Human rights advocates from the United States,
Canada, and Austria held solidarity fasts and sent letters to Pope Francis
urging him to support the “poor and oppressed” in the Philippines, by his
intercession for the release of political prisoners and for the resumption of
the peace talks between the Philippine government and the National Democratic
Front of the Philippines.
Human rights advocates from the United States,
Canada, and Austria held solidarity fasts and sent letters to Pope Francis
urging him to support the “poor and oppressed” in the Philippines, by his
intercession for the release of political prisoners and for the resumption of
the peace talks between the Philippine government and the National Democratic
Front of the Philippines.
Members of the US-based National Ecumenical
Forum for Filipino Concerns (Midwest Organizing Committee) in a letter to the
Pope said, “We urge you to help us pressure the Government of the Philippines
(GPH) to heed the cry of the Filipino people: the unconditional release of more
than 490 political prisoners who were imprisoned for their political beliefs;
and the immediate resumption of the formal peace negotiations with the
revolutionary National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in order to
resolve the decades-old armed conflict and achieve a just and lasting peace.”
The letter was signed by Bishop Robert Ilay
(Philippine Independent Church -Tampa, Florida), Bishop Valentin Lorejo
(PIC-Lincolnwood, Illinois), Bishop Joshua Cuarteros (Visiting Bishop of the
Diocese of Tampa, Florida), Bishop Eliezer Pascua (Philippine-American
Ecumenical Church-United Church of Christ, Chicago, Illinois), Rev. Fr.
Primitivo Racimo (Episcopalian Diocese of Chicago, Illinois), Rev. Fr. Lito J.
Capeding (Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mobile, Alabama), Rev. Fr. Julian
Jagudilla, OFM (Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York), Rev. Fr. Rex Familiar
(Roman Catholic Diocese of Orlando, Florida), Rev. Fr. Florentino Santiago (Roman
Catholic Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux, Louisiana), Sr. Rodita Rogador (Missionary
Sisters of St. Charles Borromeo-Scalabrini, Melrose Park, Illinois) and Nerissa
Nabua (Lay Scalabrinian Missionary Movement, Melrose Park, Illinois).
Filipino migrants based in Austria also called
for justice for victims of human rights violations in the Philippines. “Your Holiness,
help us in pressing for the return of the lost freedom and other rights of
political prisoners, as well as those who disappeared, referred to as desaparecidos, and thus fully correcting
such grave social and political ills that have long been reigning in our
country,” they said in a letter to the Pope.
Members of Bayan-USA, Portland
Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines (US), and Canada-based Centre d’appui aux
Philippines (Centre for Philippine
Concerns-CPC) threw their support for the hunger strike and fast of political
prisoners in the Philippines. Members of the CPC held a 24-hour solidarity
fast.
The political prisoners’ hunger strike highlighted the
call to release all political prisoners and for Pope Francis to intercede on
their behalf. Karapatan documented 491 political prisoners, 53 of
them are sickly and 42 are elderly. ###