IN RUINS. Debris from the houses that once stood along this coast litters the road after strong winds brought by Super Typhoon Odette (Rai) leveled this area in Barangay Sabang, Surigao City on December 16, 2021. . PHOTO BY ERWIN MASCARIÑAS

OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER PEACEBUILDER | 2 of the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform Sign Up to our Newsletter for free www.phpeaceplatform.org CONTENTS 03 04 06 09 17 18 19 EDITORIAL Church Response to Odette’s Wrath Women groups eye for wider CASER dissemination To die for the lumad is an honor - Fr. Ambray Defund NTF-ELCAC for Covid-19 Response Do not Escalate the Conflict and Concentrate on Healing Closing the Door to a Peaceful Resolution Peace Builder is a quarterly newsletter of the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform with editorial offices at: 2nd floor NCCP Building 879 Epifanio de Los Santos Avenue cor. EDSA and Quezon Avenue Facebook: Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform Email: [email protected] website: https.phpeaceplatform.org Contact No: 0927-6303392 The Rt. Rev. Rex B. Reyes, Jr Editor in Chief Bishop Emeritus Deogracias S. Iniguez, Jr. Bishop Noel A. Pantoja Sr. Mary John Mananzan, OSB Editorial Consultants Mervin Sol H. Toquero Pastor Carlton James Palm Cesar Villanueva Grace Cantal-Albasin Editorial Assistants Ofelia A. Cantor Circulation Manager Archbishop Emeritus Antonio J. Ledesma SJ, DD Associate Editor 05 I am here with you today because I want the government to hear our voices. We are not slaves. We go abroad for the family’s welfare because there’s no better working option for us here in the Philippines. The wages cannot decently support our families. 09 15 -Obispo Maximo Timbang -Marina Sarno -Fr. Raymond Ambray “As church, we have to respond to their needs and respond as one body. Let’s call ourselves to journey with them in these dark moments.” “What is the intent of asking my whereabouts? I am not in hiding. This red-tagging has bothered me, it’s scary, but I am not afraid because I know what I stand for. I am a priest. I spread the Gospel and I walk with the poor. 06

OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER of the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform PEACEBUI LDER | 3 VOTE FOR PEACE THE national elections draw near and as the campaign period starts, we will read and hear the platforms and programs of government of all the candidates vying for seats in the different national and local positions. Currently, there are 10 people running for president of the Republic, nine are contesting the vice-presidency, and several dozen are campaigning for a seat among the 12 available in the Senate. There are also thousands who are running for seats in the House of Representatives, including party-lists, and positions in the provincial and municipal governments including that of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). As the campaigns of all these candidates run to a fever pitch before May 9, the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform (PEPP), the largest ecumenical formation of church leaders in the country today, calls on the people to vote for peace. Voting for peace means choosing candidates who will work for a just and enduring peace. Candidates who do not only pay lip service to peace, but those who have a history and clear track record of addressing the challenges of social justice and the need for fundamental socio-economic reforms that will address the issues of poverty and inequity – the roots of the armed conflict in the country. As peace advocates, we ask the electorate to deeply discern from among the candidates - especially those seeking for the presidential bid - in order to make an informed choice, if they are truly working for peace. Choose candidates who are supportive of the peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) as a viable way to solve the situation of unpeace in our midst. For the last 50 years, the military approach to a national concern that is rooted on socio-economic injustices has bred more dissent, promoted hate and resentful hearts, economic dislocation and the deaths of thousands of Filipinos on both sides of the conflict. Five decades of military conflagration have been a period of national pain. That approach has failed and will continue to fail. The PEPP reiterates its apostolate that Christ our Peace is the way to resolve conflicts. In this manner, the PEPP upholds the peace negotiations initiated in 1992 by then President Fidel V. Ramos as a viable alternative to the ways of war and civil strife. The GRP-NDFP peace negotiations was formalized through the signing of The Hague Joint Declaration which has a four-point agenda agreed by both protagonists, to seek a peaceful resolution to the armed conflict. The GRP-NDFP peace process focused on achieving peace with its four-point agenda on human rights, socio-economic reforms, political reforms and the disposition of forces. We affirm that resolving these issues is the principled and non-militaristic way to peace. It is the way of righteousness and very much less costly when we consider the tools of war. Beyond the issue of peace negotiations, vote for candidates who show their sincerity to address the roots of the armed conflict – poverty, landlessness, inaccessibility to services and inequitable distribution of resources – especially, even during times when they are not courting our votes. May the harvest of righteousness be sown in peace by those who make peace. (James 3.15) War is not the way to peace. Vote for Peace! EDITORIAL

OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER PEACEBUILDER | 4 of the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform Church Response to BEFORE 2022 could usher in, Typhoon Odette (Rai) barreled in the country affecting 11 of the 17 regions in the Philippines on December 16 and 17, 2021. Odette mostly hit the Visayas and Northeastern Mindanao areas while affecting south of Luzon particularly areas devastated by Typhoon Ulysses in 2020. The Philippines has barely been recovering from previous typhoons in Luzon that sent thousands homeless and a pandemic that still rages wreaking havoc to lives and economy. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) recorded 405 deaths and most fatalities occurred in Central Visayas region. It has affected about 10.6 million persons. It also recorded 2,049,353 damaged and destroyed houses worth more than P62.6 millions in pesos. Odette may not have been as deadly as Yolanda (Haiyan) in 2013 which recorded about 6,000 deaths, but Odette’s destruction to properties and agriculture is catastrophic. Damage and destruction to agriculture such as crops, livestock, poultry, fisheries, infrastructure and equipment has been placed at more than P17.7 billion in pesos. Christmas and New Year celebrations in the most affected six regions were in the dark as power lines were not yet restored and telecommunications were down making relief assistance difficult. One of the sectors which quickly responded is the network of churches. Different religious organizations have never ceased in continuing their relief and rehabilitation efforts apart from the help of international organizations. Bishop Raul Dael, who heads the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tandag that covers Surigao del Sur, together with his clergy spearheaded a relief mission dubbed as “Duyog-Ambit” (Join and Share) to Dinagat Islands on January 3 until January 7, 2022. “Duyog-ambit” means for the church to join in the suffering of the people as they share the blessings gathered for their brethren. Nuns, seminarians, medical practitioners, drivers, psychologsits, social workers and volunteer laborers, carpenters, cooks comprised the relief mission that Bishop Dael formed to bring help to the hardest hit areas on Dinagat Islands such as San Jose, the ground zero. ODETTE’S WRATH Walking hand in hand. Sr. Len and her niece head home after attending the mass on January 4, 2022. Amid the devastation, many faithful still professed their faith through the Eucharistic celebration. PHOTO BY FR. RAYMOND AMBRAY

OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER of the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform PEACEBUI LDER | 5 As the team approached San Jose town wharf on January 3, Fr. Raymond Ambray, director of the Ecology and Environment Desk of Tandag Diocese, saw a bare and browned landscape where debris still strewn everywhere, most houses in ruins, and canvasses covering the roofless ones. This sight at the municipality of San Jose greets the team who arrived first on January 3, 2022. PHOTO BY FR. RAYMOND AMBRAY “While I saw such devastating sight, warm smiles still greeted us. Yet, my heart told me otherwise the people just suppress the pains and frustrations of the destruction they are facing,” said Fr. Ambray. At San Jose, Odette spared the church and rectory, however the roof of the pastoral center was ripped off. He said the residents are worried on the waning relief assistance that might bring hunger because the fisherfolk communities could not resume fishing as the seas are still rough until March and the fishing boats gone. The Tandag relief mission visited the seven municipalities in Dinagat Islands: San Jose, Dinagat, Cagdianao, Basilisa, Loreto, Tubajon, and Libjo. “It is clear that those coastal municipalities bore the brunt of Odette. We need to focus our help in the areas of Dinagat, San Jose, Cagdianao, Basilisa. Fortunately, we still saw see green patches in the mountains on the island,” he said. Before leaving Dinagat Islands, Fr. Ambray said the team did an exit conference and learned that despite the horror that survivors went through with Odette, the children’s drawings showed no trauma, according to a psychologist who joined in the relief mission. “Their drawings showed the moon, sun and stars. The drawings reflected hope that is still in the hearts of the children who continue to see the light of the day amid the darkness and uncertainties blanketing them,” Fr. Ambray shared what the psychologist observed in the children’s works. A female volunteer doctor shared how she was touched by an elderly woman who approached her and just held her hands and cried. “I was hesitant because when she came to me. I didn’t have my tools with me as those didn’t arrive yet. However, she told me she just wanted to hold my hands. She cried. Then, she thanked and left me. I felt enough as a doctor even without my medical apparatuses as I might have radiated some healing to her.” The Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) has also been raising funds to help their churches in the Visayas and Mindanao affected by Odette. IFI Obispo Maximo Rhee Timbang in his Christmas message urged his flock to be transformed as renewing agents of hope and joy by responding to the needs of those affected by Odette. “As church, we have to respond to their needs and respond as one body. Let us call ourselves to journey with them in these dark moments. Concretely, through our Appeal Campaign, we will respond to the relief needs of the 12 dioceses and their communities and downsize it later to the most gravely affected ones, then we will hopefully go for rehabilitation efforts,” Obispo Maximo Timbang said. Its rebuilding efforts are coursed through IFI Concern and Advocacy for Relief and Resiliency, Empowerment and Sustainability (CARES) Program Services of the Obispado Maximo office. This is IFI’s machinery to respond to situation and get in touch in its local churches. IFI has continued its relief efforts to areas in Surigao del Norte where most survivors of Odette still stay in evacuation centers and makeshift shelters in Surigao City and the towns of Tubod and Placer. continue to page 12...

OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER PEACEBUILDER | 6 of the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform Women farmers join a protest rally on November 30, 2021. PHOTO BY AMIHAN WOMEN Women groups eye for wider CASER info dissemination S INCE President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the termination of the peace talks between the Government of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDF) in 2017, the lives of the poor and the marginalized have become harder made more difficult with the Covid-19 pandemic. Killings of human rights defenders and activists have worsened while atrocities resulting from the armed conflict have continued to rage on in the countryside affecting the poor and marginalized communities. In a virtual forum “A Pursuit through Peace Talks: A Challenge to Political Candidates and Voters” held on December 6, 2021, women leaders from the peasant, migrant, church and other sectors gathered and discussed the pressing need to advocate for the resumption of the peace talks and lobby for it among the political candidates and the voters. Sharon Cabusao-Silva who talked about the imperative of peace talks said the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER) is the heart of the peace negotiations and it matters that the public engage in it as CASER contains the two vital economic agenda - the genuine agrarian reform and the nationalist industrialization. “CASER is a great centerpiece for peace education. It is the blueprint for national development. It can greatly advance the lives of the people if both the GPH and NDFP are sincere in implementing it. Anyone who could read this document would realize the importance of the peace talks,” said Silva. The breakdown of the peace negotiations has been a great loss for the people as the talks could have been a relief from the ongoing crisis the country is confronting. Cathy Estavillo, spokesperson of Bantay Bigas (Rice Watch), said once the CASER is implemented it will be justice for the farmers because it would pave the way to landownership and support services that could guarantee food security. Estavillo cited that a 2019 Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) data showed 59 million Filipinos were experiencing hunger in pre-pandemic times. “With this pandemic, the people in farming and fishing communities have become hungrier and some aid came in trickle to nothing to. The militarist lockdowns have hindered delivery of their produce. To survive the daily needs, they have been forced to borrow money which they could hardly pay back now. They couldn’t even have three meals a day,” she said. Sr. Mary John Mananzan of the Office of Women Gender Commission (OWGC) of the Association of Major Religious Sisters of the Philippines (AMRSP) said the peace talks issues should be widely brought to attention of the grassroots who carry the burden of this unpeace. “Let’s bring to the grassroots the importance of the peace talks in their daily lives as they’re the ones suffering from this perennial hunger and unemployment. Let’s aware them of the repercussions of the peace talks in their lives,” Sr. Mananzan said. Women in the frontlines Marina Sarno, a case officer of Migrante, used to work in Saudi Arabia, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi for about 10 years. Her last stint as a domestic help in Abu Dhabi turned ugly. The agency that contracted Sarno to work in Abu Dhabi violated her job placement from the agreed hospital cleaning work to house help. For almost a year, Sarno couldn’t com-

OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER of the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform PEACEBUI LDER | 7 municate with her family or the agency that contracted her to work because her mobile phone, passport and other work documents were kept by her agency. Her husband was worried sick trying to find her as he sought help from government agencies. While working nonstop and had one meal a day, Sarno got sick. She couldn’t move well the other half part of her body. She said her female employer even tried to poison her with a drug. The incident compelled Sarno to lock herself in her employer’s prayer room for safety as she sensed her employer might take her life. Once inside the room, Sarno’s employers cut the power and water to force her to come out. “It was so hot. Without water, I was forced to drink my urine to survive. But, slowly I got dehydrated and I slowly crawled toward the toilet inside the prayer room. I drank the water in the toilet bowl just to survive. It was the third day,” Sarno, in tears, told the participants during the virtual forum. But, Sarno’s faith and will to go back home alive and see her family again kept her wits intact, although at some point she questioned God. “Why am I stuck here, Lord? I only dreamed to provide for my family that’s why I am here. How can I help my family now in this situation,” Sarno recalled her conversation to God at the time she locked herself in the prayer room. Finally, she found a chance to get out from the prayer room when her employers left for a wedding. She dragged a ladder and climbed on it to reach the top of the house’s fence, but she couldn’t jump out as it was too high. She forced the kitchen door open and looked for a pen and paper. There she wrote: “I am Maria Sarno. Please help me. This is the number, please call.” Sarno gave her husband’s telephone number. She made a hole on the potato and put in there the rolled paper and the 20 Dirhams. She threw it to the neighbor’s house. Luckily, the Indonesian domestic help in her neighbor’s household got the potato. The Indonesian called the number. Sarno’s husband stormed the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) and reported his wife was in distress in Abu Dhabi. He also got help from Migrante International which immediately contacted its office in Abu Dhabi and searched Sarno. Finally, Sarno was released to the agency which didn’t fight for her one year salary that her employer didn’t give back to her. “I never thought of getting my salary. I just wanted to go back home. My working visa was also cancelled. On the plane, as I watched Manila came into view, I stood up and shouted ‘Thank you Lord, I am alive. I came home without a penny. I didn’t even have a piece of chocolate I could give to my husband,” she said. Sarno volunteered as a case officer at Migrante International to help distressed women Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) who like her are going through abuses in the hands of their employers. Sarno together with other OFWs from Middle East working as domestic help formed the Samahan ng mga Domestic Helper sa Gitnang Silangan or SANDIGAN. From October 2021 to November 2021, Migrante International documented 156 cases of abuses against women OFWs working in the Middle East countries. “I am here with you today because I want the government to hear our voices. We are not slaves. We go abroad for the family’s welfare because there’s no better working option for us here in the Philippines. The wages cannot decently support our families,” Sarno said. Estavillo said the women farmers are also in the frontlines confronting the challenges to fight hunger, land conversion, lack of post-harvest facilities among other agricultural and fishing industry woes. “These women muster everything they could to put food on the table. In this pandemic, many women have sought employment. Some put up gardens to grow vegetables they could Peasant women protest against red-tagging during the International Human Rights Day on December 10, 2021. PHOTO BY AMIHAN WOMEN.

OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER PEACEBUILDER | 8 of the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform share in their communities. The surplus of their vegetables were bartered in fishing communities so they could eat fish. In some other areas, their produce which couldn’t be sold were distributed for free to other communities,” Estavillo said. Estavillo disclosed that with government’s total war policy the women are vulnerable to abuses, exploitation and discrimination. Under the Duterte administration, there are 45 women farmers who were victims of extrajudicial killings and 65 languishing in detentions around the country for having been active in farming organizations. “They even freeze the two bank accounts of Amihan Women on the mere testimonies of rebels who surrendered. We’re glad the Court of Appeals removed one of the two from the freeze order as of December 2021,” she said. The redtagging of women members of Amihan in Cagayan Valley has stopped these women to go to their farm areas due to frequent military visits that persuade them to do mass surrender. Women in the church: A form of resistance Rev. Lizette Tapia-Racquel, Associate Professor at the Union Theological Seminary (UTS), said if women are not represented in the seminary, in the church or in any organizations in positions of power and influence, then what operates would be the patriarchal mentality. Rev. Raquel said a lot of women who are speaking up to advocate for justice and women’s rights are rejected and even persecuted in their churches. She said these women are not celebrated and they’re pushed out of the inner circle, but just like in the biblical times until today women amid the situations and systems that diminish their power and deny their voice continue to speak up. She cited the increasing number of women faculty at UTS who are transforming away, transforming the church, and transforming the kind of theological education it has. “Gender equality is seen, but it is still lacking. The church has to do much repentance, and yet I see the women are here and their very existence in our churches is already a form of resistance,” Rev. Racquel said. She cited Sr. Mary John who comes from a male dominated priesthood in the Catholic church who headed Gabriela, a progressive women’s group. Sr. Maria Lisa Ruedas, DC, said as women are convinced with their roles and with God’s inspiration they can’t be silenced. “Just like Ester and Ruth in the Bible, Duterte cannot stop the church as we organize people in the margins. We cannot be hopeless as we experience and encounter real women participating and real women empowering other women to engage more in the works on peace and justice,” Sr. Ruedas said. Women as Peacemakers Silva cited a UN study that shows peace processes are likely to success when women participate. An example of this, Silva said, is the UN Resolution 1325 or On the Protection of Women during Armed Conflict Situations. “War takes away resources from women’s needs, historically conflict-affected countries spend two to three times more on defense than on health whereas in stable countries without armed conflicts, the opposite is true,” Silva said. She believes the Philippine government spends much on defense than health. She challenges the people especially the women in building for peace in the grassroots movement where women can really talk about meaningful peace negotiations. “It is up to us women how we can think and plan effectively to strengthen our calls for peace to ensure the two parties can return to the negotiating table, hopefully, in the next administration. Decent homes, food on the table in every family and the youth attending school are symbols of peace and are innate in women’s hearts,” Silva said.

OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER of the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform PEACEBUI LDER | 9 To die for the lumad is an honor - Fr. Ambray The delegates of the Diocese of Tandag leave Dinagat Islands after the Duyog-Ambit Tabang Surigao relief mission for residents in the island whose houses were damaged or destroyed by Typhoon Odette on December 16, 2021. PHOTO BY FR. RAYMOND AMBRAY Fr. Raymond Ambray poses with lumad students from Caraga during the 4th Save Our Schools (SOS) Network Conference held in Davao City in March 2017. PHOTO GRABBED FROM FR. AMBRAY’S FB ACCOUNT RED-TAGGING has not faltered Father Raymond Ambray’s advocacy with the lumad and the environment. Fr. Ambray heads the Ecology and Environment Desk of the Roman Catholic of the Diocese of Tandag. And for his work with the lumad, he has been vilified, threatened and harassed. He couldn’t believe that being a priest who extends his services to the communities especially in the lumad areas would endanger his life. For him, serving the lumad is part of his being a follower of Jesus Christ who walked with the poor and the oppressed. “It’s exasperating to be red-tagged and harassed. I chose to become a priest and I couldn’t believe that this vocation would put my life in danger because priests are here to spread

OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER PEACEBUILDER | 10 of the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform Fr. Raymond crosses this river to get to the areas where he was doing his fieldwork for his MA thesis in 2017. the Gospel and help the poor. Both are interrelated. I just don’t understand why my life is being threatened when I am just doing both,” said Fr. Ambray. He detested how the military has dragged his family into the red-tagging. The photos of his nephews and nieces were circulated and labeled them as “being fed on by the communists.” “It’s a below the belt attack on me. It’s not enough that my name has been repeatedly mentioned by the military associating me with the New People’s Army (NPA) during peace and order meetings in the municipality, they also included my family. And this is irritating,” he said. In May 2020 until 2021, a series of online memes went circulating in the social media red-tagging Fr. Ambray. Tarpaulins with his face on it would be seen hanging or plastered on walls in different places in Butuan City and in Diatagon in Lianga. Last December 2021, some farmers from another parish relayed to the priest that whenever the military visit the farmers’ area, the military would ask about Fr. Ambray’s whereabouts and if the farmers know the priest. “What is the intent of asking my whereabouts? I am not in hiding. This red-tagging has bothered me, it’s scary, but I am not afraid because I know what I stand for. I am a priest. I spread the Gospel and I walk with the poor,” he said. Although Fr. Ambray has since been serving the lumad when he was still a deacon at the Diocese of Tandag, but the red-tagging has started in 2017 when he actively served a lumad “bakwit” (camp out) in Sitio Simowao, Barangay Diatagon in 2017. Fr. Ambray said if he had died in 2017 because of serving and defending the lumad, it would’ve been an honor and not his loss. That year, there were clashes in the nearby lumad communities in Lianga which prompted the residents to take shelter in the barangay center to avoid being caught in the crossfire between the state forces and the NPA rebels. Fr. Ambray said Lt. General Andres Centino, the current Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief, who served as commander of the 401st Infantry Brigade implicated him and United Church of Christ in the Philippines Bishop Modesto Villasanta for coaxing the lumad to leave their communities. The priest took it as harassment and a threat on his life considering President Rodrigo Duterte declared an all-out war with the NPA. Fr. Ambray was forcibly directed to proceed to the military camp in Lianga where he was questioned for his involvement in the “bakwit.” “I felt threatened at the checkpoint when two soldiers just hopped in at the pickup’s back seat and directed me to go to the camp. I felt threatened because it was against my will. I showed them my credentials as ADDU student doing fieldwork with the lumad. It’s also my job to help them,” he said. Fr. Ambray said the invitation turned into a lecture more than a dialogue and arguing was futile as the military blamed the lumad for their displacement. He got worried because after some farmers and labor group leaders were redtagged, they were gunned down. In December 2017, Fr. Ambray in his Facebook account posted a statement that should he die, the AFP must be held to account for his death. “But while I am still alive, I condemn this AFP’s evil ploy on me. I am not afraid to die if it is the price for standing up for the least of my brothers and sisters. I am not cowed by this cowardly act. The threat I received here is nothing in comparison with the pains, hunger, sickness and discrimination of the lumad internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Simowao now. Working with them is such a privilege. Dying for them is an honor,” read part of his post. The red-tagged priest also served in the diocese’s humanitarian mission in the aftermath of typhoon Odette that flattened several areas in the islands of Dinagat and Siargao in Surigao del Norte in December 16, 2021. Crossing path with the Lumad What pushed Fr. Ambray to stand with the lumad in Mindanao is no mere accident, as a deacon he already served in

OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER of the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform PEACEBUI LDER | 11 a community where lumad communities abound. The diocese has long been with the lumad, assisting them in their circumstances including issues on the environment which is also the one of the church’s advocacies. In 2007, Fr. Ambray was a deacon assigned in Tandag Diocese. There was a “bakwit” when he arrived there. He helped Sister Lydia Lascano who was with the social action center of Tandag in taking care of the evacuees who fled their homes because of the heavy military operations. The Diocesan Pastoral Center took in the lumad “bakwit” for one month. “I practically assisted in the provision of food and medical needs. I also helped in delivering a baby. I formed ecumenical forum to find solutions to the problems of the lumad “bakwit” so they could go back home,” he told PEPP. A year later, Fr. Ambray came to know the Alternative Learning Center for Agricultural and Livelihood Development Inc., (Alcadev) in Lianga, a lumad school. He also established relationship with the organizations that the church through its Tribal Filipino Apostolate formed such as the Tribal Filipino Program in Surigao del Sur (TRIFPSS) and Malahutayong Pakigbisog Alang sa Sumusunod (MAPASU) or Persevering Struggle for the Next Generation. When he was ordained priest and his assignment was in Butuan City, he continued to build his lumad network through these organizations. “I have continued my work with the lumad not just because of my IP director mandate, but it’s more about the friendship and trust we’ve built for each other,” he said. In 2015, Fr. Ambray’s friends at Alcadev were murdered. It was known as the first “Lianga Massacre.” He got more engaged with the lumad because of his further studies in Anthropology at Ateneo de Davao University (ADDU) in 2014. His paper studied on the concept of Alcadev using the theory of the new social movements and critical pedagogy. He began his fieldwork in 2017. Environment, the Lumad, the Church Fr. Ambray said when MAPASU was still active in Andap Valley it halted the logging operations like Sedimco, a remnant of the Lianga Bay Logging Company Inc. “When the logging operations stopped, the lumad planted trees and began the sustainable agriculture practices to preserve their ancestral land and its richness,” he said. The Diocese of Tandag actively participates in multi-stakeholders activities about mining activities in the province. The lumad, he said, disagree with any mining activities for mining will destroy their environment unlike logging at least the trees can be grown again especially if sustainable practices are involved. How the lumad care for their environment is the same thing that the church advocates, he said. Fr. Ambray said it was the late Redemptorist Bishop Ireneo Amontillo who helped established lumad organizations in Caraga like MAPASU in the 80s. Two of the many online meme red-tagging Fr. Raymond Ambray which circulate on social media.

OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER PEACEBUILDER | 12 of the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform The United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) in East Visayas Jurisdictional Area (EVJA) together with the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) Operation Paglingap has been mobilizing relief efforts in the Visayas. NCCP Operation Paglingap is an ecumenical response to the torrential rains and tropical cyclones in the country. IFI has continued its relief efforts to areas in Surigao del Norte where most survivors of Odette still stay in evacuation centers and makeshift shelters in Surigao City and the towns of Tubod and Placer. The United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) in East Visayas Jurisdictional Area (EVJA) together with the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) Operation Paglingap has been mobilizing relief efforts in the Visayas. NCCP Operation Paglingap is an ecumenical response to the torrential rains and tropical cyclones in the country. The team passes by this highway in San Jose town going to the municipality of Basilisa to do rapid assessment on Odette’s devastation on Dinagat Islands last January 4, 2022. PHOTO BY FR. RAYMOND AMBRAY from page 5... from page 11... In those years, the lumad believed that the longterm solution to their backward life was education. The lumad were widely discriminated. MAPASU was established, then TRIFPSS came and in 2000, Alcadev was created. These organizations helped in educating the lumad, understanding and asserting their human rights and learning skills in community-based health programs. “So, these were the projects of the church’s indigenous people’s apostolate that helped the lumad decide for themselves and enhance their way of life and in caring for their environment and culture. And the church has been the lumad’s refuge,” he said. However, the heavy militarization in the lumad communities resulted to the killings of their leaders that somehow have weakened the lumad and how the government has divided them because some lumad groups refused the Indigenous People’s Republic Act (IPRA) that institutionalizes the legal claim of the ancestral lands of the lumad. “When those lumad reject the IPRA, they’re branded as NPAs. To me, the lumad have remained to this day unrecognized as humans with dignity and capacity to assert and fight for their self-determination,” he said. Fr. Ambray said it’s a reality that some lumad in the remotest areas have joined the NPA, but given the chance to have the capacity to enjoy their self-determination and live comfortable lives following their culture, the lumad won’t rise up with arms. In June 2021, Fr. Ambray together with another priest in Tandag Diocese joined a fact-finding mission in Lianga for the deaths of three abaca farmers. The team found out that there was no encounter and the families got some compensation from the military for the death of their loved ones. In his work with the lumad, Fr. Ambray has already lost lumad friends including some of their advocates because of the insurgency campaign of the Duterte administration that has put the lumad in the most vulnerable and dangerous situations. He also said the lumad have very limited choices. The massive land grabbing and pitting the lumad against each other are just some of the major issues they confront. “To me, the lumad is the most oppressed sector of the Filipino society,” he said.

OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER of the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform PEACEBUI LDER | 13 ‘I Know Rights’: Peace and Human Rights Series for the Youth TO PROVIDE deeper understanding of peace and human rights to the youth, the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform (PEPP) together with the Kalipunan ng mga Kristiyanong Kabataan sa Pilipinas (3KP) held this online education series in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao islands from August until October 2021. The series began on August 7, 2021 with the National Capital Region and Southern Luzon youth participants bearing the theme “Human Rights in the Context of Christian Discipleship and Witness for Peace.” Rev. Carleen Nomorosa, assistant program secretary on Youth Desk Education Ecumenical and Nurture, said human rights issues in the Philippines is everyone’s business especially the church and its institutions. “The younger generations in our churches and communities are the blood and heartbeat of our future and today. They hold the power toward creating a more livable and vibrant future. Peace and human rights go together. There will never be peace if rights of people are ignored. We stand with the young people and with them create a community of peace, love and the compassion to peace and justice,” said Rev. Nomorosa. Jon Dave Angeles, 3KP chairperson, told the participants that the youth today have been caught in the middle of massive human rights violations citing how the pandemic has limited their movement. “Despite the continuing rights violations, we have the energy and power to learn more about peace and human rights. Let us remain focused as we put into practice the learnings about peace and human rights,” Angeles said. Dr. Muriel Orevillo-Montenegro, a member of the PEPP Core Group and coordinator of the Interfaith Cooperation Forum, said the series was aimed at enabling and equipping the youth to articulate the meaning of Christian discipleship by witnessing and prophesying for peace to prevail. “You cannot give what you don’t have. The organizers hope that you… would eventually become human rights advocates and defenders. We hope that you would become the PEPP second liners. As the future of our motherland, you must also become the future of PEPP’s efforts to challenge and accompany the conflicting parties in taking and be serious in resuming the peace process,” she said. The series, she said, was structured on Christian perspective and cited how the framers of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UNDHR) recognized the religious values as one of the sources of the declaration. “Its adoption acknowledged humans rights as the foundation of freedom, justice and peace. The advocacy of this indisputable human rights is not a monopoly of the Christians. In fact, on September 19, 1981, the Islamic Council of Europe adopted the Islamic declaration of Human Rights… you, young people must cultivate the passion for advocacy and work for the defense of human rights because peace is impossible without justice. Peace is not about just ‘tiis’. There will never be a long-lasting peace apart from authentic justice. Always remember that a society that does not uphold the rights of the people will never attain a just and enduring peace,” Montenegro said. Kej Andres, chairperson Student Christian Movement of the Philippines (SCMP) together with other youth groups calls for the abolition of NTF-ELCAC, defend the West Philippine Sea, and safe return to classes, and other social issues. PHOTO BY SCMP

OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER PEACEBUILDER | 14 of the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform To better understand peace and human rights, The Right Reverend Rex Reyes, Jr. of the Episcopal Diocese of Central Philippines, talked on these issues following the Christian teachings as he posed two vital questions: Have the respect and preservation of human rights and advocacy of peace in our country been reduced to political concern rather than an overriding Christian vocation? And why would the defense and preservation of human rights be hallmarks in shaping the social consciousness and apostolate of young people? Bishop Reyes admired the youth for remaining to be the harbingers for just and peaceful transformation who are doing better than their parents in this polarized nation. The bishop defined youth according to Acts 2:17 “The young ones see visions, the older ones dream dreams.” “The young people are those who prophesy and see visions. The truth of God and his transforming power is not about guess work, never guess work. Prophesying and seeing visions is witnessing to the truth. Witnessing to the truth is witnessing for Christ and witnessing for all,” Bishop Reyes said. He said baptized Christians received the gift of witnessing, of giving testimonies because they received the body of Christ and to witness is being engaged in acts of mercy and acts of justice at the same time. Bishop Reyes said speaking truth to power is not just for the sake of being critical. “When we are critical of the State and the status quo, even within our churches we are in search of what is true, what is just and what is noble. People attend rallies because there are principles involved. Attending rallies today involves risks which has become deadly in this time,” he said. He compared today’s time to Jesus’ era when people who followed him were called ‘crazy’ and Jesus himself was crucified for speaking truth to power and died for it. Bishop Reyes cited biblical events in truth telling such as the crossing of the Red Sea and the Palm Sunday which is the people power version during the time of Jesus and weaved these to the plight of the indigenous peoples (IPs) whose narrative carry much power and weight. “If you read those two events with the eyes of faith, you’d feel like you’re part of it. And you’d understand why people in power use repression among indigenous people because most of the time, they tell the truth,” said Bishop Reyes. Youth rally on the safe return of students to school as Covid-19 remains a threat. PHOTO BY SCMP

OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER of the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform PEACEBUI LDER | 15 The bishop ended his talk quoting Matthew 22:37-40: “You shall love the lord your God with all your heart, mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is just like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.” He reminded the youth that the second commandment is not a consequence of obeying the first and the second commandment is as important as it is like the first. Johanna May dela Cruz, assistant program secretary of the Faith, Witness, and Service (FWS) of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP), talked on the country’s economic, social and political situation with regard to human rights. Dela Cruz enumerated issues affecting the Filipinos such as Duterte’s war against illegal drugs which killings involved youth victims; the red-tagging in its counter-insurgency campaign made deadlier with its Executive Order 70 (EO 70) enforced by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC); putting into prison activists and rights and land defenders; impunity; the Anti-Terror Law of 2020; an ailing COVID-19 response that put quarantine violators into jail, assistance that many failed to receive, overwhelmed heath services and manpower and access to vaccines. She said under these conditions the youth, as Christians, still see hope and should continue to hold to account the State for its tyrannical rule. “It is a tall order for us, coming from NCCP, to affirm the biblical and constitutional mandated injunction that our leaders must heed to the sovereign people whom they should serve. We need to hurdle and guide our flock toward better condition of power that we can exercise in the 2022 elections,” she said. Yvette Mariano, president of North Luzon Amburayan Conference of the Christian Youth Fellowship (NLACCYF) of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP), shared how the State attacked her family through NTFELCAC. Mariano is also a spokesperson of Ilocos Human Rights Alliance (IHRA) whose advocacy piqued the government. Both her parents are church workers and she literally grew up inside the church. In 2020, she said the military deployed a unit in the barangay where she and her family live. Her family has been tagged as “communists” and supporters of the New People’s Army (NPA). “This has begun when our church has been active in our fight against the destructive mining operations in the Ilocos Sur in the mountains and in the seas. In webinars that AFP and the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) conducted, they tagged me as NPA recruiter,” she said. The Mariano family who has been red-tagged since 2018. Photos screenshot by Tignayan Production and Defend Mariano Family FB pages.

OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER PEACEBUILDER | 16 of the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform Mariano said the accusations have scared them. “They keep on surveilling me. They hanged a tarp at my father’s church marked with persona non-grata. My fellow CYF and the members of the church are afraid and we feel the indifference from other youth who believed in the false accusations against us,” she said. However, she’s been resolved to resist these attacks against her family believing that there’s nothing wrong in protecting the environment for the community’s livelihood and defend their human rights. “We cannot be blind with what’s going on in the country today. It’s crucial for us (youth) to know our purpose in life, why we are alive. These are what I’ve realized when fear shrouded me,” Mariano said. She told her fellow youth participants that seeing them inspired her as together they listened and became woke with the country’s plight. During her talk, Mariano was on quarantine for testing positive with Covid-19. Mervin Sol Toquero, program secretary of FWS-NCCP and administrative planner of PEPP, spoke on human rights through the lens of the United Nations (UN). Toquero took off with his discussion on PEPP’s vision and mission to correct the misconception that human rights are those only perceived as visible - the right to life, to free expression, and to peaceably assemble. “We fail to recognize its [human rights] entirety, but the PEPP vision and mission manifest all the aspects of what constitute it, ranging from civil and political rights, economic and socio-cultural rights and our collective rights,” Toquero explained. He said there’d be no peace until the full range of human rights is recognized and respected. “In the Philippines, we just don’t work for individual rights but with collective rights because we could only enjoy individual rights when we enjoy our collective rights. And we should take a stand for the oppressed, the marginalized and the powerless. We should be part of the larger struggle for democracy and national liberation,” he said. Toquero said it is always important for the youth to engage on human rights because suppressing human rights would result to normalizing the wrongs in the society. Dela Cruz told the participants that fear is natural and it shouldn’t stop people to push for what is right and just especially that Christians are believers of Jesus Christ who promised a heaven here on earth where believers are one with Him. Toquero added saying to combat fear is to begin it with awareness and the church should create the space where it is discussed. He invited the participants to also actively participate with PEPP in advancing the culture of peace, culture of dialogue and culture of principled negotiations. Sign Up to our Newsletter for free www.phpeaceplatform.org

OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER of the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform PEACEBUI LDER | 17 Defund NTF-ELCAC for Covid-19 Response PEPP STATEMENT The Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform (PEPP) welcomes the decision of the Senate committee on finance to cut the 2022 budget of the National Task Force on Ending Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) from P28 billion to P 4 billion and reallocating the excess funds for COVID-19 response. However, P 4 billion is still a very substantial amount for an agency that, since its existence, espoused a culture of hatred and violence instead of a culture of dialogue and peace. The NTF-ELCAC receives billions of pesos in the wake of President Duterte’s unilateral termination of peace negotiations with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in 2017. The government could have used these billions of pesos to address the basic needs of our people, especially in this time of the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, it raises an issue of transparency as even the Commission of Audit (COA) has admitted having trouble auditing the expenses. Contrary to its name to end local armed conflicts, the NTF-ELCAC becomes a hindrance to the promise of peace. The NTF-ELCAC is now the critical weapon in the total war against the so-called terrorists. This total war relies on the use of violent means. Consequently, it only increases the violations in human rights and international humanitarian law. We are witnesses to the results of this total war strategy of the government as seen in the numerous killings, threats, harassment, and bombing and restriction of movements of farming and indigenous communities in remote rural areas as in the recent case of aerial bombing in the Bukidnon hinterlands. The NTF-ELCAC has also become notorious for its rampant red-tagging. It is responsible for vilifying even church organizations, church leaders, and members. It is also responsible for the withdrawal of the publications of the NDFP from several state universities, among them being the printed agreements related to the peace talks. Based on our faith in our Lord, Jesus Christ, the PEPP believes that violence breeds injustice, which results in unpeace. This complicated conflict will not be solved by an all-out war, not even a counter-insurgency program with billions of budgets if the government does not address the roots that fan its flames. Several personalities and groups have called for its abolition. For us, the church leaders, the most viable option for a just and lasting peace is to forge a negotiated peace settlement coupled with meaningful social and economic reforms. Principled peace negotiations also require much, much fewer funds and are less costly to life and limb, which, if followed to the letter would mean more funds for our people mired now in hunger and poverty amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. We thus affirm that a peace process that addresses social injustices is the will of God, and we will not stop working for it, starting with the call to resume the formal peace talks between the government and the NDFP. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” (Matthew 5:9) Done on this 11th day of November, 2021 in Quezon City, Philippines. Sgd. ARCHBISHOP EMERITUS ANTONIO J. LEDESMA, SJ, Co-chairperson, PEPP Archdiocese of CAgayan de Oro Sgd. THE RT. REVD. REX B. REYES, JR. Co-chairperson, PEPP Episcopal Diocese of Central Philippines Sgd. BISHOP REUEL NORMAN O. MARIGZA General Secretary National Council of Churches in the Philippines Sgd. REV. DR. ALDRIN PENAMORA Director, Justice, Peace & Reconciliation PARC PCEC Sgd. SR. MARY JOHN D. MANANZAN, OSB OWGC - AMRSP-Women Sgd. BP EMERITUS DEOGRACIAS S. INIGUEZ, JR., D.D. PEPP Head of the Secretariat Co-chairperson, EBF

OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER PEACEBUILDER | 18 of the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform “Put your sword back into its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.” Matthew 26:52 The Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform (PEPP) raises its concern and alarm over the escalation of violence in the wake of the killing of NPA leader Jorge “Ka Oris” Madlos who was killed by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on October 29. The AFP has confirmed through Major Francisco Garello, Jr., spokesperson for the 4th Infantry Division (4ID), that a request was made to the Philippine Air Force (PAF) to begin bombing specific areas of the Bukidnon hinterlands. The bombings began on October 30, and after a temporary halt, the bombings again started on the evening of November 2, and had been most intense in the community of Impasug-ong. Bombs rained through the night causing fires and trauma to the communities that inhabit the area. The purpose of the bombings stated by Major Garello is to finish off the NPA in the area were Madlos was killed. The PEPP appeals to the government to stop aerial bombings as these result to massive destruction and collateral damage. The bombing of communities is almost always indiscriminate, and the victims are more often non-combatants and innocent civilians. This goes against provisions in International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and has long-term implications for the traumatized communities. The escalation of the armed conflict also goes against the February 2021 UN Security Council resolution calling on Member States to support a “sustained humanitarian pause” to local conflicts, to ensure people caught in conflict have access to lifesaving vaccinations and treatments. This is in line with the urgent appeal for a global ceasefire by Secretary-General António Guterres issued last March 23, 2020, so that the world can focus together on defeating COVID-19. In light of this, we reiterate our appeal to the government to heed the call of the international community to prioritize the country’s healing instead of further escalating the armed conflict. It is high time that the country increases its COVID Resilience Ranking from the bottom of the list. Providing proper health care including COVID-19 vaccines to conflict areas will also help us claw our way out of the pandemic. Furthermore, the PEPP remains firm in its conviction that lasting peace in our nation will not be won by the power of war, but by addressing the root causes of the armed conflict through formal peace talks. Thus, the PEPP calls upon the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines to return to the negotiating table and stop the escalation of violence in Mindanao and throughout the Philippines. Done on this 8th day on November, 2021 in Quezon City, Philippines. Sgd. ARCHBISHOP EMERITUS ANTONIO J. LEDESMA, SJ, Co-chairperson, PEPP Sgd. THE RT. REVD. REX B. REYES, JR. Co-chairperson, PEPP Sgd. BISHOP REUEL NORMAN O. MARIGZA General Secretary, National Council of Churches in the Philippines Sgd. REV. DR. ALDRIN PENAMORA Director, Justice Peace & Reconciliation -PARCPCEC Sgd. SR. MARY JOHN D. MANANZAN, OSB OWGC-AMRSP Sgd. BISHOP EMERITUS DEOGRACIAS S. INIGUEZ, JR., DD Co-chairperson, EBF Do not Escalate the Conflict and Concentrate on Healing STATEMENT

OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER of the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform PEACEBUI LDER | 19 The Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform (PEPP) joins all peace advocates in sounding the alarm over the designation of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) as a terrorist group by the Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC). This designation tragically closes the door to what is truly called for: a peaceful resolution of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and NDFP conflict. Sadly, with this action the ATC buried 29 years of laborious and painstaking agreements and gradual steps toward peace. The government seems to be ignoring that peace is a sacred right of all people and guaranteed as a fundamental duty of the state. It also confirms that the Anti-terrorism Law (ATL) is a huge hurdle to the promise of peace for everyone as it is being used as a weapon in a total war against so-called terrorists. The case against two Aetas, which thankfully was dismissed, shows that the terror law can be used to fabricate charges and arbitrarily designate persons and groups. The ATC designation demonstrates that the government is using its full resources to subdue the CPP/NPA/NDF. It does not fully recognize that violence will not resolve the conflict, that the most judicious way to address its roots--poverty, landlessness, inequitable access to resources-- is to resume the formal peace talks. The designation and the present course that relies on the use of violent means only increase the likelihood of more violations in human rights and international and humanitarian law. We are therefore greatly concerned about the escalation of civilian populations being harmed as seen in the rising cases of killings, threats, harassment, and restriction of movements of farming and indigenous communities in remote rural areas. This latest designation by the ATC also begs the question: Are groups supporting or calling for the resumption of the formal peace talks with “designated terrorists” next in the ATC’s crosshairs as well? It is not far-fetched since they unjustifiably froze the accounts and properties of church ministries like that of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP) and the Haran Center of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) in Davao City, allegedly for supporting terrorist activities. This also comes after the ATC designated 19 individuals, including peace consultants, as terrorists a few months ago. The list includes peace consultants Rey Claro Casambre of the Philippine Peace Center and Vicente Ladlad. Their assets were simultaneously frozen by the Anti-Money-Laundering Council (AMLC). Mr. Ladlad’s bank account contains the funds awarded by the Human Rights Claims Board while Mr. Casambre’s were savings from his allowances as an NGO worker, various honoraria and gifts from family members. It is not enough that they, and other peace consultants, are languishing in jail right now after trusting the government that they were supposed to be covered by their mutual agreement, the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG), but their savings cannot be accessed by their families as well. As church leaders, we are highly alarmed at these developments. However, we will not falter in our belief and call that the most viable option for a just and lasting peace is through a negotiated peace settlement coupled with meaningful social and economic reforms. We affirm that a peace process that addresses social injustices is the will of God and we will not stop working for it. We appeal to the government to rescind its designation of the NDFP as a terrorist organization and recognize the lasting devastation this will have on the Filipino people’s trust in the government’s competence to resolve internal conflicts through peaceful negotiations. We continue to appeal to both parties to return to the negotiating table. We also call on our people to pray and work for peace and support prospective candidates in the coming elections who are committed to genuine peace. Let us find inspiration in these words from the Bible: “Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.” (James 3:18, NIV) Issued and signed this 21st day of July 2021. Sgd. Archbishop Antonio J. Ledesma, SJ Co-chairperson, PEPP Sgd. The Rt. Revd. Rex B. Reyes, Jr. Co-chairperson, PEPP Sgd. Bishop Reuel Norman O. Marigza General Secretary, NCCP Sgd. Rev. Dr. Aldrin Penamora Executive Director, JP-PARCOMPCEC Sgd. Sr. Mary John D. Mananzan, OSB Office of the Women and Gender Commission Conference of Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines (Men & Women) Closing the Door to a Peaceful Resolution STATEMENT (PEPP statement on the designation of the NDFP as a terrorist group)

OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER PEACEBUILDER | 20 of the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform REBUILDING. Residents are slowly rebuilding their destroyed houses along the coastline of Barangay Mabua in Surigao City after Super Typhoon Odette (Rai) battered this area on December 16, 2021. PHOTO BY ERWIN MASCARIÑAS