in the Ayala-Manicahan watersheds in Zamboanga City.

Echoing a United Nations report of a “deeply worrying” impending global water shortage, the SDM has asked the Zamboanga City government to withdraw the mining permit it earlier granted to Rigid Aggregates Mining Corporation (RAMC) to save the quality of water in the province’s west coast.

It was in 2006 when the RAMC applied for a permit to explore the presence of commercially viable quantities of ores within the Ayala-Manicahan watershed, which supplies water to springs and rivers in Ayala, Tulungatung, Cawit and Sinunuc districts, according to a report by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines.

It said last year, the SDM, on behalf of 692 signatories, filed a formal opposition to the RAMC permit before the Mines and Geosciences Bureau but the Zamboanga City Council has upheld the RAMC clearance.

“The fresh water supply from the Ayala Watershed will be critically threatened by mining activities within the watershed area. The economic gains from mining may bring a good, but only a short lived one. On the other hand the need for water to sustain life is forever,” the SDM said in a statement.

The group added that “consultations with the various stakeholders in the area were not sincerely undertaken and the report of a favorable endorsement at the barangay level of the RAMC application was, at best, a fairy tale.”

Last March 6, the Mines and Geosciences Bureau called a preliminary conference with the oppositors in Ipil town in Zamboanga Sibugay province, and set the deadline for the filing of a formal petition against the RAMC application on April 30.

“In dialogue with people of goodwill, and in dialogue with creation, Silsilah calls on those who believe in this advocacy to rally behind Silsilah and support the protection and preservation of the watershed,” the group said. (Kris Bayos)

Ateneo de Zamboanga to document culture of Lumads

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (CBCP / Dec. 11) - Ateneo de Zamboanga University, a Jesuit school in western Mindanao, is envisioning to come up with documentation of materials about the history, culture and the present situation of the indigenous peoples of Western Mindanao, according to the university sources.

The initiative is done under the aegis of Institute of Cultural Studies for Western Mindanao (ICSWM).

It plans to produce visuals portraying the major ethnic tribes in the region, showing their costumes and habitat.

Other plans also include compilation of comprehensive biographies of prominent personalities in the history of Zamboanga City and the region and collection of artifacts such as ethnic costumes, crafts, cooking utensils, tools and equipment used in handicraft making, agriculture and weaponry.

ICSWM aims to enhance unity, understanding and acceptance among peoples and to aid in the formation and transformation of society.

The ICSWM commits itself to provide an avenue for better understanding among the multi-cultural and multi-religious peoples of Western Mindanao through increased awareness and knowledge of each other’s history and culture by: collecting books, photographs, maps and other historical and cultural materials obtained through donation, reproduction or purchase, and cataloguing such as collected materials and making them available to students and researchers.

ICSWM will sponsor seminars and workshops on various topics or issues on history, literature, culture, religion and Muslim and Christian relations in the region for the Ateneo community and other interested groups, undertaking the celebration of ethnic festivals in Western Mindanao in coordination with government and non-government agencies, focusing on cultural presentations (literary, musical, dance, and drama) on the various aspects of the socio-cultural world of the indigenous peoples.

The ICSWM was established on October 16, 1990—a step in the realization of the Ateneo de Zamboanga’s commitment to assist the people of the city and the region in accepting and working within the reality that ours is a multi-cultural and multi-religious society.

As an educational institution, the Ateneo de Zamboanga has the unique opportunity to help overcome the ignorance, prejudices and animosities of the past.

The thrust of the ICSWM is in line with the direction throughout the world of the Society of Jesus, which shows a keen interest in activities that promote inter-cultural and inter-religious dialogue.

ICSWM’s collection includes an extensive bibliography, annotated vertical files and materials on the history and culture of Western Mindanao.

The ICSWM gets its financial support from donations of various organizations within the Philippines and abroad. (CBCP - Santosh Digal)

Bishop unfazed by govt threat to file sedition raps - GMANews.TV

MANILA, Philippines - One of the Catholic bishops who earlier said that he is open to 'extra-legal' means to oust President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo remains unfazed by government threats to file inciting to sedition charges.

“We are already used to the threat of the old secretary of injustice. We will just wait what he will do," Novaliches Bishop Antonio Tobias said.

The 67-year old prelate was one of two bishops who expressed openness to the use of extra-legal means to oust Mrs Arroyo.

The other was Caloocan Bishop Deogracias Iñiguez.

In a press conference Thursday, the two urged the public to join protest rallies against the
His remark came the same day that Justice secretary Raul Gonzalez said that the statement of the two bishops was tantamount to “inciting to rebellion."

On Friday, Tobias said that any move to amend the constitution would likely result in a solid front of bishops who have expressed opposition to the move to extend the term of office of Mrs Arroyo.

"Masyado ng garapal, kaya papunta na diyan. Papunta na diyan na magkakasama-sama kami,"Tobias said.

His statement was in response to the question if they are one with the statement of Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) President Archbishop Angel Lagdameo issued last month.

“Yun bang masyadong pagpapakita ng power over the interest of the people, unti-unting nagkakaganoon na. There are more bishops now. I’m very sure yung lima na nauna at kami ay dumarami," Tobias said.

Recalling the martial law years, Tobias said religious leaders in the Philippines all expressed opposition to the continued stay of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos.

Last month Lagdameo, along with Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz, Masbate Bishop Joel Baylon, Balanga Bishop Socrates Villegas and Legazpi Bishop emeritus Jose Sorra, called on the public to start preparing for a new government that is riddled with massive corruption.

Some bishops, who are known to be friendly with Malacañang, however, tried to downplay the statement of the five bishops saying this does not represent the CBCP as a body.

Lagdameo, in another statement released earlier this week, reiterated the previous pastoral statement of the CBCP expressing opposition to the renewed moves to amend the Constitution during the term of Arroyo.

On Thursday, Tobias, along with Caloocan Bishop Deogracias Iñiguez, urged the public to join in protest rallies versus the Arroyo government to protest against the possibility of extending her term via Charter Change.(GMANews.TV - http://www.gmanews.tv/story/136415/Bishop-unfazed-by-govt-threat-to-file-sedition-raps)

Philippine bishops slam government corruption

MANILA, Philippines - Influential Roman Catholic bishops in the Philippines slammed massive government corruption and urged the public to help overhaul President Gloria Arroyo's graft-ridden administration.

The criticism aired on Tuesday by the leaders of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines was one of their strongest yet against Arroyo's administration, but it stopped short of urging her to step down, according to a report by the Associated Press.

The bishops' group has played a key role in nonviolent "people power" revolts that previously ousted two leaders, including late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, in the last two decades. But efforts by opposition groups to stir such massive protests to oust Arroyo so far have failed to draw considerable crowds.

Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, president of the 100-strong bishops' group, said it was up to the public to decide whether to seek a new leader through nonviolent and constitutional means.

Despite several warnings from the Catholic Church about endemic government corruption, the problem has continued in alarming proportions under Arroyo's leadership, Lagdameo said, citing a series of corruption allegations against her administration.

"In the past few years up to today, we have watched how corruption has become endemic, massive, systemic and rampant in our politics," Lagdameo said in a statement read at a news conference.

"In response to the global economic crisis and the pitiful state of our country, the time to rebuild our country economically, socially, politically is now," said Lagdameo, who appeared with four other bishops.

Arroyo, who has steadfastly denied any wrongdoing and vowed to eliminate corruption, has survived three impeachment bids over allegations of corruption. She also has survived at least four coup plots in her tumultuous years in office.

Presidential spokesman Jesus Dureza said Arroyo will focus on ways to brace the country from the possible impact of the global financial turbulence rather than answer the bishops' criticisms.
"We will continue to focus on our work for the poor and address a bigger issue ... this global crisis," Dureza said.

Priest's Ma, 2 Others Killed In Southern Philippines

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Oct. 20, 2008) – Police arrested one of two men who murdered three people, including an eleven-year old girl and the mother of a Catholic priest, in the southern Philippines.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said the killings occurred late Saturday in the town of Sinacaban in Misamis Occidental province. It said Henerosa Daplin, 82 and her helper Gina Ozar, 39, and daughter Shoena Mae, 11, were mercilessly stabbed to death.

Daplin was the mother of Fr. Arnold Daplin, a pastor of Holy Rosary Parish in Oroquieta City, also in Misamis Occidental.

Fr. Peter Hequielan, pastor of Saint Joseph Parish in Sinacaban town, told the CBCP that the neighbors rushed to Daplin’s house after they heard shouts for help, but found the three victims sprawled on their blood with stab wounds.

With the help of Daplin's neighbors, policemen arrested one of the assailants, Tancio Asegnar, 30, in a bus while trying to escape. Asegnar, a former working student of Daplin, admitted killing the trio.

“The suspect, Asegnar, admitted the crime and disclosed that he had companion when the crime was committed. He also admitted that because of jealousy he only wanted to kill Gina, until Henerosa and the child saw him which prompted him to kill them too,” the CBCP said in a report posted Monday on its website, which can be accessed on this URL: http://www.cbcpnews.com. (Mindanao Examiner)

Mindanao Bishops, Clergy Reiterate Opposition To Mining: CBCP

ILIGAN CITY, Philippines - The Mindanao-Bishops and Priests Congress reiterated their opposition to mining in the Philippines as they reaffirmed their previous stand for the repeal of the Mining Act of 1995.

In a phone interview with CBCPNews, Iligan Chancery Secretary Sr. Marilyn Montalla, MSOLTC said the Mindanao Bishops and Clergy has come up with their statement on the issue of Mining in the latest 35th Diocesan Clergy of Mindanao Congress (DCM) held in Iligan City last February.

More 400 delegates representing various archdioceses, dioceses and prelatures of Mindanao signed the statement.

The joint statement disclosed: “We, the Bishops and Clergy of Mindanao collectively challenge the Philippine Government’s aggressive promotion of large scale mining as a flagship program to boost the country’s economy.”

DCM delegates added in 1998, the CBCP issued a statement of concern on the Mining Act of 1995. On January 29, 2006, the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) issued another statement on Mining Issues and Concerns. There have been other statements and position papers issued by regional groupings of bishops in between those two major statements of the CBCP.

The Mindanao bishops and priests insisted that they do not subscribe to the DENR’s reference to sustainable mining.

“We believe that mining can never be sustainable. It is a highly extractive industry and remnants of past mining projects and abandoned mines which can be found in many parts of the country can speak for itself,” the delegates stressed.

The Mindanao prelates and clerics added there have been a number of mine-related tragedies and disasters since the passage of the Mining Act of 1995. The collapse of the tailings dam of Marcopper Mining Ltd spilling millions of tons of toxic waste into the island’s river and sea haunts residents to this day.

DCM delegates further said the series of human rights abuses and displacement of Indigenous peoples in Canatuan. Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte, the site of a gold mine operation of TVI Resource Development and the mine spills by Lafayette Philippines, Inc. in Rapu-Rapu, Albay and its two subsidiaries Rapu-Rapu Processing, are just few examples of how the mining industry destroy God’s creation.

The prelates and priests clarified that they understand the government’s desire to reduce poverty but never at the expense of lives and properties of ordinary Filipinos. The delegates were unanimous in saying there are other sources of livelihood that are less destructive and far more productive than mining that the government can resort to in its effort to alleviate poverty.

They said the Philippines is basically agricultural country and have fertile lands and seas that are abundant in marine resources. Yet in spite of all these, the Philippines remains poor and the people remain deprived of food and other basic necessities.

The Mindanao bishops and priests called on the government to redirect its agenda to food security and development an agri-aqua based economy instead of the highly extractive industry like mining.

They also encouraged the church, business and other sectors to be more conscious of their respective “social responsibility” and together direct their activities towards the common good and the attainment of sustainable development.

The Mindanao prelates and clerics urged the people to support and to understand in the struggle against large-scale mining and the blatant exploitation of indigenous peoples.

“We manifest through this statement that we in Mindanao consider it our duty and responsibility to protect God’s creation as a sign of our faith and love for our creator, the Supreme being, ‘from whom all good things come from,’” the Mindanao bishop and priests concluded their statement. (Wendell Talibong)

Youth Holds Peace Symposium In Sulu: CBCP

SULU, Philippines - The first league of the youth symposium on the “Voice of the Youth for Dialogue and Peace: An Urgent Concern of the Times” was held at the Bishop Ben’s Hall of Notre Dame of Jolo College, June 29.

The Silsilah Dialogue Movement, Zamboanga City, through its Peace Youth Program in the joint effort with the Silsilah Forum-Jolo, organized it.

This was participated by young Muslim and Christian active leader’s ages 15 to 25 who belong to different youth organizations, groups and institutions of the province.

The symposium was intended to help the youth to voice out their concerns, issues, and experiences and to share their ideas on dialogue and peace as experienced in their respective faith teaching experiences in dreaming a peaceful Mindanao with a specific focus in their own native land, Jolo, said Fr. Sebastiano D'Ambra, PIME, Silsilah founder, Zamboanga City.

Attorney Eidilwasif T. Baddiri and Dr. Reynaldo Q. Pescadera III presented the Muslim and Christian perspective on the importance of dialogue and peace respectively, while Kamala Sangkula-Elam and Abdelnazir Tagayan were the panel of reactors.

“I salute Silsilah for its efforts in fostering to maintain peace and harmony between people of different faiths. The youth has the indefatigable passion to work for change and achieve the ideal. We are the nucleus of what the society is to become. The ‘becoming’ of civilization depends on our present efforts and actions. It is therefore necessary that we assume the responsibility of purpose,” said Baddiri.

On the other hand, according to Pescadera, “A symposium like this is important in addressing youth of today to be concerned with what is happening now in our community. This is an urgent call for the youth to be aware of what is our part in today’s problem. Let us act now and be a part of it.”

Brian Alawi from the Mayor’s Office Municipality of Jolo; Ahmaden Nass Mina from the Office of Muslim Affairs and Ustadz Sauqani Kimpa representative from the government lent support to the symposium.

“It is in partnership that has helped make our homeland more secure. I look forward to your cooperation and support to bring positive change to our municipality."

"I do know that if we continue to rely on each other as partners; friends; then we will be safer. Indeed, a dialogue movement such as Silsilah, truly plays as an important element in peace building in this community by promoting deeper understanding and better relation between Muslims and Christians and among religious sector,” said a solidarity message from the Mayor of Municipality of Jolo, Hussin U. Amin.

The participants had their chance to be heard during the open forum; and address their hopes and common aspirations in attaining a peaceful Jolo and their contribution as young Tausugs on the workshop and plenum. Department of Education province of Jolo, Sulu also attended in the said symposium.

At the end of the symposium, 20 young Muslim and Christian men and women who participated were chosen to attend the 1st Regional Youth Peace Summit which will be held on August 22-24, this year at the Harmony Village, Sinunuc, Zamboanga City. (Santosh Digal)

Clergy, Abducted And Tortured In Philippines

QUEZON CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / May 27, 2008) – A Catholic clergy had been abducted by gunmen and tortured into linking a detained pastor to the underground communist movement, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, said Tuesday.

It said Pastor Rodel Canja, of the Promotion of Church People’s Response (PCPR), was forcibly taken at gunpoint earlier this month in southern Luzon and was freed after being tortured for four days.

The gunmen, believed to be soldiers or policemen, also threatened to kill Canja’s family if he reports his ordeal to anybody.

PCPR Secretary General Amie Dural said Canja was seized while was on his way to the annual conference of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines.

“One man casually invited him to ride in the van and warned him not to ask any question. Inside the van, another man pointed a gun at him while the man who invited him to ride in the van placed a handkerchief in his nose that left him unconscious,” Dural told the CBCP.

Dural said when the pastor regained his consciousness, the men began torturing and interrogating him about UCCP Pastor Berlin Guerrero, now detained at a police base in Imus town in Cavite province.

Guerrero was abducted May 27 last year by gunmen who accused him of being a member of the Communist Party of the Philippines and since then has been detained without charges.

“For four days, two to of the four men alternately interrogated Pastor Canja about Pastor Berlin and two other UCCP ministers. While clicking their guns, the men repeatedly asked Pastor Canja to confirm that Pastor Berlin was a member of the “P”, a code referring to CPP,” Dural said.

Dural said one of the abductors fired his gun while interrogating the clergy. Canja’s wallet and money were also confiscated. “And when they saw the pictures of his two siblings, they threatened the pastor they will kill his siblings if he would ever talk about his experience,” Dural said, adding, Canja is now suffering from psychological trauma brought about by his ordeal.

“With the hundreds of cases of abductions and extra-judicial killings in the country, the Armed Forces of the Philippines mastered the scheme of identifying legitimate people's organizations as 'front' of the CPP. The Armed Forces of the Philippines insists on linking activist citizens to the CPP and its armed group to justify attacks on their lives and liberty,” Dural said.

Since President Gloria Arroyo took power in 2001, at least 27 church people, including Bishop Alberto Ramento, of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente, had been killed. Hundreds of political activists, accused of being supporters of the CPP, were also abducted and killed by suspected government soldiers. (With reports from the CBCP)

Malakanyang Motukod Ug Usa Ka Legal Team Aron Pagtuon Sa Pagwagtang Sa EO 464

PAGADIAN CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Feb. 28, 2008) Motukod ang Malakanyang ug usa ka legal team nga maoy magtuon sa posibleng pagwagtang sa mando ehekutibo 464 isip tubag sa tawag sa Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

Matod pa ni Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, gimandoan siya ni Presidente Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo paghulma gilayon sa usa ka legal nga grupo sa wala pa mibiya ang presidente padulong sa Davao City kahapon sa buntag.

Kini ang gisugyot sa Presidente kaniya sa diha-diha magpatawag ug meeting uban sa maong team sa may alas kuwatro sa hapon kagahapon aron sa pagtuon awhag sa CBCP kabahin sa EO 464.

Ang legal team pagalangkuban sa kalihim sa Departmento sa Hustisya, Solicitor General, ug Chief Presidential Legal Counsel, Deputy Executive Secretary for Legal Affairs, ug ang legal officers sa government corporate counsels. (PIA Pagadian City)

Philippines In New Brand Of People Power

MANILA, Philippines - The country is experiencing a “new brand” of People Power in various archdioceses and dioceses according to CBCP President and Jaro (Iloilo) Archbishop Angel N. Lagdameo.

“Various activities in the form of people’s response to calls for communal action are borne out of discussions in the parishes, groups and associations for truth, justice and accountability,” Archbishop Lagdameo said over Catholic-run Veritas 846 early Thursday morning.

He said communal action comes after prayers, discussions and reflections on the prevailing issues affecting the country.

Archbishop Lagdameo said Social Action Center directors have began to take part and spearhead small group discussions and the formation of Truth Centers in various areas of the country. He emphasized communal action comes from prayers, reflections and thorough discussions of issues affecting the country and its people.

“The perceived meddling of the Catholic Church in civil affairs is based on our desire to foster and strengthen programs for the common good as it involves moral issues,” he said.

In a previous interview with a ranking wire agency correspondent, Archbishop Lagdameo said the country may no longer have activities and “peaceful uprisings” similar to EDSA People Power I in 1986. He said there has been a paradigm shift.

“The street parliamentarians of EDSA People Power I are now nearly a quarter of a century older and may no longer have the strength and stamina,” Archbishop Lagdameo noted.

He added the most of the country’s young generation seem not to care about political issues because their concerns are personal “going to school, finding decent jobs, acquiring modern mobile phones and have regular access to the internet.”

The prelate however noted more and more people are getting exposed to the almost unimaginable accounts of graft and corrupt practices and scandals over the past few years. (Melo M. Acuña)

Freed Italian Catholic Clergy Returns To His Parish In South RP

Editorial cartoon by Mauro Biani. (http://maurobiani.splinder.com)

Papal Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME) priest, the Rev. Giancarlo Bossi, in the southern Philippine town of Payao. Hundreds of Filipinos, Muslims and Christians, gather in the town to welcome the return of the 57-year old clergy on Wednesday July 25, 2007. (Mindanao Examiner/PIME Philippines Photos)

ZAMBOANGA SIBUGAY (Mindanao Examiner / 25 Jul) – Freed Italian Catholic priest Giancarlo Bossi returned Wednesday to his parish in the remote town of Payao in the southern Filipino province of Zamboanga Sibugay, where hundreds of supporters have gathered to welcome him.

It was also in Payao town where he was kidnapped by Moro rebels on June 10.

Bossi’s reunion with the locals was emotional. Many were in tears when they saw the priest stepped out of his vehicle. He was frail, but smiled and waved to the crowds that surrounded his convoy.

They embraced Bossi and led him to his parish where more people were gathered and clapped their hands when they saw the 57-year old priest. It was the first time the priest returned to Payao town since he was freed by kidnappers on July 19.

Philippine authorities said Bossi was after celebrating mass in the village of Bulawan by rogue members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front led by brothers Akiddin and Wanning Abdusallam.

Government officials said there was no ransom paid for Bossi’s freedom, but the kidnappers had demanded P50 million for his safe release.

Army Maj. Gen. Nehemias Pajarito, commander of the 1st Infantry Division, said troops were hunting down the kidnappers. “Our forces are hunting down the kidnappers of Father Bossi and we will get sooner or later,” he told the Mindanao Examiner.

Pajarito said he would meet with the priest on Thursday in Payao town for a thanksgiving mass.

Bossi has told the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines that he forgives his captors and does not harbor ill will for them. “In spite of everything they are still my brothers,” he said.

“At night I pray for them. And if they kidnap me again, I would still pray for them, as there’s no bitterness in my heart whatsoever,” Bossi said. “When we pray the ‘Lord’s Prayer,’ we are all his sons and we are all brothers and sisters.”

Bossi said he longs to return to Payao “to be with my people whom I love.”

“Being a parish priest is comparable with a head of a family who ought to be with his children,” he said.

Bossi said he has plans to return to Italy next month to visit his family. “I will also personally thank friends and the Italians who prayed and held rallies for my rescue,” he said.

Provincial police filed charges last week against Bossi’s kidnappers. Bossi was the third Italian priest kidnapped in southern Philippines the past 9 years.

Rogue MILF rebels kidnapped Fr Luciano Benedetti, 52, in Zamboanga del Norte province in 1998 and held for nearly 10 weeks until he was freed in exchange for a huge government ransom.

In 2001, renegade MILF rebels and members of the bandit group called Pentagon Gang also snatched Fr Giuseppe Pierantoni as the 44-year-old from Bologna said mass in the parish church of Dimataling town in Zamboanga del Sur.

The priest was freed after six months in captivity in exchange for an unspecified ransom, but he claimed to have escaped from his kidnappers. (Mindanao Examiner)

The Dignity Of The Rural Poor, A Gospel Concern

Dear People of God in the Philippines,

In response to the Pope Benedict XVI's first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est (God is love), we declared 2006 the Year of Social Concerns (CBCP Pastoral Exhortation, May 11, 2006).

For the God who is love bids us to be love too. In our Pastoral Exhortation naming 2006 the Year of Social Concerns, we expressed the hope that we would be able to educate ourselves more intensively in what the social teaching of the Church is all about. For that teaching in the end comes to only one thing: love of neighbor because of God's love for us.

The over-riding social concern of the Church of the Philippines has been all these years centered on the inequitable distribution of the nation's wealth and the endemic social injustices that underpin that evil.

We would like in this statement to focus our attention on the greatest victim of our unjust economic order, the rural poor, and the diminishment of their dignity as people and as citizens.

We cannot put it too strongly, but this diminishment is a negation of Christian love---and hence of the God who is love. (Cf. Jubilee of the Agricultural World Address of John Paul II, Nov. 11, 2000l also, Land and Agrarian Reform, Pastoral Exhortation on Philippine Economy, no. 54, CBCP, 1998).

Our Situation

The greater number of our poor are in the rural areas. The poor abound in our cities too, and we must be as concerned for them as for our rural poor. But if the urban poor are growing in numbers, it is largely because of rural folk crowding into our cities to escape the debilitating poverty of the countryside. It seems obvious then that to attend to the first problem (rural poverty) would be to help lessen the second (urban poverty).

The one big effort of the government at alleviating rural poverty has been its on-going land reform program, the CARP (the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program). The law instituting it was passed years ago but its full implementation is still far off in the future, if ever.

The law was defective in the first place, emasculated in the very beginning in a landlord dominated Congress, further watered down in its implementation. At this stage, a year before the scheduled end of the program, there is much that has not yet been done and the general situation of our farmers is still as bleak as ever.

The lack of vigor and determination shown by the government in its poor implementation of the law mirrors the still over-powering opposition of the landed classes, the traditional political and economic elite of our country.

What this means simply is that selfish class interests outweigh concern for the common good, the main target of the Church's social teaching. And that selfish unconcern in turn translates into sheer neglect of the poor, an utter disregard of the dignity of a whole class merely because of their bad economic plight.

This disregard is horrendously displayed in the recent extra-judicial killings, perpetrated by groups from both the right and the left, of farmers whose only "crime" is their continuing struggle for agrarian reform or their inability to pay the "revolutionary tax" demanded of them by the NPA.

As a religious people---and it doesn't matter whether we are Christians, Muslims or adherents of other religions---we must vehemently condemn the continuing murder of such rural folk.

We condemn too, just as vehemently, the un-abated killing of unarmed men and women on the mere charge or suspicion that they support or belong to leftist political groups.

Our Response

Condemning evil is not enough. As we must have learned from our consideration of the Church's social teaching this past year, we must try bringing an end to evils that harm people and their good.

As always, our first reaction to national problems is to call on government to do what it is supposed to do. We do so here. We ask that the CARP, defective as it is, be finally completed next year as it has been targeted. And if it is not sufficiently implemented by then, the program should be further extended and funded more seriously and generously. But we asked that the law itself must be reviewed and improved.

The government and the military's response to the shameful "extra-judicial" killings of unarmed crusaders for justice and equality is most unsatisfactory, their protestations of concern not too convincing. The greater and more effective performance of their duties as guardians and protectors of our peace---this too we must demand as strongly as we can.

Putting the burden of action on people whose responsibility it is to act, however, is not enough. We must ask ourselves: What do we do as individuals, as families, as communities?

What must we do? The responsibility to act is just as much ours as those who have the official responsibility. For years now we have been pushing the development of BECs or BEC-type Church communities and organizations.

And we do so because such communities are, or should be, fully participative communities. Problems, national or local, big or small, weighty or light and the problem of the rural poor we are speaking of here now is probably our weightiest, all must be looked at and become community concerns for the solving of which their participation is needed.

Involving themselves in meeting those problems, they must do so according to the social teaching of the Church which always looks to the achieving of the common good. This demands continuing discernment from all of us, both as individuals and as communities. The answers will be varied, but, we trust, all issuing from genuine Christian charity.

On our part, and in view of what we are asking you to do, we make a very specific proposal.

A Rural Congress

The year 2007 is the fortieth anniversary of the National Rural Congress of 1967. It was at this Congress that the participants, most of them diocesan and parish social action workers, came to the crucial conclusion that the Church must go to the barrios.

The reason was the heavy realization that the rural parts of the country were the most neglected by both the government's development programs and the Church's pastoral care.

To commemorate that crucial event in our life as a Church---and to make us meet in true Gospel fidelity our present social concerns---we propose that we revive the memory of that Congress by holding one again this year.

But this time our farmers must do that speaking by themselves, the discerning, the proposing of their own ideas, the planning of how we must as a people come together to work for the common good of the country and of ourselves.

Doing so, they will be effectively asserting the dignity that for so long has been denied them. And the rest of us, participating with them in their reflections and deliberations, we will be honoring their inborn dignity as children of the same Father in Heaven.

Possibly a small thing. But in the larger picture of the country's many ills, we see that it is in not honoring the dignity of the least of our brothers and sisters among the poor that we contribute not a little to the injustices and inequalities that have become deeply ingrained in our national life.

And today the murders and killings, the corruption and thieving, the crimes that are being committed daily with impunity against our poor, these we see too are all rooted in the practical denial of the basic human dignity and rights of our very poor. Christ himself acknowledged and honored their dignity, identified himself with it: "If you did it for one of my least brothers or sisters, you did it for me" (Mt. 25, 40). Because he did, so must we.

Today we see only too clearly the need for the reform not only of our national institutions but of our very moral fiber as a people. We start meeting that need by acknowledging the God-given dignity of the least of Christ's and our-brothers and sisters.

And not only in word but in act. That in itself is reform. The Lord who loves the poor be with us in this, our common task.

For the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines,
+ANGEL N. LAGDAMEO, D.D. Archbishop of Jaro President, CBCP

Catholic Youth Flock To Davao For National Youth Day Celebration

DAVAO CITY (Mark Navales / 09 Nov) – For the first time in Mindanao, more than 10,000 mostly young Catholics flocked to Davao City in the southern Philippines celebration of the National Youth Day.

The five-day even, organized by Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) Commission on Youth and Archdiocese of Davao, formally opened Thursday with the theme: “You Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path,” (Psalm, 119: 5).”

The gathering will include singing, prayers, Eucharistic celebrations and conferences.

Msgr. Fernando Capalla, the Archbishop of Davao, has called on the faithful to pray for the success of the event, the Catholic Asia News said.

Muslim religious leaders in Mindanao were also supporting the event.

The CBCP started the National Youth Day celebration in 1986 as a way of implementing its preferential apostolate for children and youth. It was traditionally held in Manila. (Mindanao Examiner)