Some 20 church-based human rights defenders (HRDs) from the Luzon dioceses of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) gathered at Aglipay Central Theological Seminary on March 9-11 for a consultation on a national support framework for them.
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The gathering was organized under the Program for the Accompaniment and Support of Church-based HRDs (PASCH), with the support of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Northern Germany.
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βThis national framework is much-needed,β said Rev. Wilfredo Ruazol, one of the consultants for PASCH. βA lot of issues weigh down HRDs in the Philippines, including church people. Recognizing human rights defense as a crucial part of our heritage as IFI and of Christβs mission today, we need to ensure that the Church is able to help church-based HRDs persist in their prophetic witness.β
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The consultation in Luzon and upcoming ones in Visayas and Mindanao would ascertain current local and national challenges faced by church-based HRDs, and gather insights on how they could remain engaged with human rights work despite all these.
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In the workshops for the Luzon leg, the participants noted experiences of red-tagging and other forms of harassment, as well as maladjustment, or an inability of oneβs mind to adapt properly to a context where their human rights work is threatened.
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They agreed that the Church needed to develop security and engagement protocols, establish a church-wide protection framework, and create psychosocial and pastoral care programs for HRDs.
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Concerns and gaps in the Church response were unpacked after an overview of the situation of human rights defense nationwide and an introduction to mental health and trauma, led by Jimarie Snap Mabanta, a program director of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines, and Estrella Catarata, a registered social worker and psychologist, respectively.
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Rev. Dr. Eleuterio Revollido, ACTS rector and PASCH national convener, also discussed theological and sociopastoral perspectives on human rights defense. Lawyer Marben Panlasigui, legal counsel of the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance, discussed legal protections and remedies for HRDs in distress.
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IFI, not new to human rights work, is also not new to the threats. One of its biggest campaigns today is for the freedom of an HRD, Deacon Aldeem YaΓ±ez, now facing cases of terrorism financing and illegal possession of firearms and explosives.
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The Church, in its consistent participation in the Universal Periodic Review on the Philippines at the United Nations, has noted several human rights violations directed at church-based HRDs.
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The list includes the extrajudicial killing of Obispo Maximo Alberto Ramento and Rev. William Tadena in Tarlac, Benjamin Bayles in Negros Occidental, Meliton Catampongan in Surigao del Norte and Erning Aykid in Oriental Mindoro.
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Various church leaders have faced cases of red-tagging, some of which graduated to surveillance, harassment and trumped-up charges.
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All those experiences and reports are expected to inform PASCH in its work to capacitate the Church to protect its HRDs.