Conference of Major Superiors in the Philippines -Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Commission (CMSP – JPICC) and Mission Partners
A Solidarity Statement
On the Enforcement of the Writ of Preliminary Injunction in Dupax del Norte, Nueva Vizcaya

We speak as consecrated women and men. We speak as a Church that listens to the cry of the poor and the cry of the earth. We speak not from power, but from conscience; formed by the Gospel and sharpened by suffering.

With deep sorrow and moral outrage, we express our solidarity with the people of Dupax del Norte, Nueva Vizcaya, especially the farmers, indigenous families, and community members who have stood for months in peaceful resistance to defend their land, livelihood, and dignity; only to be met by force under the implementation of a Writ of Preliminary Injunction that has favored corporate interest over human lives.

What unfolded in Purok Keon, Brgy. Bitnong is not merely a legal enforcement. It is a pastoral wound. It is a social sin when barricades of conscience are dismantled while the voices of the poor are ignored.

Standing With the Frontliners of the Struggle

We stand in prayerful solidarity with those who bore the brunt of yesterday’s events—those who were harassed, displaced, and silenced. Your courage is not forgotten. Your suffering is not invisible to God.

As Pope Leo reminds the Church, justice is not authentic when it protects property but abandons the person, and peace is false when it is achieved through fear rather than truth. The measure of justice is always the human person, especially the most vulnerable.

A Call to the Courts and to Those Who Wield Authority

We respectfully but firmly call on the Honorable Judge who issued the Writ, and on all officers tasked to enforce it: May conscience never be eclipsed by procedure. May the law never be reduced to an instrument that harms the very people it is meant to protect.
We pray as consecrated persons entrusted with the ministry of intercession; that those in authority may be granted the grace to discern not only what is legal, but what is right, just, and life-giving.
Pope Leo teaches that authority finds its legitimacy not in coercion but in moral responsibility, and that power loses its soul when it no longer serves the common good.

To the Philippine National Police and Security Forces

We recognize your mandate to uphold peace and order.
Yet we must ask, with evangelical honesty:
• Was due process fully observed without intimidation?
• Were the rights of civilians respected without discrimination?
• Was force exercised with restraint, or did it cross into abuse?

True peace is not enforced at gunpoint. Peace is born when justice walks with humility.

To the DENR and the Mines and Geosciences Bureau

As stewards of the nation’s natural patrimony, we ask: Where do you stand amid this unfolding injustice?
Transparency is not optional; it is a moral obligation. Silence in the face of suffering is not neutrality; it becomes complicity.
Pope Leo insists that development that destroys the moral and ecological foundations of society is a betrayal of progress itself. Mining exploration cannot proceed as if communities, culture, and creation were expendable.

A Word to the Faithful and to All People of Good Will

Though physical barricades have been broken, the moral barricade remains.

It now lives in wider solidarity; across parishes, religious communities, civil society, and mission partners.

Our grief, anger, and questions must not divide us. They must mature into organized compassion, sustained vigilance, and prophetic unity.

As consecrated women and men, we recommit ourselves to accompany the people—not from a distance, but from within their struggle.

We will not be silent while the poor are pushed aside in the name of progress.
We will not bless a peace built on fear and exclusion.
We will not retreat from our mission to defend life, land, and dignity.

Anchored in the Gospel, guided by the social teaching of the Church, and inspired by the words of Pope Leo that justice delayed to the poor is justice denied to God, we raise our collective voice:
The land is not merely a resource; it is a sacred trust.
The people are not obstacles; they are bearers of God’s image.
And the Church will always stand where Christ stands:
with the crucified peoples of our time.

Justice must prevail. Accountability must be demanded. And hope rooted in faith; must never be dismantled.

Conference of Major Superiors in the Philippines -Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Commission (CMSP – JPICC) and Mission Partners

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