HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

Military Chaplains to Join Church Fact-Finding Mission
6 UCCP pastors, members killed in Eastern Visayas

The increased incidence of political repression has prompted the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) to include military chaplains in its scheduled fact-finding mission in the first week of June. The UCCP leaders hope that this will serve as a deterrent to harassment and intimidation of the fact-finding team.

BY AUBREY SC MAKILAN
Bulatlat

The military and church people together on a mission?

This is most likely to happen as the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) decided to include military chaplains in a 15-person fact-finding mission from June 6 to 8 in Samar and Leyte provinces in the Eastern Visayas.

Bishop Elmer M. Bolocon, general-secretary of UCCP, said over the weekend they deemed this necessary in the wake of killings and repression among church people. With six killed UCCP members and pastors in the Eastern Visayas alone in recent past, the mission aims to know the reasons behind the murders, particularly the recent victim Rev. Edison Lapuz.

Lapuz was killed by two unidentified assassins on May 12. Church leaders, rights watchdogs and peace advocates have linked the Eastern Visayas command under Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan to the wave of killings and other human rights violations in the region.

In an interview with Bulatlat, Bolocon said that fact-finding teams are not spared from harassment and intimidation. This can be gleaned, he said, from the recent experience of a 60-person team led by human rights group Tanggol Karapatan (Protect Rights) who were held hostage in a Protestant church in Bagong Bayan, Roxas, Mindoro Oriental (located south of Manila).

“We hope (that with the presence of UCCP chaplains who are in active service in the military), the team will not be harassed,” said Bolocon.

Trend

According to Bolocon, “Those (members of the UCCP) who were killed were also active in mass organizations in their respective areas fighting for the poor.” He added that in their preliminary investigations, the military was involved in the killings.

Meanwhile, the East Asia and Pacific Office of the Common Global Ministries stressed that the killings show “a pattern of harassment and intimidation of progressive church and social leaders whose prophetic voices have been committed to justice for the poor and marginalized.”

For his part, former Senate President Jovito Salonga said that even during Martial Law, church people had been targets of repression and assassinations.

In a speech last May 24 at the UCCP Shalom Center in Malate, Manila, Salonga added that the involvement of government elements is not new. He cited the abduction of Fr. Rudy Romero on July 11, 1985 in Cebu by armed people aboard a white car bearing a government plate.

Undying resolve

Despite intensifying cases of human rights violations against church people, many of them remain steadfast, another pastor said.

“Danger is part of our calling,” Pastor Edwin Catungal of Bacoor, Cavite (located south of Manila) told Bulatlat.  “Being a prophet exposes a person to the many risks if he is only true in his calling.”

Catungal also said that he will still join protests even with the killings and repression of church people in mobilizations.

But even seminarians are already resolved in their chosen ministry. Henry Eduarte, 25, and Riza Ibarrola, 26, of the the Union Theological Seminary (UTS) emphasized their commitment to the ministry. “When you enter the ministry, death is never apart from it, especially when you are an advocate of the real meaning of truth, love and peace,” Eduarte said in a separate interview.

Both shared the same view that “everywhere is risky not just for a pastor but for everyone else because reality tells us there are many that still experience injustice.”

Eduarte added that this injustice could serve as a temptation for church people to leave the ministry. He said, though, that this would only happen if “one becomes selfish, overcome by power and wealth, and loses recognition of his fellow men which was contained in the second great commandment.”

“But this could be avoided by living a simple life while still pursuing your goals in life,” he said.

Ibarrola stressed that this time of intensifying crisis poses a big challenge for them. “This is the time we are needed the most so we should strive hard to stay,” she said. Bulatlat

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