“We are committed to peace. On this matter, there can be no equivocation on our part. It is a commitment that is not born out of the practicalities of political adjustment or of the vagaries of military strategy. It is a commitment rooted in our being Church.” (On the Search for A True and Lasting Peace, National Council of Churches in the Philippines, January 23, 1987)
Records will bear that at the core of the ecumenical vocation of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) is peacebuilding. The various ways this vocation was expressed in our programs and the public statements and pronouncements we issued are a testimony of NCCP’s long-standing and faithful witness to and support for the peace process.
We are thus alarmed at the state of unpeace in the country.
In November 2017, the administration of former Pres. Rodrigo Duterte unilaterally terminated the peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP). Pres. Duterte issued Executive Order 70 , institutionalizing the whole-of-nation approach and mobilizing all government agencies and resources with its goal of ending the armed conflict with the Communist Party of the Philippines/New People’s Army/National Democratic Front of the Philippines (CPP/NPA/NDFP). He then created the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) which signaled the all-out war against the NDFP and so-called “communist-terrorist front organizations.”
In 2020, after the Anti-Terrorism Law (ATL) was passed, terrorist-labelling/red-tagging by NTF-ELCAC of many human rights and environmental defenders including church people who are serving and working with the poorest of the poor, has become more threatening. Violations of human rights and international humanitarian law (IHL) and the shrinking of civic space are tangible results of this practice. Sadly, this continues under the present government of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.
We lament that several of our church workers and ecumenical partners are victims of rights violations: Rev. Nathaniel Vallente and Pastor Jimmy Teves both from the UCCP and Aldeem Yañez, lay worker of the IFI and former NCCP Vice Chairperson are separately detained based on trumped-up charges; Rev. Glofie Baluntong of the United Methodist Church and Rev. Edwin Egar of the UCCP and former NCCP Staff, have been charged with violations of the Anti-Terrorism Law (ATL); Ms. Peti Enriquez, our NCCP Bookkeeper, has been falsely charged with violations of the International Humanitarian Law. Meanwhile, the assets of the UCCP Haran in Davao City, UCCP Fatima in Bohol, and our partner, the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines, have been frozen under the Anti-Terrorism Financing Act.
Similar rights violations were noted by Mr. Ian Fry, the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change, on his recent visit to the country. He recommended the disbandment of the NTF-ELCAC and the repeal of the ATL which we also believe to be the big barriers to the resumption of the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations.
It is in this context that we, the delegates of the 26th NCCP General Convention, issue our calls to the government of Pres. Marcos Jr. to heed the long-time call of the NCCP to disband NTF-ELCAC and repeal the ATL, a call that was echoed by the UN Special Rapporteur Mr. Ian Fry; stop human rights violations against church people and other human rights and environmental defenders; and, resume the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations. On our 60th Anniversary, this we affirm: “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased (Luke 2:14, NLT)”.
*This statement was approved unanimously by the delegates of the 26th General Convention of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines on November 24, 2023.
