LET US STAND AGAINST STATE REPRESSION AND UPHOLD HUMAN RIGHTS

Seek good, not evil, that you may live.
Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is. Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts. –Amos 5:14-15a

The United Church of Christ in the Philippines is once again raising it prophetic voice in view of the recent cases of political repression of the Church workers. As Bishops of the Church, we are saddened and alarmed at the arrest and incarceration of Rev. Nathaniel Valiente from Bohol Conference and Pastor Benjie Gomez from District Conference of Northern Zamboanga. In 2019, Pastor Jimmy Teves and some church members from North Negros Conference were illegally arrested and detained, even until now. Aside from them Church Workers from South Bicol Conference, Pastor Dan San Andres was arrested and detained but recently released, while Pastor Daniel Balucio is still detention for trump-up charges.

Furthermore, there are at least 196 victims of red tagging and image-shaming of church leaders. Aside from this, not less than 226 cases of human rights violations have been recorded by our church since 2016. In this number there are those who were extrajudicially killed like Pastor Perfecto Hoyle, Rev. Ernesto “Tata” Estrella, and Mr. Rico Antanoy.

We deplore the State’s repression and curtailment of the right to life, self-expression and civil liberties of Church people. The State has the moral responsibility to protect the life of its citizens, but it operates counter to its constitutional mandate. It should have been instituting social justice, ensure equal access to social services and provision of decent jobs for people to live decent lives.

We have witnessed how the State through the present dispensation systematically stifled people’s right to health and security especially when the Covid-19 Pandemic impacted the nation since March 2020. Millions of families who live on subsistence wages or living in a hand-to-mouth existence were out of job or lose their means of livelihood. This reality has not prevented the Church from providing support to the people in distress because of the lock down of villages, towns and cities. In an economically depressed situation, the State impeded people’s rights to gainful employment. These are abominable acts of the present Duterte government.