Karapatan welcomes Pope Francis, as he embarks on his four-day visit to the Philippines. His messages on the need for the institution of the Catholic Church to be among the poor and to stand for the poor and oppressed resonate among us human rights workers, especially as we bear witness to the continuing assault on the rights of the Filipino people under the Benigno S. Aquino regime.
Karapatan welcomes Pope Francis, as he embarks on his four-day visit to the Philippines. His messages on the need for the institution of the Catholic Church to be among the poor and to stand for the poor and oppressed resonate among us human rights workers, especially as we bear witness to the continuing assault on the rights of the Filipino people under the Benigno S. Aquino regime.
Relatives of political prisoners and other victims of rights violations today joined members of people’s organization to welcome Pope Francis in a “Misang Bayan” at the Liwasang Bonifacio. At the Holy Mass, relatives of political prisoners, who are now on hunger strike, offered red roses made of beads from the women political prisoners at the Correctional Institute for Women. They also offered a cross with painting done by Eduardo Sarmiento, a peace consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines who is detained at the New Bilibid Prison. The painting depicts the plight and struggles of political prisoners and the role of the Church of the poor.
The “Misang Bayan”, an activity of the People’s Committee to Welcome the Pope is a collective call on Pope Francis to stand with the Filipino people’s cry for justice and peace.
Nationwide hunger strike, repression at Camp Bagong Diwa
The almost 500 political prisoners in 43 jails nationwide start their hunger strike-fast today as they also light candles to welcome the Pope. The hunger strike aims to highlight the call to release all political prisoners, and for Pope Francis to intercede on their behalf. Some 600 common crime violators at the Davao Penal Colony also joined the hunger strike, in solidarity with the call to release all political prisoners.
At Camp Bagong Diwa, jail warden J/Supt. Michelle Ng Bonto continues to refuse entry of visitors of political prisoners who started their hunger strike-fast on January 10. For the second time, jail authorities did not allow Dr. Julie Caguiat to visit the political prisoners who needed medical check-up. Among those denied entry yesterday, January 14, were former Gabriela representative Liza Maza, Bayan Chairperson Dr. Carol Araullo, Karapatan chairperson Marie Hilao-Enriquez and Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay. Jail authorities again cited various reasons for their refusal, “brazenly violating the rights of the detained persons as cited in RA 7438,” said Palabay.
“The BJMP is deliberately violating the rights of the political prisoners because they do not want their voices to be heard by the public and Pope Francis,” added Palabay.
People’s cry for justice and peace
The political prisoners, Palabay explained are among those people who, “question, challenge, or change the unjust order; those who are threatened, killed, disappeared or detained by the authorities who have guns and tanks to protect the rich, the hacienderos, and the powerful.”
The unjust order, she explained, is the unabated violations of the“people’s rights to land, decent jobs and living wages, shelter, accessible health and education services.”
“No amount of posh welcome rites or overkill security arrangements by the current administration can hide the glaring poverty and injustice in Philippine society, especially amid corruption scandals that rocked the nation these past years,” she added.
Karapatan reiterated its call for the BS Aquino government to address the roots of the armed conflict through peace negotiations, instead of going into military campaigns of suppression against the people. “The state of unpeace and the narratives of oppression continue,” she said.
With His Holiness’ visit to the Philippines, Karapatan enjoins Pope Francis to “hear the calls of political prisoners and their kin for their freedom, and the cry for justice of relatives of the desaparecidos and the victims of political killings. Theirs are voices that cannot be silenced, even by the most brutal forms of repression.”
“We ask him to stand with the poor and oppressed, and to struggle with us for just and lasting peace in our nation,” Palabay concluded.