[StatementFulfillment of Human Rights is the Path to Justice and Peace- Visayas Clergy Discernment Group

Human Rights Day Statement (December 10, 2011) As Auxiliary Bishop of Jaro, together with the Visayas Clergy Discernment Group (VCDG) as its Head Convenor, we express our solidarity with the Filipino people and the peoples of the world in commemorating the International Human Rights Day on December 10. In this 63rd anniversary of the Universal…

Human Rights Online Philippines

December 10, 2011

3–5 minutes

Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, Filipino people, Human Right, Human Rights Day, Maguindanao massacre, Populorum Progressio, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Human Rights Day Statement
(December 10, 2011)

As Auxiliary Bishop of Jaro, together with the Visayas Clergy Discernment Group (VCDG) as its Head Convenor, we express our solidarity with the Filipino people and the peoples of the world in commemorating the International Human Rights Day on December 10.

In this 63rd anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we remember Jesus of Nazareth who said, “I came that they may have life, life in its fullness” (John 10:10). In line with this, we, bishops and priests of the VCDG ask: How could our people attain the fullness of life if the culture of death and impunity does not end?

We condemn the extra-judicial killings, whose latest victims in Mindanao include our brother priest Fr. Fausto Tentorio and peasant leader Ramon Batoy. The culture of impunity hounds us, as two years after the Maguindanao Massacre, justice remains elusive.

Our church’s social doctrines consistently promote and defend the inviolable dignity of the human person (cf. Mater et Magistra, 453) and denounce the many violations of human dignity. “A just society can become a reality only when it is based on the respect of the transcendent dignity of the human person” (Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church [CSDC], 107).

Moreover, we continually strive for justice since peace is the fruit of justice(cf. Is 32:17). In the on-going war in Mindanao and the rest of the country, innocent civilians have been killed resulting in massive evacuation; and the peace talks between the Government of the Philippines and the CPP-NPA-NDF and the MILF have been shaky.

We are then reminding concerned groups and institutions that peace is not a mere absence of war (cf. Populorum Progressio, 76). Rather, a peaceful society is fulfilled through the defense and promotion of human rights (cf. CSDC, 495).

Human rights include the people’s right to development. Environmental destruction, landlessness, homelessness and joblessness are phenomena which should make us reflect on the teachings of the World Synod of Bishops which say, “(a) people should not be hindered from attaining development in accordance with their own culture; and (b) through mutual cooperation, all peoples should be able to become the principal architects of their own economic and social development” (Justice in the World [JW], 71).

We remind everyone that, “Care for the environment represents a challenge for all of humanity” (CSDC, 466). Animals, plants, and the natural elements should not be used simply as one wishes, according to one’s own economic needs (cf. Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 34). We assert that economic development which is a right of all people, necessarily includes environmental protection.

The common good demands that civil authorities facilitate the exercise of the people’s rights and duties, since for as long as inequalities abound, human rights are rendered totally ineffective (cf. Pacem in Terris, 63). Consequently, with the continued violation of such rights, peace becomes impossible to attain.

We ask government officials to do their responsibilities as servants of the people by promoting and in defending human rights. Genuine servants of the people’s true goal must be the common good, and not prestige or the gaining of personal advantages (cf. CSDC, 410).

As we strive for the just ordering of society, we recall that in the Old Testament “God reveals himself to us as the liberator of the oppressed and the defender of the poor, demanding from people faith in him and justice towards one’s neighbor” (JW, 30).

In this light, Vatican II exhorts us to continue working for society’s improvement, “The social order … must be founded in truth, built on justice, and enlivened by love: it should grow in freedom towards a more humane equilibrium” (Gaudium et Spes, 26).

Thus, on Human Rights Day, we offer our prayers, sacrifices and good works as we endeavor for truth, justice, love and peace. May Jesus and our Mother Mary be always with us.

As Christ lives,

BISHOP GERARDO A. ALMINAZA, D.D.
Auxiliary Bishop of Jaro,
and Head Convenor of Visayas Clergy Discernment Group
Tel. No. (033) 3291625
Visayas Convenors
Bishop Gerardo Alminaza
Msgr. Walter Cerbito
Msgr. Cayetano Gelbolingo
Msgr. Rommel Kintanar
Fr. Julius Heruela
Fr. Aniceto Buenafe, Jr.
Fr. Paul Medina, O.Carm
Fr. Edgardo Deligero
Fr. Desiderio Magdoza
Fr. Scipio Deligero
Fr. Antonio Bayod, MSC