Philippines Delegation Report from Xiaoling Zhu

by Global Ministries | published on Oct 10, 2014

Dear Colleagues in Christ,

Greetings! I have return to the US after a week-long visit with the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) Pastoral Ecumenical Delegation to the Philippines on human rights violation.

Dear Colleagues in Christ,

The situation of human rights violation is serious in the Philippines. The delegation was divided into three teams to visit areas of Eastern Visayas, Hacienda Luisita and Mindanao separately. I joined the Eastern Visayas team with Bishop Elmer Bolocon, General Secretary of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP). The conference minister Rev. Edison Lapuz was assassinated there, and this time I met his wife, teenage daughter and very young son.

So many cases of human rights violations have been reported that even the Commission on Human Rights, a part of the Philippine government, stated that 64 cases of killing were reported to the President since 2001, and 64 investigation task forces were formed. Three teams’ reports and the last news release came on July 20, 2005.

On July 28, Dr. Victor Hsu and I will go to Washington DC and join our justice team there to visit the Philippines Embassy and the US Congress.

Yesterday, the Delegation held a news conference in Manila, and this morning when I left Manila, I saw nationwide newspapers reporting the activitird of PEDV.

I came directly to Portland, OR for the Disciples General Assembly.

Thank you for your support and prayers.

Blessings!
Sincerely yours,
Rev. Dr. Xiaoling Zhu
Area Executive for East Asia and the Pacific
Global Ministries