UCCP and NCCP Statements on Abduction of Pastor in Philippines

by Global Ministries | published on Oct 10, 2014

Below are the press statements of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) and National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) on the abduction of Pastor Berlin Guerrero.

UCCP PRESS STATEMENT: ON THE ABDUCTION OF PASTOR BERLIN GUERRERO

The United Church of Christ in the Philippines condemns in strongest terms the latest abduction of one of its pastors, Pastor Berlin V. Guerrero who was taken at gunpoint yesterday at 5:45 pm Sunday, May 27, 2007 in front of Seven Star gas station at Bgy. Casile, Binan, Laguna by undetermined number of armed men who were on board two L 300 FB vans whose plate numbers were covered.

Pastor Guerrero, 46 years old, pastor assigned at the UCCP local in Malaban, was with his wife Mylene and three children when the abduction took place. According to his wife, they were on board a tricycle when military looking armed men blocked their way, poked their guns on them, grabbed her bag as they forced Pastor Guerrero in one of the vans.

According to witnesses, some of the abductors were even video taping the incident. The vans fled to the direction of Carmona.

As of press time, efforts to locate Pastor Guerrero in various military and police facilities are fruitless.

The abduction of Pastor Guerrero took place two months after a similar incident took place on March 30 along Aguinaldo Highway in Dasmarinas, Cavite , where the Union Theological Seminary is located. Pastor Guerrero is a student of the seminary.

Before entering the ministry, Pastor Guerrero served as General Secretary of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan in Southern Tagalog in 1980’s. The UCCP believes that his abduction is linked with the on going crackdown against militants and activists in the labor, farmers, fisherfolks, and urban poor sectors, as well as journalists and human rights workers where almost a thousand have been killed, injured, and forcibly disappeared.

The United Church of Christ in the Philippines has been figured in a military orientation document called “Knowing the Enemy” and listed as a leftist front organization. About 30 UCCP pastors, lay workers have been killed since President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo assumed office in 2001.

The UCCP joins his wife, Mylene and the rest of the family in appealing to those who abducted his husband to release him immediately and ensure his safety.

The UCCP calls on the government and its security forces to stop this process of harassment of legitimate organizations as a violation of duly constitutionally guaranteed rights and freedoms.

May 28, 2007, Quezon City , Philippines

Press Statement from NCCP

May 28, 2007

I was at the memorial service for the first death anniversary of Noli Capulong yesterday afternoon at the United Church of Christ in the Philippines Calamba when Pastor Joel Tendero broke the news of the abduction of Berlin Guerrero. In my homily, I was reflecting on John 12:24… If a single grain of wheat dies, it produces many grains. The death of one produces many more grains according to the scripture. But I said yesterday that we must bring the equation to its conclusion. Many more grains grow but many more will run the risk of either being killed or abducted. Berlin’s abduction is proof of that conclusion. Political killings continue with nauseating impunity to this day. And while the perpetrators have changed tactics: from assassination by bonnet-wearing men on motorcycles to enforced disappearances, our streets are still stained with blood. The calls for justice that we sounded and continue to sound, we had hoped, would expose Oplan Bantay Laya I to the end that the military would withdraw the scheme. Instead, our calls have ushered Oplan Bantay Laya II. Our protests against urban militarization brought “wolves in sheep’s clothing” into the urban communities. Military presence never left the urban poor areas. The analysis that the State is responsible for the bloodshed and must be held accountable is flatly denied by the authorities. The testimonies raised in the halls of the United States Senate have fallen on deaf ears.

Angered by Berlin’s abduction, the NCCP stands with his wife, Mylene, his family, his church at this difficult time. Berlin’s absence from us today is yet another reason for the NCCP not to let down its guard for we know that our resolve to attain justice is mightier than the wicked plots of those who put their trust in malevolent violence. Moreover, abduction is a scheme employed by desperate cowards. What Berlin’s disappearance tells us is that no one can hush the people’s song of freedom for the song that he was singing continues to be sung by us. In the strongest of condemnation, we demand that his abductors surface him now or forever contend with the people’s wrath.

MS. SHARON ROSE JOY RUIZ-DUREMDES
General Secretary