Ecumenical Bishops Council of the Philippines denounces harassment of priests

by Global Ministries | published on Oct 10, 2014

Ecumenical Bishops Council of the Philippines denounces harassment of priests – letter published in the Philippine Daily Enquirer July 22, 2006

The Ecumenical Bishops Forum, a fellowship of bishops from the Roman Catholic, the Episcopal, the United Methodist, the United Church of Christ in the Philippines and the Philippine Independent churches denounce the harrassment being waged by the Arroyo government against six bishops of the Roman Catholic Church.

In times of moral crisis as we are now, the church through its bishops and leaders speak out. Issues on human dignity and the larger society are not the sole responsibility of civil authority. The church, hardly the advocate of any definite system except that which genuinely upholds freedom and the interest of the greater whole, thus retains its independendence in opposing injustice wherever it occurs and whatever system that promotes the same. The ecumenical movement primarily bears prophetic witness by exposing evil and declaring God’s judgement and mercy. Through the ages falsehood and wrong, social upheavals and resistance to oppressive governments have united the churchers to affirm the sanctity of life. The right to live sans any form of destructive domination and greed is the framework of the World Council of Churches in the struggle for abundant life. Similarly, Pope John Paul II suggests that “unjust laws pose dramatic problems of conscience for morally upright peole” and therefore people must refuse to cooperate in acts that are morally evil. He further said such a refusal is in itself a human right to be respected by civil law.

The six bishops are teachers and defenders of the faith. They teach us to hold on to the truth and pursue it at all times and in all places. In so doing, they are vanguards lest we become sycophants to a despot or a government obsessed with power. That they are now the objects of assault betrays further the desperate attempts of the Arroyo regime to silence her critics. The criticisms are valid: widespread corruption, unexplained scandals, gambling, the sell-out of our patrimony and above all massive cheating on the part of President Arroyo to perpetuate herself in power. Why all the attempts to cover these? Are not the actuations of the Arroyo government designed to divert our attention from the crimes it continues to commit against the people of this republic?

It is clear to us what dissent means. It is democratic space that says a better government is possible and that the people in this land deserve a better government. Harrassing or killing church people is the way of a desperate ruler fast losing the people’s support. We say NO! to this cheap government charade that’s costing too much for our people. What the Arroyo government is doing to the six bishops is a sign of its rotten and moribund state. Now is the time to demand change.

The Most Rev. Alberto B. Ramento, D.D.
Co-Chairperson
Ecumenical Bishops Council, Philippines