Writing it as it comes

Migrant Workers' Resolve and Commitment

2012-01-25T15:33:00.000+09:00

Our Resolve and Commitment
Text: Joshua 24: 14-15
Kasammako Assbly
24 January 2012
By Frank Hermando

Joshua 24:14-15 (RSV)

14 "Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River, and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.

15 And if you be unwilling to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."

MEDITATION
1. Occasions like this reminds me of the many general assemblies and conferences I've attended throughout my adult life.

2. What makes a conference or a general assembly stands out among others is the culmination through renewal of commitment to the vision, mission and goals of the church denomination or an organization or a political party.

3. The text I have chosen for this meditation is the narration of the biblical writer about the general assembly that Joshua and the elders of the Israelite tribal confederacy held for covenant renewal in Shechem. Biblical historians locate this event at around 1100 BCE, the time when the Israelite tribal confederacy was consolidated and the predominantly peasant nation had established its basic social support systems such as the land tenure system, where each family was assigned an agricultural land to till, justice system carried out by both the elders and the judges, polItical and ethical leadership by the elders and prophets and the people's army, which was more of guerilla force than a standby army. Social stability depended on the quality of life ensured by the tribal confederacy.

4. The most compelling statement Joshua said to the Israelites was "choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."

5. Choosing the god that people will serve was very important because who and what people had been serving determines the kind and quality of life they will have. When people serve the gods of the Canaanites they will have economic prosperity, but not social justice, they may have social security but only for the landlords. Israel's tribal confederacy has Yahweh, the God who freed them from slavery in Egypt and guided them to forge unity through a covenant. A covenant is similar to a constitution of a nation and of an orgnization.

6. A covenant embodies the highest aspirations of the people who went through difficultsituations. It is a resolve to live in community of equals rather than of master-slave relationships.

7. Choosing the biblical God Yahweh as the center of our life as a nation as Filipinos and as global citizens means that we have to choose the direction of establishing a reign of justice as opposed to the reign of greed and oppression brought about by the imperialist annexation and aggression.

8. When we choose to live in covenant relationship, means we have to make our total resolve and commitment to evolve a society where justice, peace and love are lived. This also means do our share of responsibilities entailed to both individuals and to communities or organizations.

9. The situation of migrant workers in South Korea can be characterized as modern day slavery in the context of insatiable greed for super profits of companies especially by transnational corporations.

10. By forging greater unity and alliance amongst organizations migrant workers can strengthen their resolve and commitment to free themselves from modern slavery in various forms.

Prayer for the New Year

2012-01-12T22:33:00.000+09:00

PROK Morning Office
09 January 2012

SCRIPTURE READING
Psalm 136

PRAYER

Most loving God,
God of every beginning,
We praise and adore you.
A new year has dawned upon us.
We thank you for another brand new year, a 365 days of life and service.

We are filled with hopes and expectations of how your grace and love will bring goodness, health and opportunities.

By faith and prayers we trust that you will nourish and sustain us especially in times of difficulties and confusion.

Firm-up our wavering empathy for persons in work and community. May we unfalteringly express your practical compassion in our relationships.

Let not prejudice and selfishness be the basis of our self-esteem and human dignity, but your love that encompasses even our muted anxiety and insecurity.

We are confident in faith that nothing will separate us from your abounding and steadfast love.

Bless and empower us to do our share in the building of peace in our society and the world.

We pray these in the name of Jesus Christ, our source of New Life. Amen.

Recapturing the Authentic Message of Christmas

2011-12-26T22:22:00.000+09:00

"Recapturing the authentic message of Christmas"
By Frank Hernando

Sermon delivered on Dec 25, 2011
Bicol Association Christmas celebration and Party at Capital Hotel, Itaewon, Seoul, Korea

Text: Luke 2: 1-20

1. Is it true that many of us Filipinos could hardly feel the spirit of Christmas in Korea? Perhaps it is becuase you could not hear Christmas songs played in many homes, there are not many Christmas decors elaborately displayed. For many their employers are not concerned about Christmas celebrations. It seems that Christmas is present only in shopping malls and parks.

2. Strangely enough the Christmas story in the Bible is not even in the historical records of the Roman empire and very little fragments perhaps in Palestine's history.
But as people of faith, we know that the birthday of Jesus is a historical fact.

3. The news of the birth of Jesus was told by an angel to the shepherds. Why is it important to tell the goodnews to the shepherds and not to the powerful people, like Augustus Ceasar or governor Quirinius or to the traders, lawyers, and other intellectuals? There must be something special about the shepherds. I think it is the shepherds' faith that a new social order will come wherein they will have a decent and peaceful life.

4. We are migrant workers in South Korea and are located in the lowest stratum of the social ladder. We are ordinary people but like the shepherds abiding in the fields watching over their flocks at night, the goodnews of God's liberation is preached to us. The baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger is the Prince of Peace. That means that Jesus came to bring justice to the poor and the oppressed for justice is a basic ingredient of peace.

5. God decided to incarnate in the midst of the oppressed people. They who have nothing much in terms of power, wealth, influence, are those whom God choses because of their need for a Savior who would give them liberation from from their hopelessness and from their oppressors.

6. Christmas in its true meaning is not about good food, nor about new clothes nor about gifts. It is telling about the salvation that God has given those who are oppressed and poor and marginalized. It is reliving the true meaning of the biblical story of the birth of a fragile baby born of a peasant girl and a subsistence carpenter.

7. Salvation or kaligtasan of the whole of life both human and environmetal salvation which includes the social, poltical, economic and cultural life is the message of Christmas. This means that God intends justice or katarungan and includes a decent life that can only be possible in the just sharing of resources.

8. Jesus challenged the dominant powers of his time. His responsibility to realize the reign of peace and love and compassion was announced by the angel at his birth, he is the Prine of Peace. We Christians are peacemakers and justice makers. We share in the sorrows and sufferings of our people affected by the wrath of Typhoon Sendong in Mindanao. Our help will support many who lost their homes and need food and other basic necessities. Let us include them in our prayers.

9. It is therefore important that we take upon ourselves the message of salvation that was first told to the shepherds on that very night Jesus was born. As migrant workers we are challenged to participate in God's purpose for just and abundant life for the suffering people.

10. We are the bearers of the goodnews of freedom for the oppressed in society. Our faith in the God in human form in the person of Jesus is the confirmation of God's will for the transformation of human relationships in our world today. Amen.

Merry Christmas to all!

Save Jeju Island from destruction!

2011-11-18T22:23:00.002+09:00

Save Jeju Island! Don’t bomb Gureombi!
U.S. troops out of Korea now!
Statement of the Asia Pacific Anti-US Bases Network
on the impending bombing of the Gureombi, Jeju Island
November 17, 2011

Uphold national sovereignty and patrimony of South Korea!
Save Jeju Island! Uproot U.S. military troops from Jeju and South Korea now!

These are our calls in the Asia Pacific Anti-US Bases Network as we express strong solidarity with the people of Jeju Island in particular and of South Korea in general as they call for the immediate halt to the impending blasting of Gureombi, the volcanic rock along the coastline of Gangjeong Village.

This planned blasting of Gureombi is part and parcel of the continued development of a U.S. military naval base in Jeju. It does not only mean the destruction of the beautiful nature that South Korea proudly preserves but a direct affront to the collective right of the South Korean people to their sovereignty.

The continued presence of the U.S. military forces in South Korea poses a huge problem. It translates into direct military intervention in the national affairs of South Korea. It poses a grave threat to the rights and lives of the people in Jeju Island in particular and South Korea in general. We already have witnessed the violent dispersals of people’s protests and arrests of even local officials like the village mayor in Jeju.

By flexing its military muscle throughout Asia Pacific, it brings South Korea to the war of aggression that the U.S. has notoriously launched in the past.

As the people of South Korea steadfastly stand their ground on immediately and unconditionally uprooting the U.S. military forces from their country, the South Korean government remains stubbornly deaf to their calls and instead continues to capitulate to their U.S. imperialist masters. Nothing but a manifestation of puppetry!

As proven in recent history, the U.S. military industrial complex has never been beneficial to any country or people. We have seen the destruction they have brought down on the people of Iraq, Palestine and Afghanistan. We have seen the rape of women and children, the many crimes and human rights violations they have committed in the Philippines, Japan and South Korea.

The establishment of the U.S. military naval base in South Korea is a means of U.S. imperialism to salvage itself from the economic quagmire by launching wars of aggression and intervention. Now that the political strife in the Middle East and North Africa has subsided, the peoples of South Korea and Asia are in impending doom should U.S. imperialism launch wars against North Korea and even China.

Their war complex only benefits U.S. imperialism, not the peoples of the world.

Immediately, the governor of Jeju Island should heed his people’s demand and wield the political will to stop the destructive blast of Gureombi. In the long run, the construction of the U.S. military naval base should be immediately and unconditionally halted and have all the U.S. military forces there and everywhere else in South Korea withdrawn back to the United States.

The South Korean government should be ashamed of itself for continually playing the obedient dog to its imperialist master and instead heed its people’s demands to uphold and protect its national sovereignty, patrimony and integrity.

The growing international movement against the continued U.S. military presence in South Korea and anywhere else in the world is a strong expression of the people’s collective struggle and solidarity against U.S. imperialism.

No bombing in Gureombi!
U.S. troops out of Korea now!
Down with imperialism!

Justice Minister of South Korea urged by APMM: "We would like to call on the Ministry of Justice to heed our urgent demand to immediately and unconditionally stop the crackdown on all migrant workers."

2011-11-14T15:28:00.000+09:00

November 11, 2011

Hon. KWON JAE JIN
Minister
Ministry of Justice, Republic of Korea
Building #5, Gwacheon Government Complex,
Jungang-dong1, Gwacheon-si, Kyunggi-do
Republic of Korea
Tel : 82-2-503-7023
E-mail : webmaster@moj.go.kr
Thru the Office of the Inspector General

Dear Minister Kwon Jae Jin:

Warm greetings from Hong Kong!

We in the Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants, a Hong Kong-based regional migrant center, would like to express strongly our concern on the continued crackdown by the South Korean government on undocumented migrants. We have received information from our network in Korea, in particular the Alliance of Filipino Migrant Workers’Associations in Korea, that several migrant workers have already been arrested and detained by immigration police.

Already, more than a thousand migrants have been arrested since January this year.
Based on previous reports of maltreatment during the series of crackdowns in recent years and the lack of mechanisms to ensure that the human rights of migrants are protected, we are concerned that the migrants will once again be subject to abuse and maltreatment.

In this regard, we would like to call on the Ministry of Justice to heed our urgent demand to immediately and unconditionally stop the crackdown on all migrant workers. The blanket arrest, detention and deportation of migrant workers based on their visa status is in itself a violation of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.

The crackdown does not resolve the issue of the rise in undocumented migrants in South Korea. Instead, it only aggravates the problem of migration with the human rights and dignity of migrant workers being compromised or violated by authorities who should be protecting them.

In the same vein, we implore your good office in ensuring that the rights of migrant workers who have already been arrested and detained be protected and upheld at all times. We strongly wish that they be given the right to access justice and have their legal counsel, access and avail of health services especially for those in urgent need of medical attention, be visited by their families, friends and other supportive peers, and be treated humanely, among many others.

We fervently hope that the Ministry of Justice would heed these urgent demands as more and more migrant workers are likely to be subject to grave violations and further repression. We look forward to your immediate and positive response to this request.

Thank you very much.

Respectfully yours,

Ramon Bultron
Managing Director

“Being undocumented is never reason to be stripped of one’s fundamental human rights,” --Migrante International.

2011-11-14T14:58:00.000+09:00

November 11, 2011

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Reference: Garry Martinez, Chairperson, 0939-3914418

OFWs in S. Korea condemn intensified crackdowns

Global alliance of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and families Migrante International supports the Filipino community and migrant communities of other nationalities in South Korea in their fight against intensified crackdowns on undocumented migrant workers.

The crackdown is a result of the South Korean government’s labor policy, the Employment Permit System (EPS). According to Garry Martinez, Migrante International chairperson, the EPS has been proven flawed and anti-migrant and should be scrapped.

The Philippine and Korean government signed an agreement on the EPS in 2006. Since then, some 500,000 workers from the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Mongolia and Indonesia have been brought to South Korea under its mandate. The EPS basically allows Korean employers who have failed to hire local workers to legally employ migrant workers.

However, Martinez said, the EPS has failed to ensure benefits and protect the rights of migrant workers. “Instead, since its implementation seven years ago, cases of labor and human rights violations against OFWs and other migrant workers continue to run rampant,” said Martinez.

One of the objectives of the EPS was supposedly to increase transparency of sending and receiving workers, and consequently protect migrant workers’ rights and prevent discrimination.

“However, there seems to be no monitoring system and companies and employers violate migrant workers’ rights without being held accountable. More Korean employers have been hiring undocumented migrants to be able to evade compliance on minimum wages, benefits and leaves. As a result, undocumented workers are being targeted by the Korean government’s violent and intensified crackdowns,” he said.

Martinez, himself an undocumented OFW in South Korea for 12 years before he was deported to the Philippines, added, “The present global economic crisis has unleashed so-called ‘protectionist measures’ characterized by crackdown operations and harsher immigration policies that bear down on irregular or undocumented workers, at the expense of their human rights.”

He said, “Undocumented migrants, who inevitably provide the solution to labor shortages or the clamor for cheap labor in host countries, are marginalized and exploited. They are less able to assert their claims and are more vulnerable to abuses because of their ‘illegitimacy’.”

“Being undocumented is never reason to be stripped of one’s fundamental human rights,” Martinez said.

According to records of Migrante International, the number of undocumented Filipino workers deployed in different countries has reached approximately 900,000 in 2007. “This number has continued to increase over the years, especially in light of continued unemployment and landlessness here in the Philippines. The growing number of undocumented OFWs worldwide is indicative of the ongoing crisis of forced migration and systemic economic crisis in the country.”

Martinez called on the Korean and Philippine governments to ensure the protection of undocumented OFWs in South Korea and to work for their legalization. “Our call is for regularization, not criminalization. Human rights, regardless of status, should not be violated. Undocumented migrants worldwide contribute greatly to the economies of their host nations and to the domestic economy as well in terms of their remittances.” ###

----

STATEMENT ON CRACKDOWN, BUDGET CUTS FOR SOCIAL SERVICES TO OFWS

AND EXTRA-JUDICIAL KILLINGS

Katipunan ng mga Samahang Migranteng Manggagawa sa Korea (KASAMMA-KO)

06 November 2011

The Katipunan ng mga Samahang Migranteng Mangagagawa sa Korea (KASAMMA-KO) together with other Filipino migrant organizations and Korean migrant workers centers vehemently condemn the intensified crackdown on migrant workers. The very act of cracking down of migrant workers on basis of their visa status is a violation of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families which was entered into force in July 2003. Its primary objective is to protect migrant workers and their families, a particularly vulnerable population, from exploitation and the violation of their human rights.

The Korean government through the Bureau of Immigration is committing grave human rights violations. This is the very reason why we strongly oppose the crackdown. The crackdown should be stopped immediately. The government of President Lee Myung-Bak should stop the crackdown on migrant workers. He should not let his unpopularity worsen with this obsolete strategy to labor outsourcing.

The Employment Permit System (EPS) is proven as a defective labor arrangement. It should be scrapped. All employed migrant workers should be processed for legalization. The migrant workers employment in dirty, difficult and dangerous (3D) jobs in the Korean small and medium scale factories have made significant contributions to the growth of the South Korean economy. They have the right for unhampered employment in the country, for the local workers would not even take on the 3D jobs they have. STOP CRACKDOWN!

More than 9 million OFWs are working in many countries around the world and they comprising over 10% of the population depend for their livelihood and the better future of their families in working overseas. Since the 1970s up to this time, the succeeding Philippine governments including the present Aquino government has not averted the massive deployment of OFWs. There have been too many OFWs who have died, disabled, ill, abused, jailed, stranded or in distressed situations who need the assistance of the Philippine Embassies or Consular offices, and this means adequate budget to aid and support OFWs.

The Aquino government cut the DFA’s budget from P12.69 billion this year to P10.98 billion in 2012. DFA Secretary Alberto Romulo admitted that this would paralyze the operations of Philippine embassies and consulates around the world. It would also mean reduced assistance to Filipinos in distress overseas. NO CUTS IN 2012 BUDGET FOR OFWS!

OPLAN Bayanihan that have been a make believe social welfare program of the Aquino government is actually a counterinsurgency program that does not provide financial assistance to the poorest of the poor but its budget is used for extra-judicial killings and feed to bureaucratic red tapes. We denounce the continuance of extra-judicial killings or political killings in the Philippines under President Benigno Aquino III, in which one of the recent victims is Fr. Fausto Tentorio, PIME, a missionary to the Manobo tribe and the Lumads in Arakan Valley in North Cotabato.

As Filipino migrant workers, expatriates and missionaries in South Korea, we mourn demand justice for all the victims of extra-judicial killings who even up to this time their cases have not been given justice. The pervasiveness of human rights violations in our country under Oplan Bayanihan has been wrecking insurmountable damages on the lives of community leaders and those who have offered their lives, like Fr. Tentorio, so that the marginalized Filipinos will experience abundant life. STOP EXTRA-JUDICIAL KILLINGS NOW!

POL PAR

Chairperson

KASAMMA-KO

Statement of the 3rd Inter-Religious Conference on Article 9

2011-10-22T22:31:00.000+09:00

Final Statement of the 3rd Asia Inter-religious Conference on Article 9
From Seoul to Okinawa
October 7, 2011
Okinawa Christian University

Article 9 of Japan’s Peace Constitution
Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes.

In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized.

1) The 3rd Asia Inter-religious Conference on Article 9 of the Japanese Peace Constitution gathered 220 participants from Japan, Okinawa, South Korea, Taiwan, Philippines, Thailand, Pakistan, South Africa, Switzerland, Italy, Canada and the USA to see and hear the experiences of the Okinawan people. The conference was held at the Okinawa Christian University from October 5 through 7th, 2011. With our thoughts turned toward the victims of disasters arising from the Great East Japan Earthquake, Tsunami, and Fukushima Number 1 Nuclear Power Plant incident, we prayerfully reaffirm the sanctity of life, and hereby issue this Statement.

2) Article 9 of the Constitution has never been realized in Japan and least of all in Okinawa, which holds roughly 74% of American military facilities as well as other Japan Self Defense Forces bases in just 0.6% of Japanese land. Furthermore, former Prime Minister Hatoyama’s declaration that he would have the military bases in Okinawa moved out of the prefecture or to another country has not been realized. Okinawa’s bases have not only been retained, but new bases are being constructed. On Jeju Island—designated an “Island of Peace” by the government of Korea—a new naval base is being built by the government and armed forces. We, the Asia Inter-Religious Conference on Article 9 of the Japanese Peace Constitution, categorically reject foreign military basing arrangements, be it the physical bases in Okinawa and the naval base in Jeju, Korea, or unhampered access to land, air, and naval facilities as contained in the Visiting Forces Agreement between the Philippines and the United States.

3) For the foregoing reasons, be it resolved that -
• The US and Japanese governments must honor Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution and we strongly oppose any attempt by the Japanese Government to revise the same.
• We demand the Japanese government that the “sympathy budget” allocations toward the U.S. be abolished and reassigned to relief efforts in disaster-stricken areas.
• We call upon communities of faith in the United States to consider their complicity as US citizens in US policies toward Okinawa, examine their consciences, and join in advocacy for the closure of Futenma and other bases in Okinawa as well as the abandonment of plans to build a new base in Henoko.
• We demand that the proposed plan of the construction of the bases of Self Defense Forces in Miyako and Yaeyama be abandoned.
• We demand the total abolition of nuclear weapons and challenge the continuous use of nuclear energy in all its applications.
• Recognizing the horrific human toll of U.S. wars, expansionism, and hegemony, we call upon all persons of faith to join the global peace movement and oppose the imperial militarization of Asia, the Middle East and beyond.

4) In the statement issued in Seoul, Korea, on the occasion of the 2nd Asia Inter-religious Conference on Article 9 of the Japanese Peace Constitution, we affirmed that, Article 9 is more than ever relevant for regional and international relations, and is forward-looking. It can be seen as the core value of a just, peaceful, and sustainable Asian community.

5) Despite Japan regaining independence in 1952, Okinawa has remained under U.S. military rule for another 20 years. All the U.S. military bases there remain intact. During this period, a large movement arose in Okinawa demanding the return of Okinawa to Japan, whose Constitution contained the war-renouncing Article 9. This wish was finally realized in 1972, in the so-called “Return of Okinawa.” However, this was essentially only a transfer of administrative rights, which resulted in the betrayal of Okinawa’s hopes and desires. As Okinawa was being returned to a Japan that had the Three Non-Nuclear Principles, these principles should have applied to Okinawa as well, but the governments of the United States and Japan struck a secret agreement that left the portage of nuclear arms into Okinawa up to the discretion of the U.S. What Okinawa desired was to be a land without military bases, or at least “comparable to the mainland” in level. But even after the transfer of administrative rights, the situation of military base presence in Okinawa did not change. Furthermore, Okinawa has been made more “comparable to the mainland” by the construction of new military bases for the Japan Self Defense Forces. In recent years this military presence is even threatening to expand to the regions of Miyako and Yaeyama.

6) The post-war government of Japan has continually accepted the presence of U.S. and JSDF military bases, thus contravening Article 9. Removal of “the world’s most dangerous base” at Futenma and its return to Okinawans still has no schedule. Despite the opposition of 80% of Okinawa’s citizens, the government of Japan is attempting to build a new military base to replace Futenma, which will destroy and pave over the sea at Henoko. The government is also destroying its own rain forest by building a helipad in Takae. Both places support biodiversity that is 50 to 60 times as rich as the coastal waters and forests in the mainland. Furthermore, U.S. forces are planning to deploy new Osprey planes to the yet-to-be-removed base at Futenma, as well as to various facilities being constructed further north. The government of Japan speaks of reducing the burden of military bases upon Okinawa, but the reality is that the functions of bases and military armaments are being strengthened.

7) With the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty and the U.S.-Japan Status of Forces Agreement, the military continues to cause daily suffering for the people of Okinawa. From these bases in Okinawa U.S. forces were sent into the Korean War, the Viet Nam War, the Gulf War, the Afghanistan War and the Iraq War. And ever since the Gulf War the Japan Self Defense Forces have joined and collaborated as one with U.S. forces in what can only be described as acts of war.

8) The governments of both Japan and the U.S. say that the bases on Okinawa are a deterrent force. But the the military forces on Okinawa are a threat to neighboring nations. We cannot watch silently while bombers and warships are sent out from this precious land, passed down from our peace-loving ancestors, to terrorize, destroy and kill the inhabitants in every region on this earth.

9) Arms cannot bring peace but respecting the rights of people can. In spite of the lies and fraudulent assertions of both the Japanese and U.S. governments, we, as written in the Preamble of the Constitution of Japan, “have determined to preserve our security, and existence, trusting in the justice and faith of the peace-loving peoples of the world.” We believe that there is a “nature that is true and real” in the peoples of all nations, and for this reason we resolve to continue walking forward towards a world without military bases.

10) Okinawa once had its own philosophical tradition of “non-military culture.” Through friendly relations and trade, not by arms, Ryukyu (Okinawa) established relations with various Asian countries. But in 1609 it came under the de facto rule of Japan’s Satsuma Clan, as a result of an invasion by Satsuma. This year marks the 402nd year from that date. In 1879 the Ryukyu Kingdom was again invaded, this time by the Meiji government, and was annexed by force to become part of Japan. This is what is known as the “Ryukyu Disposition,” and this year marks the 132nd year from that date. In the 15-year War, which began with the self-staged Manchurian “terrorist” Incident of 1931 and lasted until Japan’s surrender in 1945, Okinawa was sacrificed to ensure the continuity of the Japanese state system. The people of Okinawa were forced by the Imperial Japanese Army, deployed to defend Okinawa, to “Live Together and Die Together” with the military. During the Battle of Okinawa, in which land battles engulfed the island’s civilian inhabitants, massacres of local residents by Japanese forces, ejection of refugees from shelter caves, and “forced mass deaths” under military orders, occurred in many locations. The Japan Ministry of Education has shown a strong tendency to dilute such facts in Japanese school texts, giving rise even to court cases over the issue. Yet the Supreme Court found, in a 2011 judgment, that there were indeed Army orders to force “mass deaths” on the Islands of Zamami, Geruma, and Tokashiki

11) Holding the Asia Inter-religious Conference on Article 9 of the Japanese Peace Constitution here in Okinawa awakened us, people of many faiths, to the realities of the struggles of the Okinawan people. We truly pursue the realization of Article 9 in our own places, and walk together toward this realization. We commit ourselves to actively work to oppose the spread of American military bases across Asia and around the world and demand the closure of all military bases. We trust that the route to these aspirations can be found in each person’s faith. We pray for the realization of peace and take action to build peace through non-violence. The answer to violence is to embody and animate the spirit of Article 9.

Participants of the 3rd Asia Inter-religious Conference on Article 9

Somehow, our hopes have been betrayed, . . .

2011-10-21T11:40:00.000+09:00

PROK Morning Office
20 October 2011

Most loving and faithful God:
We thank you for this brand new day.

We may have come with tiredness and the worries and cares of yesterday still hang on our shoulders.

Somehow our needs have been neglected, our hopes betrayed and our love turned lukewarm. As the chilling wind of Autumn blow and cause the colorful leaves to fall on the ground, let your steadfast love uphold us. Let our love for you be expressed in the quality of work we do for your church and for people in need.

At this moment we take time to pray for the people of Thailand who are affected by floods. May the Thai government attend to the immediate and long term needs of people affected by this calamity.

We also pray for people and their communities who are struggling against various forms of oppression and injustice. Let your steadfast and unfailing love support them that they may find justice and peace in their lives.

Bless and empower us in our office work today. Sustain us with your Holy Spirit. We pray this through Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.

Urban characters-2 male, in his 30s

2011-09-28T23:32:00.000+09:00

Urban characters-2
Male, early 30s

Wednesday, 28 September 2011, at around 6:25 this evening at Suyu station southbound platform, the standby subway passengers were alarmed at a scream from a man who must have been suffering of mental disturbamce. He screamed as if he saw a disturbing object. Interestingly he would scream loudly upon seeing young attractive women.

The young wonen were frightened upon hearing the scream, looked at where the scream was coming from only to see a tall, well built young man turning his back on them and slowly walked away, muttering some words audible to people near him. He screamed again when he saw a young woman approaching him just a minute before the next train arrived. I'm not sure whether he got on the train or stayed on the platform and scared more people. I just hope the subway station personnel would have noticed him and helped him stay away from the platform.

Modern day life is stressful to so many people and stressed out people are susceptible to breakdown of mental and physical health.

PARK YONG-KIL the mother of reunification

2011-09-28T23:26:00.000+09:00

The Road to the Spring of Reunification
28 September 2011

She is named the "mother of reunification", Park Yong-Il, one of the rare women church elders in the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea and the protestant churches in Korea. She lived to be 92 years old by October 24 this year.
She passed away last Saturday and the funeral service was held this morning at the chapel of Hanshin University Graduate School of Theology. She and her husband Moon Ik-Hwan served as inspiration to church people and society, both of the North and South.

The funeral service highlighted her as a road to Springtime, ushering in new ways of relating between the separate states, yet remains one people or nation. Poems by Ko Eun were beautifully read and musical tributes were excellently offered by the women's choir of Seoul Presbytery, a cello musical rendition by Oh Mi-Sun and a soprano Arirang song was sang by Jeong Myeong-Hwa.

Spoken tributes were given by church leaders, but all ears caught attention when Moon Dong-Hwan spoke. He is a retired minister and brother-in-law of the deceased. Although there are many outstanding characteristics Park Yong-Kil have as a woman, a church leader, mother and wife, most of the spoken tributes mentioned her in relation to her husband Moon Ik-Hwan. The former South Korean Prime Minister, Han Myeong-Sook also gave a tribute.

A video clip on the latest interview with Park Yong-Il was shown and a slide presentation of their visit to North Korea and the meetings of two former SK presidents with NK's leader Kim Jong-il. A letter of condolences from NK leader was read during the service.

The main hall of chapel was filled with not less than 200 persons. An
outstanding woman of faith has passed away. The future of peace and reunification of the Korean people is the hands of the present generation.

Seoul Urban Character-1

2011-09-18T22:58:00.000+09:00

Urban characters

Middle age male.

On the subway train enroute Dongdaemun to Hongik University station. He was wearing a dark pin stripe suit. Reading a book on top of a black office bag which looks full packed with books and files. No eyeglasses he reads the book and he underlines some sentences on the page he's reading. The moment he raises his chin up his red eyes in stark contrast to his pale and emaciated face and sporting a short haircut. Black cord of earphones hangs around his neck. He looks exhausted, pale and famished. Out of exhaustion he would bow his head and nap for a minute or two. Towards Chungjeongno station he took out his smart phone, not making a call nor playing a game just checking for messages. Nothing recent! He returned the cellphone in his pocket. He got off at Hongik Univ station. I saw he walked away with the heavy loaded bag on his right shoulder. A working day has not ended yet for him.

Jeju's Kangjeong Villagers ask International Support for Protection of their Community and Livelihood

2011-09-02T11:31:00.000+09:00

Official Statement of Appeal

We appeal to peace advocates worldwide to give Gangjeong residents and its peace activists international support and solidarity to stop the Jeju naval base construction. Please spread the news of these problems related to the Jeju naval base construction with your networks and show us your support and solidarity.

The Joongduk coast of Gangjeong Village in Jeju Island is now suffering. In 2006, Jeju Island was designated as an Island of Peace for the purpose of consoling the deep sorrow of the April 3rd Massacre. And the Joongduk coast was appointed as a Biosphere Reserve, World Heritage Site, and Global Geological Park by UNESCO. It is an Absolute Preservation Area, which is now being threatened by the naval base construction.

Insisting that the naval base is vital for national security, the Korean government and the navy are enforcing the construction. However, the Ocean Navy expansion plan--upon which the base construction was justified--has been discarded in revisions to the national defense bill regarding strategies to counteract recent security threats. This leaves no justification for this new base. In addition, the original argument from the government when the National Assembly budget bill was passed was to construct a Joint Civil Military site to be used for tourism as well as military purposes. However, that plan has disappeared and now only the military base is being constructed.

By maintaining military alliances with Japan, Australia, South Korea, and India, and through joint military exercises with the Philippines, Vietnam, and Taiwan, the U.S. is attempting to build up its defense line against China. If the Jeju naval base is constructed, the U.S., which possesses the right to station there according to the ROK-U.S. Mutual Defense Agreement, will surely use this base to stand up against China. In that case, Jeju Island, an Island of Peace, will become a center of military conflict between the U.S. and China, jeopardizing South Korea’s national security.

Government and military authorities, however, are turning a blind eye to the voices of Gangjeong residents and civil peace activists, as well as to the demands to suspend the construction coming from the opposition parties and the investigation committee of the National Assembly. The navy has even used violence against a protesting civilian. On July 11, the national government recommended that the city government barricade a farm road on the Joongduk coast, which is the last remaining piece of state-owned land under the jurisdiction of Seogwipo city within the site of the naval base construction. This action was a response to the demand from the Ministry of National Defense to discourage any attempts to stage a protest against the naval base construction. However, such efforts by the government to enforce the construction only bring about stronger resistance and conflicts from Gangjeong residents and peace activists. The construction must be stopped before any unfortunate accidents take place.

We appeal to the government and military authorities

The argument for the base construction by the government and the navy is no longer valid. Moreover, the means and procedures used to promote the construction have been so violent and deceptive that they are only causing more resistance and resentment. Unilaterally pushing ahead with the construction, in the name of the national project, is obviously not a wise way. We call upon the government and military authorities to withdraw their plan to close the farm road and to completely reexamine the Jeju naval base construction project.

We appeal to Woo Keun-Min, Jeju governor

Governor Woo, you were aware of the negative consequences that could result from the naval base construction and you were right. We urge you to give up the futile illusion about the development profit and to listen to the desperate voices of the residents. We further request you to use your authority to cancel the removal of the “absolute preservation area” designation of Joongduk coast. If you do so, history would remember you as a person who protects the peace of Jeju and the Korean peninsula.

We appeal to the national assembly

As an entity representing citizens, the national assembly has a duty to listen to and respond to citizens’ voices. We appeal to the opposition parties to be more active in nullifying the Jeju naval base construction project. The Grand National Party, as the current ruling party, should seriously examine whether the base is really needed and whether national budget should be spent on inflating military forces and feeding construction capital.

We appeal to citizens

Gangjeong citizens have been fighting alone for over four long years. In the meantime, the village community has been torn apart, leaving indelible scars. Citizens are also engulfed with fears due to various lawsuits from the government and construction companies, as well as fines up to tens of millions of won. They are suffering from the fact that the Goorungbi boulder, which represents their dreams and memories, might be covered with cement block.

Please express your solidarity and give them your consolation. And if you can, please visit Gangjeong Village. Then you might be able to understand more clearly why the construction must be stopped. In addition, please use your wisdom and energy to do whatever you can in your position to prevent the Jeju naval base construction.

We appeal to peace advocates worldwide

International support, advocacy, and solidarity to stop the Jeju naval base construction give Gangjeong residents and peace activists strength and courage. Please spread the news of these problems related to the Jeju naval base construction with your networks and show us your support and solidarity.

We will try our best to prevent the Jeju naval base construction, which endangers the Korean peninsula and Northeast Asia, and which is destroying the lives of Gangjeong residents and the natural environment, a gift from heaven. We firmly believe that this struggle is our responsibility to Jeju Island, where the sorrow of the April 3rd massacre is deeply embedded, that this is an expression of our conscience regarding the suffering Gangjeong residents, and that it is the demand of the times to protect and ensure peace for our children. We sincerely appeal to everybody who stands alongside us to protect Gangjeong Village and Jeju Island.

Ms. Gang, Young-sil
The Gangjeong Village Association
Email: buenoyoung@hanmail.net
Telephone number +82-11-9826-5022
Website: http://savejejuisland.org/Save_Jeju_Island/Welcome.html

The United Church of Christ in the Philippines Solidarity Statement to Hanjin's Retrenched Workers in Korea and the Subic Bay, the Philippines

2011-08-19T21:58:00.002+09:00

United Church of Christ in the Philippines

A Solidarity Message
to the
Retrenched Workers of Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction
and the Presbyterian Church of the Republic of Korea

“Genuine peace comes when justice is served...
...for as long as labourers do not receive just wages...
There will be no peace.”
UCCP Statement on Peacemaking

The United Church of Christ in the Philippines(UCCP) joins the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea(PROK) in supporting the workers of Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction(HHIC) in their struggle for their workers’ rights as a result of illegal termination and unjust labor practices. We salute the Korean people for their willingness to join in a peaceful protest that included more than 10,000 citizens on 195 buses to call for a resolution of the HHIC laid-off workers situation, on July 9, 2011. Hearing that in the early hours of July 10, 2011, armed police fired tear gas and water cannons at civilian protestors, as they sought to visit Labor Leader Kim Jin-Sook who was protesting by occupying Yeongdo Shipyard Crane #85, reinforces the need for Church people around the world to join in solidarity with the struggle of the workers. With the PROK, we strongly condemn the violent dispersal of the peaceful march to protest the termination of workers at HHIC on July 10, 2011 in Busan City, South Korea and call for the reinstatement of illegally retrenched HHIC workers.

Globalization has allowed large Trans-National Corporations, such as the Chaebol conglomerate corporations where HHIC belongs, to move easily from country to country around the world, even when in the process they violate workers’ rights and welfare. The lay-off of workers in Busan, South Korea likely precipitates from the opening of Hanjin’s new shipyard in the Subic Bay Freeport, Philippines. In 2005, Hanjin signed a 50-year lease and has since then invested US$721 million into this new shipyard. With a ten-year tax holiday and a cheaper workforce of only PhP 306 (approx US$7.25) for nine hours labor in the Philipines, the HHIC likely intends increased profits by relocating their work to Subic Bay, Philippines.

According to our investigation, the situation of Hanjin workers in Subic Bay Freeport is also fraught with violations of workers’ rights:
·         Although Subic government officials report that 21,000 workers and employed at Hanjin, the reality is that only approximately 17,000 are employed by Hanjin, while the others retained using 42 sub-contractors to circumvent the giving the benefits and rights of regular employees, including the right to join a union.
·         Not only do workers have a nine hour shift, they are also required to arrive to the company bus station 30 minutes before their shift begins. Workers are often expected to work a double shift and have been known to work for as many as three days non-stop.
·         There are reports of wide-spread drug use for workers to cope with back-to-back shifts.
·         Since Subic Bay Freeport Hanjin opened, 30 cases of work-related deaths and more than 5000 accidents have been recorded. Workers have been crushed by metal, impaled by slabs as well as cut, maimed and bruised to alarming degrees. Families of death victims have been unable to collect death benefits.

The UCCP denounces the low wages, injury/death and violation of basic rights experienced by Filipino workers at the Subic Bay Freeport Hanjin shipyard AND the termination and violation of basic rights of Korean workers at HHIC Busan City, South Korea, most likely precipitating from the relocation of work to the Philippines.

In response to the liberalization of trade and labor as is dictated by global capitalism, workers of different countries and those who stand in solidarity with them must increase their cooperation to expose and resist the violation of worker’s rights. The efforts of Trans-National “Mega” Corporations to concentrate global power and wealth to themselves through the subjugation of the world workforce can be thwarted by a similarly global approach by broad social movements, including the Church, to struggle for fundamental changes that bring about a just, participatory and sustainable social order.

We commit ourselves to uphold the welfare of the world’s workers as a response to the call of faith, hope and mutual mission. Our concern and support for the retrenched workers at the HHIC Yeongdo Shipyard of Busan is a solidarity expression not only of our partnership with the PROK, but also of our concern for workers everywhere. We stand with those calling for the management of Hanjin Heavy Industries to be investigated, for the police committing violent dispersal against peaceful protestors to be held accountable, for the reinstatement of illegally retrenched workers, and for the respect of workers’ just wages and human rights.

Signed By:

Bishop Elorde M. Sambat                   Bishop Arturo R. Asi
North Luzon Jurisdictional Area South Luzon Jurisdictional Area

Bishop Jaime M. Morilles                    Bishop Dulce Pia-Rose
Middle Luzon Jurisdictional Area East Visayas Jurisdictional Area

Bishop Melzar D. Labuntog                    Bishop Modesto D. Villasanta
Northwest Mindanao Jurisdictional Area Southeast Mindanao Jurisdictional Area

Bishop Reuel Norman O. Marigza
General Secretary

Migrant Workers in Korea are still enslave in spite of EPS

2011-08-17T21:18:00.000+09:00

The Employment Permit System (EPS) is an Instrument of Enslavement of the Neo-liberal Capitalist Globalization

The Employment Permit System (EPS) of the South Korean government set in place in 2004 and has reached its seventh year of implementation has been an instrument of enslavement of the neo-liberal capitalist globalization benefiting the economies of both the source and destination countries of migrant workers. The Philippine government in 2010 reaped 18.8 billion dollars from remittances of over nine million Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) worldwide. The amount is 8.2 percent higher than the previous year. It is however an irony that even with the wealth the government has amassed from the hard labor of migrant workers, social services to migrant workers still found wanting.

As an instrument of neo-liberal capitalist globalization the EPS has been the source of cheap labor as there has been a lack of local human resource for small and medium scale industries, thus the recourse to recruitment of migrant workers from overseas. The large scale production in the South Korean economy has undeniably benefitted from the supply of cheap labor from source countries. Access to cheap labor has been legalized through bilateral labor agreements such as the MOU on deployment of migrant workers.

Local capitalists and conglomerates are highly motivated to gain super profits and that requires subcontracted production from SMEs to realize their target profits, but would not give a dent on the suffering and inhumane working conditions of migrant workers. As in the case of many Filipino migrant workers in South Korea under the EPS they are classified as unskilled workers despite their educational and skills qualification. Educational attainment in this sense is no longer significant in the profit making schemes of capitalists and factory owners.

The EPS is full of flaws especially in the employment term. The 3 years original employment term plus another 2 years extension has been legally prescribed and migrant workers are forced to leave the country without the possibility of further term extension nor changing visa status for long term employment or for acquiring residency status. The outcry of most EPS workers is for them to extend their employment term for they have already become skillful in their respective jobs and grant them the possibility to gain residency status to pay-off their deployment expenses and alleviate their families’ economic situation.

Also, the EPS workers in most cases have to work on extended hours up to 12 hours beyond the eight-hour labor law, without getting overtime pay. This is no different from what the undocumented workers are experiencing. Although there is a clear provision in the EPS law that that the Korean Labor Standards Act applies to all migrant workers, but the Korean government is just making a lip service to the plight of migrant workers. Specifically, the change of work places limited to 3 times during the first 3 years or the equivalent of one work place each year has resulted in abuse of workers’ rights and enslavement to inhumane working conditions.

Moreover, fresh recruits to EPS working in construction, agriculture and fishery firms are deceived in signing work contracts that are totally different from the actual work conditions, subjecting them dangerous and life threatening work situations. Compensation for industrial accidents experienced by migrant workers is difficult to process and access and more so with their pension and separation pays. Employers practice deceit by not contributing to the social benefits of migrant workers and they are prosecuted and penalized for such violations.

Furthermore, the Korean government failed miserably to address the situation of undocumented migrant workers aside from offering them voluntary departure or forced deportation. There is no doubt that EPS workers whose term of employment will soon expire but wanted to continue working in the country will become undocumented too. The government should devise new ways of legalizing undocumented workers because just like the EPS and the local workers, they contribute to the wealth of the South Korean economy.

Therefore, KASAMMAKO urges both the Philippine and South Korean governments to exhaustively evaluate and assess the EPS law to improve the working conditions of migrant workers and for them to be free from the enslavement of profiteering employers, companies and capitalist that live luxuriously while their workers are suffering and could hardly survive with their low income incomes.

We urge the South Korean government to synchronize labor and immigration laws that will better the working conditions of migrant workers, giving them more democratic rights and allowing them to exercise their rights to unionize and pursue their employment goals.

POL PAR
Chairperson
KASAMMAKO
17 August 2011

Imperialist wars of agression should be opposed: Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki

2011-08-06T17:42:00.000+09:00

In commemoration of the 66th anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings

By Prof. JOSE MARIA SISON
Chairperson, International Coordinating Committee
Internatiobal League of Peoples' Struggle

On the occasion of the 66th anniversary of the barbaric bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the US, the International League of People's Struggles joins the Japanese people and all peace-loving peoples in commemorating the event and in condemning the continuing nuclear threat from the US and its imperialist allies.

On August 6, 1945, Hiroshima was incinerated by a nuclear weapon with a core of enriched uranium released by the US over the city. The nuclear radiation, explosion, heat and resulting fires killed 90,000 people almost immediately. This number rose to more than a hundred thousand by the end of 1945.

On August 9, 1945, Nagasaki was destroyed by a second atomic weapon with a core of plutonium 239 killing immediately some 40,000 and left 70,000 more dying by the end of the year. Tens of thousands more died later from radiation sickness. The combined death toll from the two atomic attacks run up to nearly two hundred thousand.

Despite the passage of 66 years, the surviving victims of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings suffer from the after effects and the second and third generations of the victims live in fear of consequences adverse to their health. The Japanese government has not provided to the victims state compensation and the necessary medical services.

The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki sixty-six years ago is one that is an exercise of unnecessary and excessive force. With the objective of enabling the US military to assess the effects and power of the newly developed atomic bomb, the US chose the two cities that were relatively unscathed by aerial bombing for its atrocious experiment. The twin bombing ranks as one of the worst war crimes and crimes against humanity ever committed in history. Yet despite this horrifying example of destruction, the threat of nuclear weapons remains from the only country that has used these weapons of mass destruction in war.

There are still roughly 20,500 nuclear weapons in the world. Fourteen thousand of these are in military stockpiles and around 4,830 are deployed in operational strategic role. More than 95 percent of nuclear weapons are with the US and Russia which continue to integrate these weapons into their military strategies. The rest of the weapons are with the UK, France, China, Israel, India, Pakistan and North Korea.

Although both the US and Russia have recently said that nuclear war between them is now "unthinkable," their strategic war plans still put nuclear strikes with hundreds of targets as options. Both countries still have the capacity to initiate a nuclear attack in a matter of a few seconds. Between the two, there are more than 800 ready-to-fire ballistic missiles armed with at nearly 2,000 strategic nuclear warheads on high alert, ready for use on short notice.

The US continues to test its intercontinental ballistic missiles such as the Minuteman III for readiness and keeps its Global Strike capability to hit targets anywhere in the globe in less than an hour. As the US puts the prevention of nuclear terrorism and proliferation in its 2010 Nuclear Posture Review, it has increased funding for the rebuilding of its “aging” nuclear infrastructure.

The Obama administration plans to spend $6.3 billion until 2016 to extend the lifetime and usage capabilities of the warheads in their stockpile. It seeks to finish the construction of nuclear materials production facilities which costs more than $10 billion and pledged another $6.24 billion to modernize its missiles, SSBN submarines, Joint Strike fighter planes and B-2 and B-52 bombers that are designed to deliver nuclear warheads.

The US military budget of $698 billion in 2010 is nearly 43% of the world's total military spending. It also remains the largest arms exporter in the world selling nearly $38 billion last year which is predicted to surge up to $50 billion in 2011. Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Egypt consistently rank among the top five importers of U.S. weaponry.

The US continues to expand its war foothold with new military bases such as that on Jeju Island in South Korea and in Okinawa despite resistance from local residents. It uses bilateral military agreements such as status of forces and base sharing agreements to virtually convert whole countries as their military base.

The new NATO Strategic Concept at the Lisbon Summit in 2010 reaffirmed the importance of nuclear weapons in the designs of the alliance in Europe. NATO's nuclear posture with roughly 200 non-strategic warheads remains tied directly to US interests. Plans to retrofit strategic nuclear bombs currently deployed in Europe as well as to build new F-35 planes to carry these bombs are being pushed to enhance NATO's capability to knock out military targets.

The US promotes double standards in nuclear proliferation– one set of rules for Israel and India and another set for potential enemies such as North Korea and Iran. It expands its role in assigning itself as global cop to hold “fully accountable any state, terrorist group, or other non-state actor that supports or enables terrorist efforts to obtain or use weapons of mass destruction, whether by facilitating, financing, or providing expertise or safe haven for such efforts.”

It enforces this through US-led agreements such as their Proliferation Security Initiative which lets US allies interdict ships unilaterally on the high seas on mere suspicion that these are carrying “nuclear materials and contraband”. Such initiatives which inflame tensions are mainly focused on such states as Iran and the DPRK and are seen as aggressive moves by these countries.

In 1954, the US used nuclear technology to entice and bring into its fold other countries such as Japan in order to counteract Soviet influence. The US uses the same tactic, in reverse, in denying Iran and the DPRK nuclear technologies to counter proliferation. This introduction of nuclear technology to Japan brought in US designed reactors such as the Fukushima Dai-ichi plants that melted down last March 2011. As nuclear power has shown its deadly bite with the meltdown of the reactors in Fukushima, the threat of nuclear war still remains with us.

Through nuclear intimidation and blackmail, the US has caused the suffering of tens of millions of people who came under its wars of aggression and intervention in Korea, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, and elsewhere. Further, the US has enabled its puppet regimes to massacre and maim millions more of people.. The oppressive and exploitative globalization policies unleashed by the US and its local partners have put hundreds of millions of people into misery and poverty.

In commemorating the atom bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we stand in solidarity with the people of the world against any form of imperialist war, military intervention and oppression. We are moved to resist imperialist aggression as we witness today the extremely high numbers of people being killed and injured in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya.

We vigorously oppose the U.S.-Japanese military alliance and its core strategic policy of nuclear blackmail. It is just for the people of Japan and the world to condemn and resist the scheme of the U.S. and Japanese governments in the consolidation of US bases in Okinawa, Iwakuni and Kanagawa. These are meant to perpetuate US domination over the Asia-Pacific region.

Since the latter half of the 1960s, the US and Japanese monopoly bourgeoisie have undermined and weakened the yearly commemoration of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atom bombings in order to reduce remembrance of these, lessen fears about nuclear radiation and pave the way for the rapid construction of nuclear power plants in Japan. There are now more than 55 nuclear reactors in Japan, with 14 more power plants previously planned.

Now, we are confronted with a grave nuclear disaster, the meltdown of reactors in Fukusihma Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Radiation leaks continue and spread. A great number of people are exposed to radiation in the Fukushima and neighboring prefectures. Land, seawater and crops are polluted and local communities are victimized. The myths of safety in the use of nuclear power plants have been exposed.

We hereby express our firm and continuing support to the Japanese people in their demands for the state to provide compensation and medical services to the A-bomb victims and their second and third generations, for banning and shutting down all the nuclear power plants and stopping the construction of new ones, for holding the Japanese state responsible for acts of aggression during World War and for indemnifying all war victims in Asia, for topping the nuclear armament of Japan, for scrapping the US-Japan security alliance and dismantling the US military bases in Japan and for the withdrawal of all US military forces in Asia.

The anniversaries of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are reminders of the continued peril that the peoples of the world face under imperialist aggression. The ILPS calls on all the world’s peoples to intensify their struggle against US imperialism and its barbaric and terrorist policy of producing, maintaining, using and threatening to use nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.***

Oh God Restore Us

2011-08-04T20:07:00.000+09:00

PROK staff morning prayer
Scripture text: Psalm 80
04August2011

PRAYER
Most loving and redeeming God:
We thank and praise you for this opportunity to come to you in prayer.

The Psalmist reminds us that both in our personal and social life there are brokenness that need to be mended and healed. We are becoming aware of your forgiveness when we are confronted with the senile effects of aggression or of perfectionism that haunt our lives.

We have been conscious of our separation from your mind and will when we are anxious of what others might judge us. In your tender mercies restore us to your loving will and help us to share your grace in acts of service to the least of your people.

We pray for all the people in our country and the world who are struggling for justice, freedom and peace. They who have been deprived and oppressed by the powers and instrumentalities of states and nations. May they attain the fruits of their struggles.

Bless and sustain us in our work today. May patience, unselfishness and understanding remain in our hearts and minds. We pray that your redeeming love in Jesus Christ will restore us to who we are as you intended us to be. We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Korean NGOs and Churches Appeals for Support in Opposing Naval Base Construction in Jeju Island

2011-08-01T12:04:00.001+09:00

The National Council of Churches Invitation to join in opposing construction of naval
base in Jeju Island.

July 19, 2011

Dear friends of peace worldwide:

Below you will find information about the naval base the Korean government is proposing building on Jeju Island, situated 56 miles south of the Korean mainland, a beautiful island recognized by UNESCO as a valuable resource for the world. The last online newsletter of the NCCK included an
article about this. Opposition is gathering to this construction, and below is the statement of the National Network of Korean Civil Society for Opposing the Naval Base in Jeju Island, a diverse body representing many organizations, which has come together for this purpose. Each
representative organization has promised to contact their global counterparts, and the NCCK is connected to many faith-based bodies who are hereby receiving this communication.

Below this official statement of the National Network, you will find a letter and information from peace activist Kichul Lee, who invites readers to join the petition he is circulating, along with a link to the website about the action - cafe.daum.net/peacekj. Perhaps the website will come up in Korean, but click on the instruction for English.

Please circulate this among your constituents and those you know will be concerned about the village of Gangjeong, the island of Jeju, the nation of Korea, and the peace of the world.

With thanks and prayers for peace

NCCK (National Council of Churches of Korea) - Kim Young Ju,
General Secretary
Rm. 706, Korea Christian Bldg,
Yeonji-dong, Jongro-gu, Seoul, 110-736, Korea
Ph. 82-2-764-0203, Fax 82-2-744-6189

------------000--------------

Network of Korean Civil Society for Opposing to the Naval Base in Jeju Island

We, National Network of Korean Civil Society for Opposing to the Naval Base in Jeju Island, had a press conference and released this statement of appeal on 13th July.

We appeal to peace advocates worldwide to give Gangjeong residents and peace activists international support and solidarity to stop the Jeju naval base construction.

Please spread the news of these problems related to the Jeju naval base construction with your networks and show us your support and solidarity.

Statement of Appeal
We appeal to save Gangjeong!

The Joongduk coast of Gangjeong Village in Jeju Island is now suffering. In 2006, Jeju Island was designated as an Island of Peace for the purpose of consoling the deep sorrow of the April 3rd Massacre. And the Joongduk coast was appointed as a Biosphere Reserve, World Heritage Site,
and Global Geological Park by UNESCO. It is an Absolute Preservation Area, which is now suffering from naval base construction.

Insisting that the naval base is vital for national security, the Korean government and the navy are enforcing the construction. However, the Ocean Navy expansion plan upon which the base construction was justified has been discarded in revisions to the national defense bill regarding strategies to counteract recent security threats, leaving no justification for this new base. In addition, the original argument from the government when the National Assembly budget bill was passed was to construct a Joint Civil Military site to be used for tourism as well as military purposes. However, that plan has disappeared and now only the military base is being constructed.

By maintaining military alliances with Japan, Australia, South Korea, and India, and through joint military exercises with the Philippines, Vietnam, and Taiwan, the U.S. is attempting to build up its defense line against China. If the Jeju naval base is constructed, the U.S., which possesses the right to station there according to the ROK-U.S. Mutual Defense Agreement, will surely use this base to stand up against China. In that case, Jeju Island, an Island of Peace, will become a center of military conflict between the U.S. and China, jeopardizing South
Korea’s national security.

Government and military authorities, however, are turning a blind eye to the voices of Gangjeong residents and civil peace activists, as well as to the demands to suspend the construction coming from the opposition parties and the investigation committee of the National Assembly. The navy has even used violence against a protesting civilian. On July 11, the national government recommended that the city government barricade a farm road on the Joongduk coast, which is the last remaining piece of state- owned land under the jurisdiction of Seogwipo city within the site of the naval base construction. This action was a response to the demand from the Ministry of National Defense to discourage any attempts to stage a protest against the naval base construction. However, such efforts by the government to enforce the construction only bring about stronger resistance and conflicts from Gangjeong residents and peace activists. The
construction must be stopped before any unf ortunate accidents take place.

We appeal to the government and military authorities

The argument for the base construction by the government and the navy is no longer valid. Moreover, the means and procedures used to promote the construction have been so violent and deceptive that they are only causing more resistance and resentment. Unilaterally pushing ahead with the construction, in the name of the national project, is obviously not a wise way. We call upon the government and military authorities to withdraw their plan to close the farm road and to completely reexamine the Jeju naval base construction project.

We appeal to Woo Keun-Min, Jeju governor

Governor Woo, you were aware of the negative consequences that could result from the naval base construction and you were right. We urge you to give up the futile illusion about the development profit and to listen to the desperate voices of the residents. We further request you to use your authority to cancel the removal of the “absolute preservation area” designation of Joongduk coast. If you do so, history would remember you as a person who protects the peace of Jeju and the Korean peninsula.

We appeal to the national assembly.

As an entity representing citizens, the national assembly has a duty to listen to and respond to citizens’ voices. We appeal to the opposition parties to be more active in nullifying the Jeju naval base construction project. The Grand National Party, as the current ruling party, should seriously examine whether the base is really needed and whether national budget should be spent on inflating military forces and feeding construction capital.

We appeal to citizens.

Gangjeong citizens have been fighting alone for over four long years. In the meantime, the village community has been torn apart, leaving indelible scars. Citizens are also engulfed with fears due to various lawsuits from the government and construction companies, as well as fines
up to tens of millions of won. They are suffering from the fact that the Goorungbi boulder, which represents their dreams and memories, might be covered with cement block.

Please express your solidarity and give them your consolation. And if you can, please visit Gangjeong Village. Then you might be able to understand more clearly why the construction must be stopped. In addition, please use your wisdom and energy to do whatever you can in your position to prevent the Jeju naval base construction.

We appeal to peace advocates worldwide

International support, advocacy, and solidarity to stop the Jeju naval base construction give Gangjeong residents and peace activists strength and courage. Please spread the news of these problems related to the Jeju naval base construction with your networks and show us your
support and solidarity.

We will try our best to prevent the Jeju naval base construction which endangers the Korean peninsula and Northeast Asia, and which is destroying the lives of Gangjeong residents and the natural environment, a gift from heaven. We firmly believe that this struggle is our responsibility to Jeju Island, where the sorrow of the April 3rd massacre is deeply embedded, that this is a expression of our conscience regarding the suffering Gangjeong residents, and that it is the demand of the times to protect and ensure peace for our children. We sincerely appeal to everybody who stands alongside us to protect Gangjeong Village and Jeju
Island.

July 13, 2011
National Network of Korean Civil Society for Opposing to the Naval
Base in Jeju Island.

Hopes are high for workers at Pusan's Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction

2011-07-27T21:21:00.000+09:00

Our Position on the Violence and Abuse of Public Power by Police
and the Normalization of Relationships within Hanjin Heavy Industries
July 11, 2011

The Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea (PROK) has been praying and making every effort for God’s will to be done on earth. On the 10th of July, the Korean police illegally and brutally put down a peaceful march by citizens demanding a resolution to the situation of workers whom Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction (HHIC) had laid off. With grave concerns, the PROK hereby states where we stand.

1. We strongly condemn the police illegal and violent suppression of this peaceful march!

From the death of two union leaders, Park Chang-Soo in 1991 and Kim Joo-Ik in 2003, to the present rightful struggles of workers against their illegal layoff, we are aware of how harsh the oppression of the workers at Hanjin Heavy Industries has been. On the 9th of July, which is the 185th day of this year’s struggle by the workers, over ten thousand citizens rode 195 Buses for Hope to the second large rally in front of Busan Station and held a Solidarity and Hope Concert calling for the resolution of the situation of the laid-off workers and particularly the safety of labour leader Kim Jin-Sook. Later the citizens marched peacefully to meet with Kim who has been protesting by occupying the 35-metre high shipyard crane #85. Armed police blocked this peace march and during this confrontation, at around 2 o’clock in the morning of the 10th, police fired liquid tear gas and water cannons toward the citizens, then, using their riot shields, rushed the marchers, took innocent citizens into custody, and finally scattered the crowd.

Among those who participated in this peaceful march were disabled people, minors, and the elderly. Nevertheless, the police violently charged the crowd, using water cannons and liquid tear gas fluid, even brutally targeting people’s faces directly. It was revealed that nearly 100 people have either been burned or injured this day by the police water cannons and liquid tear gas.

We have to ask for whom the police exist and what they serve. We cannot help but lament this reality in which the police, who should be protecting citizens and guarding democratic order, instead become private soldiers of Chaebol conglomerate corporations and commit violence on citizens even more severely than hired bullies would. The police should publicly apologize concerning this incident to the people of our nation and those who are responsible for this incident should be strictly punished.

2. Hanjin Heavy has to reinstate laid-off workers and open all information on their order-receiving process!

For workers, layoff in fact means death. Hence, plausible grounds and criteria must always be provided in the case of layoffs. However, Hanjin’s layoff this time clearly violated the employment agreements by setting forth no future restructuring plan. (2007.3.14, 2010.2.26) Furthermore, Hanjin Heavy Industries is under suspicion for having been concealing received orders. For the past three years, the company has justified its layoff through an alleged lack of orders. They laid off 170 workers this past February, and then distributed 17.4 billion Korean won to their shareholders as a dividend. In addition, right after the union called off their strike the company announced an order receipt of six orders for vessels.

According to an insider from the Metal Unions, it is necessary to have 3000-4000 workers to be able to properly produce received orders but currently at Yeongdo Shipyard there are only 620 regular workers and 700-800 subcontracted workers. It is inconceivable that Hanjin had to perform a layoff when the company was actually in absolute need of more workers.

This circumstance compels us to conclude that the management intends to gradually reduce production at Yeongdo Shipyard of Busan region and eventually establish Subic Shipyard in the Philippines, where labor is cheaper, as its central production line. This leads us to reason that there may be a second and third restructuring. While Subic Shipyard may bring a larger profit to some of those in Management, due to this kind of restructuring the workers in the Busan region will lose jobs and livelihood. In the long run this move will cause a significant loss in the economy of the Busan region and of the entire country as well.

To alleviate this suspicion, Hanjin will have to release all the information related to the process of receiving orders. And also, Hanjin will have to withdraw its violent layoff policy and reinstate all the workers who have sweated blood for the company.
We, the PROK, declare our appeals as follows. We will also march in prayer with all the people of the country to put an end both to the violence of the police, whose action destroys democratic order, and to the misdeeds of the Chaebol corporations of Korea.

Our Appeals

1. We appeal to President Lee Myung bak. The violence by the police took place with the knowledge of the president and this obviously deserves a public apology.
2. Cho Hyun-Oh, Chief of the National Police Agency, and Seo Chun-Ho, Chief of the Busan Police Agency, overused their public power, violently repressing a peaceful protest, and therefore must be discharged.
3. Hanjin Heavy Industries must release all the suspect order receipt information and reinstate all laid-off workers.
4. The government must investigate Hanjin Heavy Industries on its poor management and suspicious order receipt process and punish those who are responsible for the debacle.
5. The government must proactively arbitrate in local economy and employment problems.
6. The government must make a strong regulation regarding layoffs caused by poor management.
7. All civil detainees who participated in the peace march must be released.

REV. BAE TAE-JIN
General Secretary
The Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea (PROK)

REV. CHUN BYEONG-SAENG
Chairperson, Church and Society Committee
PROK

Posted pictures of money on Facebook: Questions about values

2011-07-01T16:27:00.002+09:00

There are at least two Facebook friends of mine who posted pictures of money in local currency on their wall. When I saw the pictures of bundles of money posted on one's wall I'm disturbed. For many people it is inappropriate to display bundles of money, personal wealth such as jewelries, expensive clothing, high tech equipments and other things that publicly displays one's economic power and superior lifestyle. I think there is more to it than just showing them on a social networking website. It redounds to the question of values. I don't question other people's values in any sense, but my concern is about what values are revealed in posting pictures of money and wealth.

I think when people post pictures of money and wealth on their wall on Facebook there is this fascination about wealth. This springs from their desire for power, prestige and social acceptance. They may be fascinated to show to people that they have economic power especially the money to buy what they want and tell others that he or she is NOT impoverished and powerless as he/she used to be. At the subconscious level this behavior is an assertion of one's new identity and capabilities.

Yet still the values that are shown in this behavior are those that can be classified as materialistic. Money and wealth preoccupies the heirarchy of values in one's life. Of course one's life and family is on top of that value system, but when it comes to social relations, that is, one's acceptance to society, such as relating with friends and other people, money and wealth is believed to be of prime importance. In most religions there are teachings of the greater values that people shoul internalize, emulate and share with others. Christian values of love, respect, justice, peace, moderation and self-sacrifice have been emphasized. However for people who grew up in economic deprivation have the tendency to take on materialistic values, that money and wealth ensure social power and influence.

On the extreme the acceptance of Christian values of self-sacrifice instilled by the church in the minds of its adherenrs especially in colonial times was a means of control on the oppressed classes of people. The lavish and comfortable life of the friars and the feudal lords had been justified by the colonial church values. The sacrifices of adherents to Christianity are intilled in the minds of the people as their "service to God." This blinded the people to the oppression and exploitation that they'd experience.

So before you post pictures of money and wealth on your wall on Facebook think several times before you do it.

Being Assured of God's Compassion

2011-06-29T17:44:00.002+09:00

PROK Staff morning prayer

Text: Psalm 56

Holy God, You are eternal who resists collusion with human schemes that cause suffering and death. We thank you for this time of prayer and to be refreshed by the renewing presence of the Holy Spirit.

Meditating on your word, we are being assured of your compassion toward us especially when we feel down and out, thinking that we have used up our energies and feel that our body and soul are drained of all what there is left for us to live.

We thank you for your great mercies that uphold us in faith and goodness. May Christ forgive our misgivings and carelessness, while we strive to better our commitments and involvements in the lives of the suffering ones

We remember Rhea Whitehead, a friend and fellow mission co-worker who passed away and has rested in your grace. Sustain in your love her family in this moment if bereavement and whole United Church of Canada.

In your grace bless and accompany us in our respective work today and we ask that you also give safe travels and meaningful engagement to our PROK leaders travelling and meeting partners overseas. We pray this in Jesus' name, Amen.

Regrets and anger

2011-06-25T22:44:00.000+09:00

Teaching English in an after school program for blind children has been very interesting. For more than four years now, I've at least understand the potentials of children who are visually impaired. But while English is a difficult language to learn for Korean children, their parents' push for them to learn have left no choice. This school year I'm teaching third year middle school visually impaired kids. Last session our lesson was about cause, effect and regret. Following the sentence pattern the kids constructed their sentences with ease. On the regret part the sentence started with "I should have...." Well, one of kids mentioned his regret after the class saying, "I should not have been in school this long." In his predicament, going to high school is not important more so getting into college.

Many people know that when anger is actualized can be destructive. It can cause damage on lives, property and most of all social relationships. But anger can be managed because it is human behavior. We can use our anger to cause harm on other people even our family and friends, only to regret what we have done to them. There are persons who the moment they get angry could not think rationally and would panic to the point of forgetting the consequences of their actions out of anger. Anger heightens your violent tendencies and it is a survival instinct. However anger can be our best friend when we can manage it.

From parasols to umbrellas, stories on a rainy day

2011-06-23T20:37:00.000+09:00

Talking about summer time in Seoul is a tricky thing. Friends who know that I've come from a tropical country like the Philippines would say that perhaps I like the warm to hot weather in Seoul. Well, well, well I really like hot weather becuase it is nice fo walk around and many new things come into view, like stylish parasols in many women' hands that cover their heads from direct sunlight, short-sleve shirts, t-shirts and shorts. Different kinds of smells both sweet and offensive your nose can detect including the odor of sewers and street canala rise in the air. Making a place distinctly different from the others.

It has been raining since yesterday and travelling in Seoul by the subway train and bus always gives me a sense of curiosity like what is the predominating color of umbrellas I would see today, unsurprisingly it's black, oh yeah for parasols it was off-white. When it rains in Seoul almost every person carries an unbrella and some people can't anticipate how high or low they should hold their umbrellas as they approach or walk along other people. In my case I would raise my umblella above other umbrellas, at times turn it sideways. Unfortunately using an umbrella can be inconvenient but is there a new way of covering yourself from the rain? What about a smart umbrella, one that can come out of a shirt, if not from a bag? This is something to invent or just to imagine.

The Struggle of Vietnamese Migrant Workers in South Korea

2011-06-06T11:42:00.000+09:00

Petition urging that the 10 Vietnamese Migrant Workers be found Not Guilty and Released

Recently, 10 Vietnamese migrant workers working in South Korea were arrested, detained and brought to trial. The 10 individuals had been among 200 Vietnamese workers employed to construct the substructure of a container wharf at the Incheon New Port last year. The Prosecutor's Office has charged them with several crimes including obstruction of business, group violence, mob assault and assault with a deadly weapon.

In addition, the prosecution are claiming that the Vietnamese migrant workers carried out an illegal strike, through which they caused significant losses to the company that employed them.

In reality, however, these workers faced subhuman treatment and were subjected to forced labor on the Incheon New Port construction site. They were not allowed to rest on Sundays despite the fact that the South Korean Labor Standards Act guarantees workers one day of a week. They were forced to work in 12-hour shifts, with one running during the day and the other during the night. All the while they receiving only minimum wage. In addition, they were forced to pay for meals despite the fact that their employer had originally promised that meals would be provided. Even worse, management, claiming that they did not work hard enough, began deducting an hour worth of wages from their pay. These actions constitute severe violations of the Labor Standard Act and violation of the workers' employment contract. When the workers protested, however, management responded by telling them they would be fired or, "reported to the Ministry of Labor and deported."

For workers to refuse their labor in the face of such unfair conditions is completely justified. And, indeed, the Incheon New Port workers responded with a strike. Regardless of the technical legality or illegality of this collective action, it must be recognized that refusing to provide labor when management is in violation of the employment contract is a completely justified act. As such, the prosecution's indictment is blatantly unjust.

In its letter of indictment the prosecution claims that the workers who were arrested had led the strike and used threats and force to make other workers participate. It has become clear in the course of the trial. However, that some of the workers arrested had, in fact, worked at the construction site for less than a week and were not even familiar with their duties there. Given this fact we cannot help but doubt the credibility of the prosecution's indictment. Far from what the prosecution is claiming, these workers were pushed into two rounds of spontaneous action by the subhuman conditions under which they were forced to work.

The prosecution's accusation of "group violence" is also highly doubtful. We believe that the prosecution has exaggerated this charge in order to create a basis for calling the group action "illegal".

All of the Vietnamese workers involved in this incident had come to Korea under the Employment Permit System (EPS). The South Korean government claims that the EPS protects the labor rights of migrant workers in full. This case shows, however, that the labor rights of migrant workers in South Korea are actually completely disregarded. What is more, the conditions faced by the Incheon New Port workers are not at all unique. They are similar to the conditions faced by the majority of migrant workers in South Korea.

If these workers are found guilty of the charges brought against them, it will be a direct demonstration of just how unequal and unjust the South Korean government and South Korean society's treatment of migrant workers is. We sincerely hope that these workers will be found not guilty and freed so they can return to their lives as common workers for the sake of their futures and their families in Vietnam. If these workers are found guilty they will all be subject to forcible deportation under the Immigration Control Act. We fervently hope that their employer's cruel treatment and the prosecution's trumped-up charges will not led to the horrible consequence of turning this young workers into law-breakers.

Name: _______________________________   Organization: _________________________

Position: ____________________________    Signature: ____________________________

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Recently 10 Vietnamese migrant workers working in South Korea were arrested, detained and brought to the trial.

The Prosecutor's Office has charged them with several crimes including obstruction of business, group violence, mob assault with a deadly weapon. The prosecution are claiming the Vietnamese migrant workers carried out an illegal strike. In its letter of indictment the prosecution claims that the workers who were arrested had led the strike and used threats and force to make other workers participate.

They all have regular migrant workers under Employment Permit System (EPS). When they are convicted for the offences, they are highly likely to face deportation by the Immigration Act.

The 10 individuals had been among 200 Vietnamese workers employed to construct the substructure of a container wharf at the Incheon New Port last year.

The 1st Strike: 22th to 25th July 2010

From 7 o’clock in the morning 22nd of July 2010, roughly two hundred Vietnamese workers went on a walkout. It continued to 7 o’clock in the evening on 25th of July 2010.

They demanded the company to offer three free meals a day. They also demanded it not to force to work at night against their will. Friends’ visits to the accommodations were not allowed. Foods, drinks and alcohols were not allowed in them. To lift these restrictions were included in the demands as well.

ü They were paid KRW 4,410 by the hour.

ü They worked for 12 hours from 07:00 to 19:00(Lunch 12:00-13:00).

ü They would work 12-hour shift. (They also demanded the company to recognize 8 hours of waiting time as working hours when they worked 12-hour shift.)

ü They worked on Saturday and Sunday even though they were required to work from Monday through Friday under their employment contract.

ü The company offered only lunch for free and food expenses for breakfast and dinner amounting KRW240,000 a month were deducted from their wages.( This is why the major demand of the strike was free three meals a day. The company offered breakfast and dinner for free in April and May 2010. But it noticed that it would offer only lunch for free in July 2010. Many workers who had worked since April 2010 staged a walkout and quit to work.)

*The company argued the strike caused losses of KRW 1billon. It said it hired local workers and paid more for extended rents for equipments due to the strike.

2nd Strike

Most Vietnamese workers went on a walkout on January 9th 2011 again. The company changed its policy. It reduced recognized work hours to 11 hours (They worked for 12 hours from 07:00 to 19:00, Lunch 12:00-13:00). The company had recognized 12 working hours including 4 hours of overtime work previously.

*The company argued the strike caused KRW 109million.

Arrest and Brought to the Trial

The 10 Vietnamese migrants continued to be employed and worked after the strike.

Some of them even just begin to work in July 2010. So they were not in the condition to lead the first strike.

But they were arrested in March and April 2011 and were charged with interfering with the business, group violence, and mob assault with deadly weapon.

The prosecution are claiming the Vietnamese migrant workers carried out an illegal strike. In its letter of indictment the prosecution claims that the workers who were arrested had led the strike and used threats and force to make other workers participate.

They all have regular migrant workers under Employment Permit System (EPS). When they are convicted for the offences, they are highly likely to be deported by the Immigration Act.

Why this Historical Friday is really Good

2011-05-30T17:49:00.002+09:00

The trial of Jesus at Pilate's palace was concluded, the flogging and the crown of thorns shed blood from the body of Jesus. He was sentenced by the Empire to be crucified. The king's robe was taken back and he has to carry the cross to Mount Golgotta.

The Romans and the Jews followed the process of crucifixion for ordinary criminals for Jesus. Beneath the cross were women closest to him and the beloved disciple. He uttered words that we now called 'Siete Palabras' or the seven last words. Historians and theologians have interpreted these words in many ways that suit their purposes. For Christians these words are nothing else than their own. Especially to the suffering and exploited people Jesus words on the cross are their own life stories.

God forgive them for they know not what they are doing, is not forgetting the extent of violence inflicted on them by the powers that be, but sifting their emotional response from the protracted struggle that must be pursued while life lasts.

Today you will be with me in paradise. This is realized paradise not founded on the primeval Garden of Eden but on the great resolve that working for justice is a minute everyday work that must be shown in their social relations.

Dear woman here is your son. Resting in the assurance that women will always take care of their children or children have to provide for their aging parents have been transcended with the understanding that within families blood relations must give way for social affinity and responsibility.

Why have you forsaken me? For billions of years our solar system has evolved into what we have now, where there is order and peace. Think of the chaos that it went through and we can say that in chaos and total darkness we are forsaken. We are forsaken whenever there are situations of chaos such as present in the world today, wars of aggression, extrajudicial killings, poverty, unemployment, human and natural disasters. By understanding the chaotic situations where we live we can work on possibilities for the reversal of such situations.

I am thirsty. Jesus felt the thirst as his body was losing much water and thirst signifies that exhaustion has seep in and finally death is approaching while hanging on the cross. The parched earth need rain to regain life. Our physical world has been devastated by too much greed and selfishness. Our environment is parched and is near death because of overuse and exploitation. Our lives become parched when it is lived in possessiveness and unbridled acquisitiveness.

It is finished. Jesus declared it--his suffering on the cross. The Sacrifice for the redemption of depraved humanity is completed and it is for human beings to take upon themselves the once and for all human sacrifice. Those who have declared themselves Christians have to stop human sacrifices for the sake of national security or in the name of Western democracy. Jesus crucifixion is enough and sufficient sacrifice fir all humanity and for all time.

I entrust my spirit into your hands. The people struggling for justice and peace could no longer entrust their future to their chosen political leaders because the leaders who are expected to protect their lives are those who devour them, stripping them of their humans dignity and imperiled their future.

Good Friday is a reminder to all Christians that this Jesus that the empire has crucified will remain to be crucified unless the suffering people are freed from the monumental poverty, exploitation and violence.

Is Black Saturday really Black?

2011-05-30T17:44:00.003+09:00

The disciples were puzzled of what took place the previous days and the third day is approaching and Jesus had been buried in the tomb. They were mourning and nobody knows what will happen next. They were scattered in different places and waiting what else the Roman and Jewish authorities would do to them. It is possible that there will be crackdown and all of them might be imprisoned and punished and die just like Jesus.

Hopes for a better future is dimmed and many questions remained unanswered in their minds. For now is just hiding and letting things cool down. Reminiscing Jesus' teachings, prophecies, miracles and his personal touch with them. For some Jesus' personality is inscrutable and to a large extent enigmatic. Three years of hearing him teach and interacting with him made the disciples believe he is special and a progeny of God. But what about now, it seems like everything is over, each to his own. The darkness enveloped the tomb where Jesus lay, no sign of life. If is sealed and guarded.

Reflections on Easter Day

2011-05-30T17:40:00.002+09:00

The women who were at the cross on Friday and who had mourn on Saturday until the dawn of the third day came to the tomb where Jesus dead body was laid only to find out that the rock that covered the entrance of the tomb was moved to the side, a suspicion that the dead Jody was stolen or some people have taken it away for their own purposes. But when they entered the tomb they angels in bright shining robes asking them if they were looking for Jesus and told them that Jesus has risen. Then Mary Magdalene cried outside the tomb was greeted by Jesus and she declared that indeed Jesus is alive.

Jesus resurrected from the dead not as a kind of dead man walking, nor as terminator computer humanoid but in an immortal body. The women and the male disciples could not explain the phenomenon of the resurrection, because it is just impossible. Jesus appearance among the disciples by the seashore preparing breakfast for them and Thomas' touching of his side and punctured hands are great testimonies to the veracity of the resurrection.

Christianity claims the lordship of Jesus who is the Christ--meaning the Messiah or Savior of the world. The son of the carpenter, the organizer of small fisher folks, the herbalist who had cure for various ailments, the social worker who has great talent in psychology who exorcised demons--greed, avarice, and various forms of personality disfunction, and an activist who challenge the Jewish religious leaders and the Roman empire authorities had been the ethical foundations of churches and societies. But the institutional church has him a possession and a tool of domination. Western civilizations has enshrined Jesus in their constitutions and laws--punitive and discriminative laws and that a non Christian society or organization is an enemy or a suspect of terroristic acts.

Having faith in resurrection is an assertion that God's life should not be co-opted by the powers of death. The resurrected power of Jesus must be reclaimed by the poor who have been victims of those who have claims of Christ.

JUDGEMENT DAY-MAY 21

2011-05-30T17:37:00.002+09:00

Apocalypticism is a religious belief in the triumph of good over evil. In biblical studies we read about rapture, tribulations and the eternal reign of God with the faithful. The recent prediction of the Judgement Day last May 21 is another attempt of apocalyptists to tell the mind and will of God. Many people are reminded once again of the triumph of good over evil. But I can't seem to understand why apocalyptists wish for their own salvation while at the same time want the destruction of many.

Prayer for Peace in the Korean Peninsula

2010-12-03T14:05:00.000+09:00

Most loving and compassionate God:
We praise you and thank you for creating this day
And for this time of prayer.

Advent has come once again this year,
The time of preparation for celebrating Christmas--
The birth of your Son Jesus Christ--the Prince of Peace.

It is at time of Advent when we come to the realization
how fragile our lives are,
and how temporary our material comfort had been.
However, we are assured of your compassionate companionship with us,
which strengthens our hope for salvation from real dangers
and from the fears that prevent us and the nations to pursue lasting peace.

Compassionate God, forgive us for being anxious of our future
and what will befall upon us.
At times we are passive in mediating your holy will in our country.
We have been lulled by the material comforts we have,
and forget the more important things in the life of our nation--
such as the values of peace, tolerance, justice, forbearance and solidarity.
Have mercy on us.

With your grace, help and support us is our campaign
for peace in the Korean Peninsula.
Sustain us in our proclamation of Christ's peace in the world.
Let your Holy Spirit embolden us to follow Jesus Christ our Lord,
the Prince of Peace. Amen.

Note: This is Frank's said prayer during the PROK staff morning devotion on November 30, 2010.

Peace Treaty Signature Campaign

2010-12-03T11:01:00.002+09:00

Signature Campaign for a Peace Treaty in the Korean Peninsula
“. . .To give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” (Luke 1:79)

The military tension in the Korean Peninsula has risen since Tuesday November 23, 2010 caused by the military exercises conducted by the South Korean military in Yeonpyeong island which was responded to by the North through artillery shelling of the military camp in the island. There were casualties and this incident caused alarm in all segments of society and the region. Also, this year we commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Korean War which broke out in 1950 and we do not want to repeat the tragic experiences and devastating effects of war.

We urge the signatory governments to repeal the 1953 Armistice Agreement and replace it with a Peace Treaty that will ensure peace and security in the Korean Peninsula. The Peace Treaty should substantiate the June 15, 2000 and the October 4, 2007 North-South Joint Declarations signed by the leaders of the two Koreas. The replacement of the Armistice Agreement with a Peace Treaty will de-escalate the threats of imminent conflict between North and South Korea and would ensure peace and security not only in Northeast Asia but the whole world.

We are doing this signature campaign to gather support for the making of a Peace Treaty. You are encouraged to support this move through your signature. Thank you.

Organization Name E-Mail Address Signature

The Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea

PROK calls for peace negotiation and a peace treaty in the Korean Peninsula

2010-12-03T11:00:00.000+09:00

30 November, 2010

Dear Friends in Ecumenical Organizations and Partner Churches

Greetings in the name of Jesus, the prince of peace.

First of all, we, the Presbyterian Church in the republic of Korea (PROK), are deeply grateful for your concern, prayer and solidarity messages and statements to respond to the recent violence in Yeonpyeong Island and the escalation of tension in the Korean peninsula.

Witnessing the current unstable situation in the Korean peninsula, the PROK is immensely concerned about political moves toward bigger clashes. We feel the need to strongly re-affirm that military provocation and retaliation are the way to self-destruction of the two Koreas, and that peaceful approach and dialogue are the only ways to resolve the conflict and to live together in the Korean Peninsula. We claim that a threat to peace and life should not be used to solve political difficulties or gain political points. Therefore, on Nov. 24, the PROK issued a statement to urge the two Korean authorities not to extend the vindictive situation but to resolve it peacefully with the following suggestions:

1. Not to abuse resentments of the victims as a pretext of revenge, to restore humanitarian support to N.K instead of engaging in hard line policies and sanctions, and to resume dialogue and mutual exchanges such as the Six Party Talks and the North-South Red Cross Conference.
2. To establish the ‘Special Peace and Co-operation Zone in the West Sea’ initiated by North and South Joint Declaration October 4, 2007, and to stop the military drill in that area rather than continue to collide because of the controversial Northern Limit Line.
3. To repeal the 1953 Armistice Agreement and replace it with a Peace Treaty, de-escalating the threats of imminent conflict between North and South Korea and ensuring peace and security not only in Northeast Asia but the whole world.

We are attaching the statement of the National Council of Churches of Korea which well articulated the rationale and explanation of the Yeonpyeong Island Incident, so that you can refer to their analysis and position regarding the issue as well.

We have launched a signature campaign to gather support for the making of a Peace Treaty. We will be sending you a letter and signature form to gather your signatures and support. Please join the campaign, and keep holding peace and reconciliation in the Korean Peninsula in your prayers and supporting our sincere efforts for peace.

In ecumenical solidarity,

Rev. Bae Tae-Jin
General Secretary
The Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea

NCC-Korea Calls for Restraint, Peace Negotiations among Power wielders in the Korean Peninsula

2010-11-27T11:59:00.000+09:00

STATEMENT

The National Council of Churches of Korea

A Call to Prayer over the Yeonpyeong Island Incident

Yet again, only months after the sinking of a South Korean warship, Choenan, the fragile peace along the dividing line between the two Koreas has been broken. The exchange of fire on Yeonpyeong on 23 November has lead to the deaths of two civilians and two marines. Eighteen more people were injured and a number of homes were destroyed in and on this small island that lies only seven miles from the North Korean border and fifty miles from the densely populated Southern port city of Inchon. The fighting and the mass exodus of residents from the island that is home to a fishing community and military bases is all too reminiscent of the Korean War that inflicted pain on the Korean people that none can forget. The National Council of Churches in Korea mourns with the surviving victims and the families of those whose lives were so senselessly taken. It deplores the North Korean military for using powerful weapons against the civilian community in the most serious incident since the signing of the Armistice in 1953.

Yet again the Peninsula and its people are gripped by the fear of an escalation of ideologically-inspired violence. In its 1988 Inchon Consultation Statement on Peace and Justice, as the NCCK we said to the nation that our country sits at the apex of hegemonic competition and diplomatic and military brinkmanship. Yet again, we in the South are reminded of the fragility of our nation’s booming prosperity and of the starkly contradictory widespread poverty of the North. And once more this border clash comes in the context of joint US and South Korean naval exercises off the coast and “war games” on the Peninsula. NCCK challenges the governments of South Korea, USA and Japan to refrain from upgrading these joint military exercises under an umbrella of the USA’s respective “security alliances” because they appear to have provoked North Korea and led to its strong reaction.

As we have so often repeated in the past, these exercises of political and military brinksmanship serve no purpose other than to escalate tensions in Korea and to threaten the peace in the whole Northeast Asian region. The presence of a great number of nuclear weapons on land and on the surrounding seas makes Korea a tinderbox that threatens the peace of the whole world.

We therefore call on the ecumenical family to pray for peace in our land and to urge all governments to exercise caution, to refrain from further inflaming the political atmosphere and to exercise the maximum restraint so that reason and diplomacy can prevail over narrow self-serving military, strategic or political interests. The fundamental interests of the people must prevail: mutual respect and peace with justice for all.

We also appeal to all nations to reject any attempt to cheapen life by treating Korea as a pawn in diplomatic gamesmanship, while ignoring the welfare of the people.

For nearly three decades, the NCCK and the global ecumenical fellowship have worked together to these ends. We have slowly built bridges and established regular, productive contact with the Korean Christians Federation in the North and we have shared our common prayers for peace and reunification of the Korean peninsula with the global fellowship of Christian churches through the World Council of Churches. We have sought to provide a model that governments, politicians and diplomats might follow, and we have therefore rejoiced at the successes of the two Inter-Korean summits of June 13-15, 2000 between President Kim Dae-jung and Chairman Kim Jong Il and of October 2-4, 2007 between President Roh Moon-hyun and Chairman Kim Jong Il. We are convinced that they provide a good basis and framework for the two sides to work together towards a shared future.

On 15 August this year, the NCCK, the KCF and churches in other parts of the world simultaneously prayed for peace and the reunification of Korea, using in part the following words: “We pray that mistrust and confrontation between the North and the South should die down, mutual trust should be built up through reconciliation, cooperation and exchanges. The June 15 unification mood that we have all enjoyed should be revived in full blossom, and therefore the warm atmosphere of unification should blow its way through all this peninsula.”
Given the current tensions, the NCCK further notes these important commitments in the October 2007 summit peace declaration:

1. South and North Korea committed themselves to work for mutual respect and trust in order to overcome differences in ideology, and system.

2. South and North Korea committed themselves to ease military tensions, hold ministerial defense talks in November in Pyongyang to discuss this and inter-Korean economic cooperation.

3. The two sides agreed on the need to end the current armistice and establish permanent peace.

4. The two sides agreed to create a special peace zone around Haeju in North Korea and nearby areas.

5. South and North Korea committed themselves to promote humanitarian cooperation and expansion of the reunions of separated families.

The tragic events in recent days underscore the importance of pursuing this course. We urge the parties to the stalled Six-Party Talks to follow this same path, to cease exploiting the divisions and differences and to put the welfare of the people at the center of their concern. The situation must not be allowed to deteriorate further and all military actions or retaliation must be avoided we urge all our partners to pray for peace on the Korean Peninsula. We would welcome our partner councils and ecumenical organizations to support us also by urging all governments to work together to help resolve the dangerous crisis through diplomacy and peaceful means.

The World Council of Churches has repeatedly asserted that the future of the Korean Peninsula is ultimately to be determined by the Korean people. We shall fulfill this calling despite the challenges and obstacles because we believe that God is faithful and will perform mighty acts on our land. We are immensely grateful for the solidarity, prayers and support of the churches around the world. We give thanks to God for you.

Seoul, 26 November 2010

Prayer for office morning devotion-Monday, October 25, 2010

2010-10-25T13:29:00.000+09:00

Scripture Reading from Job chapter 7

Prayer:
God of compassion,
We thank you for this brand new day.
We welcome this new autumn day with great expectations and hopes.
There are times in our lives when we are like Job,
not only afflicted by physical pains, but also by desperation.
We ask too many questions, but oftentimes these could not come out of our lips.
They remain deep in our minds, waiting for the right moment to be heard.
With your compassion, you uphold us, you sustain us, lest we will drift further away from you.
At this time, we remember in our prayers those who are homeless, hungry and suffering in many countries visited by typhoons and storms, diseases, famine and violation of the sanctity of life.
May we, like Jesus extend our compassion to them.
As we face a new working week, help us to be alert,
giving our best and attention to details
Data and feelings really matter because you do not take for granted who we are.
We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Transformer. Amen.

Life in the Underside of Korean Society

2010-07-03T10:56:00.004+09:00

I LOVE KOREA
A Summer Youth Event of the Council for World Mission
June 30-July 10, 2010
Seoul, Korea

Seminar Life 1: Life in the Underside of Society
Presenter/Facilitator: Frank J. Hernando
June 2, 2010
Time Allotment: 1 hour

Objectives:
At the session, participants are able to:
•familiarize with life from the underside of Korean society
•characterize life of the marginalized people in contemporary Korean society
•present the synthesis of life from the underside

1. TREND-SETTING
Processes: This part is good for 15 minutes. The facilitator will give a brief background on what he has set out to do together with the participants especially the time allotment for this topic and the expected output. The question that participants will answer is, “What do you know about life from the underside in Korea?” Participants will share their answers while the facilitator will write the answers on the board. Then the brief clarification and discussion will follow. The trend setting of the quality of life of people on the underside or underdogs of society will be used for the anchoring of ideas shared.

2. ANCHORING
Processes: This part is good for 25 minutes. The ideas shared in the trend setting will be included in this portion. The facilitator gives 25 minutes guided talk using a power point presentation and some video clips.

Presentation: “Life in the Underside of Korean society”

Introduction
There are many external manifestations of the kind of life people live in a particular society. These can be seen in the kind of outfit/clothes people wear, the things they own and use e.g. cell phones, computers, and other electronic gadgets, the houses where people live, the number of automobiles, buildings and transportation systems. South Korea is characteristically an economically well-off society in terms of the amount of income people earn, the extent and spectrum of social services afforded to people. The quality of life in this society is also measured in terms of longevity or life expectancy which in South Korea the overall is 78.8, for males 75 and females at 82.2 years. However, even with the given life expectancy, there is an uneven economic, social and political opportunities for the ordinary citizens of the country. This is brought about by the neo-liberal market driven economy and growth driven government political priorities, which forced segments or sectors of society to live at the fringes of society.

a) The neo-liberal capitalist globalization and its impact on the quality of life
Many people in South Korea brag about the rapid industrialization economic development in the country for less than three decades beginning in the late 80’s. It has been observed that rapid industrialization was prompted by the authoritarian regimes that encouraged every home a factory and the unwavering persistent prayers and unwavering faith of the Christians. These can be considered contributory factors, but not the only factors. Within context of neo-liberal market driven economy or known as economic globalization, highly industrialized capitalist countries had made possible the free-flow of capital to other countries, expansion of global clout of transnational banks and corporations and the geo-political and military influence in many parts of the world.

With all these combination of factors, the South Korean government carried out a currency reform, strengthened financial institutions, and introduced flexible economic planning. In the 1970s Korea began directing fiscal and financial policies toward promoting heavy and chemical industries, consumer electronics, and automobiles. Manufacturing continued to grow rapidly in the 1980s and early 1990s. In the late 1990s to early 2000s South Korea had consistently had huge foreign direct investments ranging from 6-8 billion dollars. The import-export driven economy depended on mostly US and Japan and later China as destinations of its export products.

During the 1997-98 financial downturn caused by International Monetary Fund (IMF) policies there was the slowing of global economy and falling exports slowed growth to 3.3% in 2001, prompting consumer stimulus measures that led to 7.0% growth in 2002. Consumer over-shopping and rising household debt, along with external factors, slowed growth to near 3% again in 2003. Economic performance in 2004 improved to 4.6% due to an increase in exports, and remained at or above 4% in 2005, 2006, and 2007. With the onset of the global financial and economic crisis in the third quarter of 2008, annual GDP growth slowed to 2.3% in 2008 and just 0.2% in 2009.

The basic contradictions in the neo-liberal market driven economy are mostly based on overproduction of goods but with constricting global markets, the stiff competition among industrialized countries for market of similar or the same finished products has affected many countries and their peoples. The main goal of the neo-liberal capitalist economic system is to gain super profits. Because of this many countries have to undergird their economic and political systems with the prescribed ethos and mechanisms used by countries under such system. In the early 1990s new vocabularies emerged like trade liberalization, deregulation, privatization and labour market flexibility which are characterized by people’s movements as the evils of the neo-liberal capitalist market economy.

Trade Liberalization is the removal of or reduction in the trade practices that thwart free flow of goods and services from one nation to another. It includes dismantling of tariff (such as duties, surcharges, and export subsidies) as well as non-tariff barriers (such as licensing regulations, quotas, and arbitrary standards). Deregulation is the removal or simplification of government rules and regulations that constrain the operation of market forces. Deregulation does not mean elimination of laws against fraud, but eliminating or reducing government control of how business is done, thereby moving toward a more free market. Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector (government) to the private sector ("business"). In a broader sense, privatization refers to transfer of any government function to the private sector - including governmental functions like revenue collection and law enforcement. The term "privatization" also has been used to describe two unrelated transactions. The first is a buyout, by the majority owner, of all shares of a public corporation or holding company's stock, privatizing a publicly traded stock, and often described as private equity. The second is a demutualization of a mutual organization or cooperative to form a joint stock company.

Labour market flexibility. In the past, the most common definition of labour market flexibility was the neo-liberal definition. This entailed the ease of labour market institutions in enabling labour markets to reach a continuous equilibrium determined by the intersection of the demand and supply curve. In the words of Siebert labour market institutions were seen to inhibit "the clearing functions of the market by weakening the demand for labor, making it less attractive to hire a worker by explicitly pushing up the wage costs or by introducing a negative shadow price for labor; by distorting the labor supply; and by impairing the equilibrating function of the market mechanism (for instance, by influencing bargaining behavior).”

These prescribed ethos and mechanism of the neo-liberal capitalist market driven economic system enable governments and national and transnational corporations to reduce tariffs on all imported products and in some cases governments offer tax holidays to investors. Labourers are losing job security and social security benefits, unionized labour lost their genuine bargaining power and many other adverse effects on the life of the people. The worst that can happen to labourers is to be unemployed or opt to become irregular/contractual workers. Although at the surface we can see manifestations of improved quality of life among South Koreans, but digging deeper into the social structure we can see glaring evidences of oppression, exploitation and misery especially of those at the bottom of the social structure.

b) Life of people at the margins of society and their resistance

Irregular workers
There are many ways to view quality of life in society, but what will be focused here is on job security or job tenure as a means of sustainable life; adequate social services like access to affordable housing facility and health care, affordable education for children and youth; respect for rights and equity of women, refugees and migrants and other marginalized sectors of society. To elucidate on these let me share some short stories of persons who were caught into different incidents situations that presents the tip of the social realities of people living in the fringes of society. Irregular employment has become a common situation for many people in the country. More than eight million (8,000,000+) Koreans are having irregular employment. Through this labor arrangement companies are allowed to hire people on a temporary basis for not less than two years. Thereafter workers can either be given regular or permanent jobs or are terminated. The irregular workers have suffered a lot due to low wages and lack of health and social security benefits.

The story of the workers of Kiryung Electronics in the district of Guru, Seoul showed that for 1,080 days had their hunger strike protesting against the illegal termination as irregular workers. There were 250 workers who first staged the strike against this company for more than three years (2005-2008) for the main reason that before their employment contract ended they were terminated, an act opted by both local and international companies of not making temporary workers become regular workers. In August 2008 there were only thirty five (35) remaining workers on strike and the two (2) remaining workers were on hunger strike for more than seventy days (70) and were in danger of losing their lives for the just cause they’ve been struggling for--- a regular job at Kiryung Electronics Company. The Kiryung labour union made representation to the mother company in the United States but nobody from Sirius Electronics Company ever tried to meet them.

Unemployed youth
The Korean youth employment rate was 27%, which was much lower in comparison to other OECD member countries in 2007. The average youth employment rate of OECD member countries was 46%, so the 19% difference in the employment rate of Korean youth is alarming. The number of Korean employees under 30 years old is also decreasing. Job seekers from 15 to 19 years old accounted for 48,000 in the unemployment statistics and ages 20 to 29 accounted for 133,000. These statistics in November 2008 shows that the youth unemployment rate for these ages is higher than any other age groups.

The National Statistical Office (NSO) in January 6, 2010 estimated that 810,000 people are counted as formally unemployed and the number of people who are “effectively unemployed” is being calculated at some 3.3 million. Furthermore the NSO claimed that the 819,000 people who are counted as unemployed as of Nov. 2009 represent an increase of 69,000 from the year before. In addition to the formally unemployed, there is another 2.474 million people who belong to the category of the effectively unemployed, including 561,000 students preparing for employment. With this data at hand, the government could not prioritize through legislation the employment of youth. The unreasonable demand of big corporations for appropriate skills for employment entrants has been too much for the youth to comply with. Even with the government’s youth internship program, many young people are doubly burdened with the cost of additional training they have to shoulder just to land a job. College graduates who would want immediate employment opted to get into irregular employment or get into internship program instead of waiting for regular jobs to come their way. The training aspect or the so called on-the-job training is getting unpopular in society. Less money is spent by employers for training the youth while holding regular jobs.

Dislocated residents and urban poor people
The rapid industrialization in South Korea has resulted in urbanization and redevelopment plan especially in Seoul Metropolitan City. For more than two decades now, the government had been aggressively relocating residential areas to give way to high rise apartment buildings, corporate offices, shopping malls, and others. Development aggression is a continuing experience to so many people especially among the low-income Seoul City residents. In a contested redevelopment project in Yongsan District, low income dwellers resisted demolition of their homes and fought hard to maintain their homes and livelihood in the area. But police power was used to stop their opposition.

Six lives were lost, five protesting residents of Yongsan District and a policeman in the height of fierce resistance against Seoul City’s redevelopment plan on January 20, 2009. On July 20, six months after, the residents of Yongsan commemorated the demise of the five residents. Their bodies were brought to a place near the Seoul City Hall for people to pay their last respects and to remind the Lee Myung-Bak government that justice has not been met out for the five demised Yongsan protesters. It can be recalled that in the early morning of January 20, 2009 an empty building in Yongsan area, central Seoul, was occupied by some 50 protesters who had been forcibly thrown out of their living places under yet one more redevelopment project. They occupied the building to bring their desperate situation to public’s attention and to oppose the brutal urban redevelopment projects of the large companies favored by the government. But three and a half hours after their initial occupation of the building, the government deployed 1,600 policemen, riot teams and even police commandos and positioned four water-cannon vehicles around the building for round-up arrest operation.

Without negotiation and without mercy, treating the protesters as outlaws the police began to violently disperse the protesters. In the course of the violent action by the police and the protesters’ fierce resistance, fire suddenly blazed in the building. In the end five protesters and a policeman died and a number of people were injured. Since the building was heavily guarded by hundreds of police, nobody could escape the building. Just nineteen days after the accident, the prosecution announced the result of the investigation, blaming the protesters for the tragic deaths; the prosecutor’s office indicted 20 protesters for causing the fire and hurting police officers. Soon after the prosecution’s decision was released, many civilians, NGOs and religious groups including the National Council of Churches in Korea (NCCK) and the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea (PROK) urged the government to re-investigate the case, reveal the truth, and heal the pain of the victim families. The remains of the victims were finally interred late last year but the scars of the fateful night of violent clash with the police operatives on the rooftop of that building left an indelible mark in the hearts and minds of the families of victims and the society.

Migrant workers
Another situation is the increasing number of foreign migrant workers from many countries in Asia such as China, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Mongolia and others. It is estimated that not less than 600,000 foreign workers are in the country out of the more than one million foreign population. Migrant workers came to the country in early 1990’s to seek employment in the 3D jobs (dirty, difficult, dangerous). The government’s labor ministry had introduced the trainee system that allowed small and medium scale factories to hire unskilled foreign workers and were considered trainees who should acquire particular skills.

Due to the exploitative scheme of the trainee system and it increased the number of undocumented migrant workers, the Employment Permit System (EPS) was introduced in 2004 to replace the trainee system. Most migrant workers work for long hours averaging from 10-12 hours a day. Their salaries are pegged at the minimum wage ranging from 800-900 thousand won per month, and there are those who do not have regular day-off, or vacation leave. The migrant workers human rights are often violated by their employers and supervisors and even by their Korean co-workers.

Churches and NGOs have established migrant workers center to provide social services and protect the rights of migrant workers. Recently the Ministry of Justice through the Bureau of Immigration issued a memo on voluntary departure of undocumented migrant workers enticing them for possible return to South Korea after 3 three years. In a similar vein, the National Police Agency also issued a memo on intensified clampdown on migrant workers for the purpose of eradicating crimes committed by foreigners and in view of the preparation for the hosting of G-20 Summit in November 2010. Several hundreds of migrant workers have already been deported since last month. The clampdown, criminalization and deportation scheme of the government has been meet consistently by various migrant workers organizations, trade unions and supporters with undulating protests actions such as demonstrations at immigration offices, signature campaigns, and other forms.

Marriage migrants
Anent this is the growing number of women marriage migrants who have come to the country and married Korean men. This is a phenomenon that came out of the depopulation of rural areas, the fast ageing population and the low birthrates for the last two decades. The claimed homogenous Korean ethnicity is becoming a thing of the past because children from inter-marriage of Korean men and women marriage migrant are increasing. Women marriage migrants rights have been violated and mostly by immediate family members. This group in society needs protection of their rights and access to social services.

Solidarity for justice and peace
The stories of people in the underside of Korean society are testimonies of the growing economic, political, social and cultural divisions in society. However, the unquenchable flame of hope for a better life will sustain various forms of resistance people living in the underside of society have initiated in their communities and organizations. There is a high level of political consciousness among the marginalized people and their critical analysis of society and the global community has empowered them to resist the government’s oppressive policies. We can forge our solidarity with the marginalized people through the understanding of their concerns, issues, participate in their struggles and firm up the hope for a just and peaceful society and world.

CLARIFYING AND SYNTHESIZING
Processes: This part is for good for 20 minutes. Participants may ask clarifications on the presentation and will assist in the coming up with a synthesis/summary through new insights and perspectives of the life of people in the underside of South Korean society.

ECUMENICAL CHALLENGES TO THE 9TH UCCP GENERAL ASSEMBLY

2010-06-07T13:00:00.004+09:00

Statement from International and Ecumenical Partners and
UCCP Mission Co-Workers

We thank the 9th Quadrennial General Assembly for the events and activities that have fed our faith. We value the themes of the General Assembly, because these are just as relevant to all of us as they are specifically to the UCCP. We commend UCCP for your human rights, justice and peace and environmental commitment, and to living out your faith in the Philippines context. We honour the memory of the many victims of human rights violations, and the courage of the UCCP for your integrity and living out the gospel in these difficult times.

We rejoice in being part of the worldwide body of Christ, and are very thankful for the hospitality and sharing during our time here in Dumaguete.

We wish to affirm the sources of your discernment – the Holy Scriptures, the UCCP Statement of Faith, prayer, and sensing the presence of the Holy Spirit as it guides and leads us.

LISTENING AND REFLECTING

We have reflected together in our groups, on the present ecological crisis in the Philippines and in the world, and also on the current human rights situation. These critical times are manifested in the continuing destruction of the environment, the plunder of the natural resources and the deepening poverty and militarisation directed against those who are simply affirming human dignity, and those who are resisting this neo-liberal globalisation.

There is serious divergence of understanding the mission of God in these critical days. However we affirm that we are all part of the same Body of Christ. The gospel calls us to work together – there is one faith, one baptism, one Lord and saviour of us all. We should all work together on pursuing the programs of the next Quadrennium. This calls us to seek the way forward together; to be in dialogue with each other and listen seriously to each other; and in every way to be at peace with each other.

To be obedient to God’s will is to persist in the discernment process, and allow the agenda of God to flow within the Church. We joyfully celebrate the working of the Holy Spirit even outside the institutionalized Church. Sometimes we do not know which direction the wind will blow, but we need to be a responsive Church; as the wind of the Spirit will blow where it will like “a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night”. The Spirit is always ahead of us and always knows the context in which we work the best of all.

CHALLENGES

We encourage you to continue to strengthen your programs for peace and justice, the protection of human rights; support of migrant workers; ecological justice and sustaining our ecumenical partnerships and solidarity.

Let us journey together under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. There are things to let go of, and there are new things to embrace. We have confidence that God, who makes all things new and who is the giver of life in abundance, will continue to lead us all.

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. That UCCP continue to support those UCCP members and others, who are direct victims of human rights abuses.

2. That UCCP continue to support those members who face harassment, illegal arrest, abduction, and continue to live in fear.

3. That UCCP continues to campaign to stop the extra judicial killings in the Philippines.

4. That UCCP continues to do all it can to seek the unconditional release of the Morong 43.

5. That UCCP commits to continue to update it’s ecumenical partners on the human rights situation in the Philippines.

6. That UCCP seriously considers its own personal use of bio-degradable containers and packages. (Plastics and Styrofoam are immortal and infinite and cause pollution and pose health hazards. The use of plastics or the combination of plastic and aluminium packages for food and other products should be minimised).

7. That UCCP encourage the establishment of a nursery for tree seedling or wildlings in home, church yards and places which are made available for tree planting purposes.

8. That UCCP members consume healthy and locally produced farm products. (It has been observed that food served to General Assembly delegates are characteristic f the scarcity of locally grown vegetables and locally sourced marine products eg. fish and others)

9. That UCCP cease to consume Nestle products. (It has been observed that here in the General Assembly Nescafe instant coffee and creamer has been served as drink during meals, especially at breakfast and coffee break. In solidarity with the exploited and struggling Nestle workers, and the environment, and our own bodies.)

10. That UCCP sustain their advocacy for the abrogation of the Philippines Mining Act of 1995 to protect the national patrimony and support the people’s campaign against trans and multinational mining corporations.

11. That UCCP continue to advocate and support scientific research dealing with bio-diversity and sustainable alternatives for agricultural production of marginalized farmers.

Dated this 28th May, 2010

Ms. Jillian Linda Ruzbacky Rev. Rod Dyson
Uniting Church of Australia Uniting Church of Australia
Social Justice Officer & International Mission Unit Moderator, Synod of South Australia

Dr. Rommel Linatoc Ms. Rebecca Lawson
National Council of Churches in the Philippines PC-USA Mission Co-Worker with UCCP

Rev. Dakila Quezon Rev. Kim Yeo Jong
Iglesia Unida Ekumenikal PCK Missionaries Working With UCCP

Dr. Fidon Mwombeki Rev. Park Kwang Nam
United Evangelical Mission (UEM) PCK Missionaries Working With UCCP
General Secretary

Dr. Levi Oracion Ms. Miriam Flick
UCC- USA & Church of Christ (Disciples) UEM Ecumenical Intern

Ms. Krystal Sheremeta
Rev. Han Kyoung Gyun United Church of Canada Ecumenical Intern
Presbyterian Church of Korea
Mission Co- Worker to UCCP

Ms. Annika Sputh
UEM Ecumenical Intern

Rev. Kim Kwang Wook
PCK Missionaries Working With UCCP

Mr. Khethi Vanlalchuanga
Mizoram, India

Rev. Park Dong Kwon
PCK Missionaries Working With UCCP

Rev. Frank Hernando
UCCP Mission Co-Worker with PROK

Mr. Cobbie Palm
PC-USA Mission Co-Worker to UCCP

Rev. Gloria Hernando
UCCP Mission Co-Worker with PROK

Mr. Pastor Galang, Jr.
UCCP Mission Co-Worker with PCK

Rev. Frederick Carmelo
UCCP Mission Co-Worker with PCK

Rev. Cesar Taguba
Europe

Rev. Rannieh Mercado
UCCP Mission Co-Worker with UEM

Rev. Chung Hae Dong
PROK Mission Co-Worker with UCCP

Rev. Bae Tae-Jin
Presbyerian Church of the Rep[ublic of Korea
General Secretary

STOP CRACKDOWN OF MIGRANT WORKERS IN SOUTH KOREA

2010-05-20T23:55:00.001+09:00

STOP CRIMINALIZATION, CRACKDOWN AND REPRESSION OF MIGRANT WORKERS!

The Unity of Filipino Migrant Workers in Korea or KASAMMAKO denounces the criminalization, intensified crackdown and repression of migrant workers in South Korea. The Korean government has used the visa status of migrant workers especially the undocumented migrant workers as a scapegoat in launching the anti-terrorism campaign in view of the government’s hosting of the G-20 Summit in November this year. There had been a mapping of areas where migrant workers live and work and the immigration police have raided many factories, carrying with them search warrants for identified factories.

As of May 16, there were already thirty two (32) Filipino migrant workers nabbed by the Immigration police last week few days after the Ministry of Justice announced the conduct intensified crackdown on May 4, 2010. The Filipino migrant workers are among the hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrant workers which are target of cleaning-up of criminals in the country, a xenophobic response that violates the fundamental human rights of migrant workers and all foreigners working and living in the country. Migrant workers of coloured race are doubly prejudiced because they can be easily identified such as the South and Southeast Asians, Africans and Chinese are the targets of the crackdown, in comparison to the fair skinned Caucasians from North America, Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

The National Police Agency on May 4, 2010 announced through a press statement that they have also started the "G-20 Preemptive Response" beginning May 2nd. They have stated that as the foreign population increases in the country so do the crime rate committed by foreigners. The National Police Agency has started the conduct of special investigations in areas where there is a high concentration of foreigners. The investigation will continue for fifty days (50) on the national level while for Seoul region the investigation will be for two weeks.

Since majority of the foreign population in Seoul metropolitan area are 75% Chinese. It is founded that the target for arrests are primarily these ethnic groups. Areas specific to one nationality are classified as target areas such as the following: the Chinese in Yeoungdungpo, Guro and Guemcheon areas, Mongolians in Junggu specifically the Mongolian town in Gwanghuidong; the Vietnamese in Seongdonggu, Geumcheongu and Seongbukgu; Russians and Uzbeks in Junggu, especially the Russian Street in Gwanghuidong. Finally, the Nigerians in Yongsan and Itaewon.

According to their press release the target of their investigation and eventual deportation are the following: foreigners who are suspects in a crime; foreigners who are in possession of deadly weapons (e.g. knives, etc.); foreigners who have pending arrest warrants; sex workers and their costumers and the undocumented migrant workers. The statement as well disclosed that raids on houses and work places of foreigners would be done both day and night in identified areas as well as random street checking of the foreign nationals.

Although the government through the Ministry of Justice has advertised that the period of intensified crackdown on undocumented migrant workers and foreigners will begin on June 1st and will last until August 31, 2010, several hundreds of migrant workers have already been arrested and waiting for deportation to their home countries. The enticement of the government for voluntary departure comprise of these: all migrant workers who voluntarily leave Korea within this period will not be penalized for overstaying and will be exempted from a 5-year immigration ban in Korea. They will be able to take the Korean language test and reapply for work in Korea through the Employment Permit System (EPS). The employers are also encouraged to surrender their undocumented workers so that they can be exempted from paying the fine of up to 20 million won. They will also be able to hire EPS workers that would replace their lost manpower.

KASAMMAKO calls on President Lee Myung-Bak to immediately STOP THE CRACKDOWN on migrant workers. The continuance of this immigration strategy is a violation of the United Nations International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. It will further alienate South Korea from the migrant workers who have contributed in sustaining the economic development of the country. It will also aggravate the condition of the weakening productivity of the small and medium scale enterprises.

We denounce the militarist approach of resolving labour and immigration issues. Migrant workers regardless of their visa status have been working in the country as productive forces and have been contributing to the national economic development, but they are treated with suspicion as common criminals and are racially discriminated. The use of police power to reduce the number of undocumented migrant workers and foreigners in preparation for the G-20 Summit in Korea would widen the racial divide and will intensify xenophobia among Korean citizens and will result in racial motivated conflicts.

KASAMMAKO demands for the legalization of undocumented migrant workers. The increase of number of undocumented migrant workers is consequent of the faulty labor Employment Permit System (EPS). The EPS must be change to new labor arrangement that would ensure the respect of rights of migrants and equal protection under the law.

We call on the Philippine government especially the Philippine Embassy in Seoul to actively monitor the every detention center around the country for Filipino migrant workers processed for deportation in need of assistance such the speedy issuance of travel documents, provide shelter and basic subsistence for those who are forced to leave their jobs for fear of their employers of possible penalty for hiring them.

We call on all migrant workers network, concerned institutions, and individuals around the world to similarly denounce this ongoing crackdown, criminalization and repression of migrant workers and foreigners in South Korea.

MR. POL PAR
Chairperson
KASAMMAKO
Seoul, South Korea

Overseas Absentee Voting Partial Result from Seoul, Korea

2010-05-12T14:56:00.003+09:00

PHILIPPINE MAY 10, 2010 NATIONAL ELECTIONS
OVERSEAS ABSENTEE VOTING
Seoul, South Korea

1.The Overseas Absentee Voting started on April 10 to May 10, 2010.

2.There is an estimate of more than 10,000 registered voters out of over 60,000 Filipinos in South mostly migrant workers and several thousands of marriage migrants.

3.The turn-out of voters is only 1,298 out of the over 10,000 registered voters scattered all over the country.

4.The figures collected were taken from the canvass of votes from the three voting precincts 1, 2, and 3 at the Philippine Embassy where the OAV was conducted.
5.Voters came to the Philippine Embassy in Itaewon, Seoul during the election period. Unlike in the past elections, voting was held in few other places in South Korea, but this time there is no other choice but to cast your vote in the Philippine Embassy in Seoul.

6.Only the names of candidates with significant number of votes and with political significance have been outlined here.

______________________________________________
Names of candidates: Total Number of votes:
______________________________________________
President:
1. Aquino, B. III................... 651
2. Estrada, J........................ 62
3. Gordon, ..........................108
4. Teodoro ..........................104
5. Villanueva, E. ...................253
7. Villar, M. .......................105

Vice-President:
1.Binay ...........................226
2.Fernando, B. .......................83
3.Legarda, L. ........................92
4.Sonza, J. ..........................65
5.Roxas, M ..........................665
6.Yasay .............................142

Party-List of Progressive Sectors
1.ACT-Teacher....................... 21
2.Anakpawis .........................27
3.Bayan Muna ........................57
4.Gabriela ..........................49

Senator:
1.Bello, S......................... 87
2.Biazon ..........................458
3.Cayetano ........................637
4.De Venecia ......................382
5.Defensor- Santiago ..............498
6.Drilon ..........................819
7.Enrile ......................... 583
8.Guingona ........................545
9.Hontiveros ......................475
10.Lapid.......................... 171
11.Marcos .........................428
12.Osmena, Serge ..................539
13.Recto.......................... 602
14.Remulla ........................312
15.Revilla ........................530
16.Sotto ..........................437
17.Maza, Liza..................... 174
18.Ocampo, Satur ..................213
______________________

7.The conduct of OAV at the Philippine Embassy was smooth on the last day of election on May 10, 2010. The fact is there were more or less thirty (30) persons who voted on the last day of voting. There were two late voters who failed to vote because they came at 9:50 p.m. when the voting had already closed at 8:00 p.m. They said that they’ve got the information that the voting time will last until 10:00 p.m. on May 10. Immediately after 8:00 p.m. the unused official ballots were destroyed with the use of paper cutter. Manual counting of votes started from 12:05 midnight May 11, with precinct 3 to close last at 8:05 p.m. same day or the maximum duration of around 20 hours.

Report Submitted by:
Frank J. Hernando, Poll and Canvass Watcher for Gabriela Women’s Party, Seoul, Korea
May 12, 2010.

SOUTH KOREA OVERSEAS ABSENTEE VOTING BEGINS

2010-04-09T10:41:00.002+09:00

OVERSEAS ABSENTEE VOTING ELECTION PERIOD
10 April-8:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.
11 April-9 May
Mon-Fri: 9:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.
Sunday: 9:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.
Saturday: by appointment
10 May, Monday 9:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m.
Venue: Philippine Embassy Building
Address: 5-1 Itaewon-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul
--------------------------------------
Sponsored by:
KATIPUNAN NG MGA SAMAHAN NG MIGRANTENG MANGGAGAWA-KOREA
(KASAMMA-KO)
Email: kasammako.mig@gmail.com

Welcome the Newness of Life

2010-04-03T22:00:00.002+09:00

Luke 24:1-12
24But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. 2They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3but when they went in, they did not find the body. 4While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. 5The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. 6Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” 8Then they remembered his words, 9and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. 10Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. 11But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.

REFLECTION

The biblical Easter Day narrative is like an old, old story or classic being retold every year and for Christians around the world they would not pass the day without hearing the story of the resurrection of Jesus. Re-reading the resurrection narrative in the Gospel of Luke enables us to hear the story once again in view of the contemporary life situations where we live and have our being. Both in our personal and social life there are many circumstances that relate with the resurrection event.

The women in the life of Jesus were mourning for the gruesome events that took place three days prior and early on the third day, the first day of week they have to follow the customs of bringing herbs to the tomb to use for the dead body of the departed loved one. When we try to feel with the Mary Magdalene, Joanna and Mary the mother of James on their way to the tomb, we can empathize with them for the death of most loved family member, a relative or friend. Aside from the sadness there was the fear and trembling on the Roman authorities who may be watching over the tomb and would somehow arrest them or tell them not to come close to the tomb. But they were determined to do what ought to be done in that particular situation, asserting their right to be in the tomb of a loved one.

Few meters away they saw that the tomb where Jesus was laid was already opened and suspicion that Jesus’ body was taken away by robbers or by the Roman soldiers, they were terrified and was at a loss of what they have to do in case their suspicion was true. However while they were there perplexed seeing an opened tomb, they saw visions of angels in dazzling white, a metaphysical mysterious experience that the seers may have some doubts of what they seeing but it must had been a blinding light. The presence of the supernatural is always accompanied by a dazzling or blinding light and then with tremors of nature, then the deity will speak to the seers. “Why do look for the living among the dead? He is not here, he has risen…” Why would the women and all the disciples remained in grief and disbelief when they had the assurance of the resurrection? Jesus brought back to life Lazarus, but now that he is dead who will resurrect him from the dead? Nobody. A God whom Jesus called “Father” was a distant God for the disciples. It was only on Jesus’ resurrection that there is somebody else other than Jesus. The disciples were not easy to belief in this event.

Everyday we are faced with the reality of physical or biological extinction, for we know that when we die, that’s the end of our mortal existence, our bodies can be buried in the ground and go to the process of natural decomposition or our bodies can be turned into ashes by cremation. Our fear of the unknown is always justified, but our faith in what God can do even after our biological extinction and the promise of a Jesus’ like resurrection can overcome our fear of death. I think this is the relevance of Jesus resurrection from the dead. God has overcome the power of death and darkness on Easter Day and it is an every minute of the day experience for all those who have faith.

I was awakened in the middle of the night by the call of my friends outside the gate telling me that the church building of UCCP Iloilo City was razed by fire. With fear and trembling I and Gloria rushed to see the burning church building and my heart melted like wax as the thick smoke hovered and the huge red-golden fire consumed the whole church building. On the side walk were many people gathered I looked for the pastor and her family and the young people who lodged at the church dormitory. I was relieved to see them all safe. The church has to be rebuilt, not just the building but the church people themselves. The more than one hundred years old community of faith had to start all over again. The process of rebuilding was daunting and to see the church relocated in a new site and new physical facilities was an experience of resurrection.

We ought not to despair in death. We should always have faith for newness of life that God provides through Jesus Christ.

HAPPY EASTER TO ALL!

GOOD FRIDAY REFLECTIONS

2010-04-02T13:00:00.002+09:00

REFLECTION
It mustn’t be long enough for Jesus to suffer the shameful crucifixion at Mount Golgotha and he finally died of exhaustion and loss of blood. While hanging on the cross in between the two other convicts he uttered at least seven sentences or words that described fully his humanity and relationship with the God whom he called “Father”. In John’s Gospel the narrative of the minutes after his death is detailed in this manner:
Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who had been crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out (Jn 19:32-24).

The Roman soldiers in order to make sure that the execution is total they had to break the legs and piercing of the side of the body with a spear. The very act of piercing on the side would make a fatal wound on the stomach, liver and the heart. Death becomes inescapable. They made sure he was killed. Gintipok gid nila sya in Ilonggo language while gitiwasan gyud nila siya in Cebuano. Tagalog expression would use sya ay pinatay/pinaslang nila. In the three Filipino languages the act of killing is intention of killing somebody, which we may say premeditation. What is uglier in the act of killing or murder in the Filipino mind is that first the victim has been fatally wounded but without mercy has been killed- gitiwasan or gintipok gid sya.

The more than 800 persons who were killed extrajudicially by government security operatives and the hundreds who have been desaparacedos during the incumbency of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in connivance with the fascist police and military commanders are fiercest than that of the Roman imperial soldiers. The grim reality in Philippine society is always as it had been a Good Friday and not so much of Easter Sunday. The poor and struggling masses of people are kept hanging on the cross and the soldiers continually use their brute means of killing those who resist or may want to escape death.

Good Friday can only be good for the more than 60 million poor Filipinos when the government would allow Easter Day to come. However, the moral bankruptcy of the government will never allow Easter Day to come. The Church especially the Catholic Church in the Philippines as the harbinger of Christian hope for salvation especially social emancipation must do beyond what it is doing right now to proclaim the coming of Easter Day, the historical era when the majority of the Filipino people have a government that institutes social justice and punish those who have squandered the resources of the nation, those who have commandeered the extrajudicial killings and arrested those who raised dissent to the monumental human rights violations. Only then that the nation can truly live in Easter Day.

Maundy Thursday Reflections

2010-04-01T19:06:00.002+09:00

1. Every Maundy Thursday comes many things come to mind. For ten years of pastoring in Iloilo City UCCP Maundy Thursday is the day when the communion table is moved from the elevated chancel to the nave of the same level of the pews in front of the pews or put in the center and the pews are arranged in a semi-circle. In my mind it signifies God’s accessibility to the world and Christ incarnation and humility. There were regular attendees to Maundy Thursday service every year. With a congregation with less than 200 members and only 40 percent regularly comes to church, the less people attending the Maundy Thursday service the more the ambience becomes dreary and Jesus’ experience of betrayal and desertion becomes real as the service tapers in the dimming of lights. Immediately after the service, the sorrowful music from the band accompanying the Maundy Thursday procession of the nearby parish of the Philippine Independent Church grew louder as it passed by the church along Delgado Street.

2. All of these episodes were in the backdrop of the Feast of the Passover a Jewish celebration commemorating Israel’s freedom from the bondage of slavery in the hands of the Egyptians. It was such a great celebration during the time of Jesus because the Roman officers would release some prisoners especially those who were sentenced to die by crucifixion, the equivalent of capital punishment in contemporary times. It was also the same occasion when Jesus gathered his disciples for dinner. John disclosed that Jesus already knew that God has determined that he has to depart and go to the Father and that Judas has as well determined to betray him. That very night Jesus made the Passover meal very dramatic such as the washing of the disciples’ feet and the last supper.

3. The drama in the life of Jesus that occupies the celebration of Maundy Thursday is filled with contemporary issues and concerns. First is the washing of feet of the disciples in the Gospel of John tells of the necessity to practice humility and not just think about it. Interestingly Peter wish not to be washed and later wanted to be washed on the head and feet and Jesus told him that humility is about servanthood and not about cleaning somebody else’s dirt. The washing of the disciple’s feet excluding their heads and their arms shows that servanthood that Jesus represents is one that enables the disciples to walk in the grace of God, rather than thinking and feeling superior to those whom they serve.

4. The Last Supper is another dramatic episode of Maundy Thursday wherein Jesus supped with the disciples in an upper room and where the conversation of betrayal took place. The episode shows that Jesus was telling them that he is sent by God, meaning the Savior. However he knows that all of the disciples have their doubts and some have really doubts and that doubts would lead one to betray him. The last supper was the moment of truth for Jesus and the disciples. It was the moment when Jesus has to face the fiercest human predicament, treachery, violence, greed and death. He was shaken, but his fears was allayed by his connection with God and a firm faith that even in this direst moments, freedom, peace and love will be birthed.

A Letter to a Friend Journeying to the Light: In Memory of Carmen Rio

2010-03-31T14:50:00.001+09:00

Dear Tita Carmen,

There were many Sundays in your life, but you have chosen a particular Sunday to come and attend our worship service in that UCCP Iloilo City church in Delgado Street. You said that you made a resolve the day before Sunday that you would try to experience once again the ambience of a church service similar to what you had experienced in your student life at Silliman University. That was a new beginning for you—meeting old friends, establishing new ones and getting into the life of the local church. You have indeed made a difference in your involvement in the local church.

You are not just a church member, you have been a loving and caring friend to us and you called us by our names Frank and Glo. Our friendship is one that allows us to grow and be nurtured by your generosity. You always think of many special things you can do for those you love and for your friends. You see, on that church luncheon, you brought three kilos of grapes, and the poor kids who came to the church, had the chance to eat those sweet grapes laid on the table. You told us also that you want to be of service to the poor, but you could not be Mother Theresa. You are just Carmen Rio, a mother and a Christian. You know what you can do and you have the unmatched exuberance in spite of your physical limitation.

The many times we sat around your dinner table are heartwarming to recall. As we always reminded you that it’s not the food but the cordial spirit and gentle conversation among those who sat at table that matters most. Oh yeah, we laugh together when we were eating a bowl of malunggay soup, because you told us about that high-hat Filipino-American woman who pretends not to eat it, but her guest discovered she had just eaten a meal with malunggay because a green malunggay leaf still sticks on her teeth.

The many occasions that we had converse with you in your cozy sala were filled with new discoveries and realizations that human beings are indeed connected to each other and that there is an inescapable common desire for love, respect, acceptance and peace. Whenever we’re in your sala, we forget not to see the layers of picture frames on the bookshelf and your conspicuous portrait on the wall. Those pictures are your masterpieces of art, telling their own stories—the joys, the pains, the aspirations, the anguish and hopes for the future. On all those pictures shone the light of eternity.

We thank God for bringing you to us. You are a wonderful friend, Tita Carmen. Our hearts feel sad that you have to go this early. However, we look forward to seeing you again. This hope makes us happy.

In your journey to the light, we wish you a meaningful sojourn. Take good care.

Sincerely yours,

Frank and Gloria Hernando
Seoul, South Korea
December 9, 2009

Statement of the World Council of Churches on Morong-43

2010-02-18T13:28:00.001+09:00

Letter on the abduction of church and health workers in the Philippines

To:
President
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
Office of the President
The Philippines

Geneva, 11 February 2010

Your Excellency,

It is with deep concern that the World Council of Churches (WCC) received a report of the arrest of Dr Alex Montes, a church worker for the United Churches of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) and official of the Community Medicine Development Foundation as well as 42 other health workers by the Philippines Army and the Philippine National Police.

I am distressed by the reported news that the detainees have been subjected to cruel and inhumane treatment amounting to torture and that they have been deprived of their basic human rights while in custody. Dr Alex Montes, a committed church worker has been a long-time staff of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, which is a member of the WCC world-wide fellowship of churches. The WCC has a strong association with the UCCP and its leadership and in that capacity I am familiar with the activities of the church. Dr Montes who served as the coordinator of the Health Mission of the Christian Witness and Service programme of the UCCP was instrumental in developing community-based health programmes of the UCCP Visayas Community Medical Center in Cebu City. It is therefore more than unfortunate that Dr Alex Montes’ and his coworkers were arrested and detained while they were involved in legitimate activities of humanitarian services as part of their Christian witness.

In these circumstances, Your Excellency, the WCC calls for the respect of the human rights of Dr Alex Montes and the 42 other detained health workers, including their rights to legal counsel, access to visitors, and due process, as guaranteed by the Philippines Constitution and international human rights Instruments to which the Philippines is a signatory. I urge the authorities to ensure the immediate release of Dr Montes and his co-workers.

Yours faithfully,

Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit
General secretary
World Council of Churches

cc:
Atty. Agnes Devanadera, Secretary, Department of Justice
HE Norberto Gonzales, Secretary, Department of National Defense
Atty. Leila De Lima, Chairperson, Commission on Human Rights
Bishop Eliezer M. Pascua, General Secretary, UCCP
Gen. Avelino Razon, Ret. PNP, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process

Statement of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP)

2010-02-18T13:22:00.000+09:00

NATIONAL COUNCIL OF CHURCHES IN THE PHILIPPINES
February 9, 2010

PRESS STATEMENT

Free the 43 Health Workers

The National Council of Churches in the Philippines expresses extreme alarm over the arrest and continued detention of forty three health workers who participated in a training conducted by a non-government organization, the Council for Health and Development. Reports say they were arrested in Morong, Rizal on February 6 in the residence of Dr. Melicia Velmonte.?Since their arrest, they have been denied visits of relatives and friends. It was only through the intervention this morning of Commissioner Leila de Lima of the Commission on Human Rights that some of the relatives were able to see their loved ones. Reports said that the detainees were tortured. The detained health workers include Dr. Alexis Montes, a member and former national health program coordinator of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines. Dr. Montes was a member of the NCCP’s Commission on Faith, Witness and Service at one time. A news report stated the AFP accused Dr. Montes as a member of a special unit of the New People’s Army (NPA) formed to liquidate General Jovito Palparan.

This latest assault on human rights is a manifestation of a dysfunctional system claiming democracy yet denying basic rights to its citizens. It is a system where warlords are entitled their rights if not coddled by the powers that be while members of NGOs and people's organizations are not. It is a system where those who cause people's pain are allowed their maximum day in court and are even set free while those who ease the people’s pain are labeled members of the NPA, leftists, communists, ad infinitum, arrested and tortured then denied any right, constitutional or otherwise.

Such is the intention of the anti-insurgency policy of the state through Oplan Bantay Laya II. There can be no better ingredient for more social and political dissent than the brazen affront to human dignity like, illegal arrests and detention, extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances. The best ingredient to quell any further dissent is to resolve once and for all the festering issues of corruption, poor governance, agrarian unrest, development aggression and political degeneration that have confined the people in this republic in a state of misery and poverty.

We appeal to the authorities to release these health workers. With a dwindling budget for health, the least the government could do is to support non-government initiatives whose leaders and constituents, more often than not, represent the ideals of genuine community service and Christian selflessness. We also reiterate our call for the government to adopt and heed the recommendations of Prof. Philip Alston, the Special Rapporteur on extra judicial, summary or arbitrary executions, particularly to review its counter-insurgency program. Oplan Bantay Laya is an instrument for terror. It has no place in a democratic society.

To our partners around the world, please continue to uphold us in your prayers and be unceasing in your solidarity with us.

REV. REX RB REYES, JR.
General Secretary

Statement of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP)

2010-02-18T13:20:00.001+09:00

UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST IN THE PHILIPPINES
L.M. Vasquez Street, Malate, Manila
Tel. # (02) 536-8005; Email Add: uccpnaof@yahoo.com

Release Dr. Alexis Montes and other detained health workers!

“Freedom is what we have—Christ has set us free! Stand, then as free people and do not allow yourselves to become slaves again.” Galatians 5:1

Dr. Alexis Montes, a lay leader in the health ministry of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, is a victim of illegal arrest, disappearance and detention. The United Church of Christ in the Philippines resolutely calls for an end to de-facto martial law tactics on the part of the Armed Forces in the Philippines and the Philippine National Police. We call for the respect of the human rights of Dr. Alex Montes and the 42 other detained health workers, including their rights to legal counsel, access to visitors, and due process. The ludicrous allegation that Dr. Alex was involved in a bomb-making training is deplorable; Dr Alex is a respected leader in the healing ministry of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines. We stand united and call for his release!

In the early morning (6am) of February 6, 2010, Dr. Alexis (Alex) Montes was illegally arrested and detained by the 202nd Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army and the Rizal Philippine National Police. The Community Medical Foundation, Inc. (COMMED), where Dr. Alex Montes is currently employed, co-sponsored a First Responders Training for health workers in Morong, Rizal beginning February 1, 2010; Dr. Alex was assigned in the conducting of the training. Initial reports say that more than 300 military and police raided the retreat center at gunpoint. They arrested the 43 participants before even searching the premises. They later showed a shoddy search warrant for a certain Mario Condes as supposed basis for their raid. Dr. Alex was blindfolded and taken away in a military truck and we have not been able to confirm his whereabouts. It is suspected that Dr. Alex and the others are being held Camp Capinpin, Samaploc, Tanay, Rizal, but access has been denied to lawyers, family, colleagues and pastors who have tried to visit them.

The military alleges that the training was actually on bomb making. They claim to have found C4 explosives, a pistol, a revolver, three grenades, three Claymor mines and an improvised landmine. (Philippine Daily Inquirer, February 7, 2010) However, Dr. Melecia Velmonte who owns the retreat center where the training was being conducted asserted that the military had no witness to their search operations and would have easily planted the ammunitions. Dr. Velmonte also gave a lecture on infectious diseases at the training, but was not arrested with the other participants.

Dr. Alex Montes has been a long-time staff of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines. From 1988-2003, Dr. Montes served as the Health Ministries Coordinator of the Christian Witness and Service program of the UCCP. He also served as Executive Secretary of Bishop Elmer Bolocon from 2001-2002. Dr. Alex has been instrumental in the development of UCCP hospitals, but his passion as always been providing health services to the underprivileged. Dr. Alex Montes has helped develop the community-based health programs of many of our institutions. Immediately prior to his service with The Community Medical Foundation, Dr. Montes was developing community-based health programs of the UCCP Visayas Community Medical Center in Cebu City. He served as Assistant to the Administrator for Internal and External Programs and Projects from 2007-2009.

We appeal to your support through the following actions:• Pray that Dr. Alexis Montes and the other 42 health workers will be surfaced and released.
• Write a letter to the following addresses and appeal for due process of the 43 detained health workers and especially for Dr. Alex Montez, respected UCCP lay leader.

You may send your communications to:
H.E. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
President of the Republic
Malacañang Palace,
JP Laurel St., San Miguel
Manila Philippines
Voice: (+632) 564 1451 to 80
Fax: (+632) 742-1641 / 929-3968
Cell#: (+ 63) 919 898 4622 / (+63) 917 839 8462
E-mail: corres@op.gov.ph / opnet@ops.gov.ph

Gen. Avelino Razon, Ret. PNP
Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process
Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP)
7th Floor Agustin Building I
Emerald Avenue
Pasig City 1605
Voice:+63 (2) 636 0701 to 066
Fax:+63 (2) 638 2216
osec@opapp.gov.ph

Norberto Gonzales
Secretary, Department of National Defense
Room 301 DND Building, Camp Emilio Aguinaldo,
E. de los Santos Avenue, Quezon City
Voice:+63(2) 911-9281 / 911-0488
Fax:+63(2) 911 6213
Email: osnd@philonline.com

Atty. Agnes Devanadera
Secretary, Department of Justice
Padre Faura St., Manila
Direct Line 521-8344; 5213721
Trunkline 523-84-81 loc.214
Fax: (+632) 521-1614
Email: soj@doj.gov.ph

Atty. Leila De Lima
Chairperson, Commission on Human Rights
SAAC Bldg., UP Complex
Commonwealth Avenue
Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines
Voice: (+632) 928-5655, 926-6188
Fax: (+632) 929 0102
Email: chr.delima@yahoo.com

For Reference:
Bishop Eliezer M. Pascua
General Secretary
0917-8057167

Statement of Solidarity from the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea (PROK)

2010-02-18T13:17:00.002+09:00

18 February 2010

SOLIDARITY STATEMENT

“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick…”
Mark 2:17

The Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea (PROK) expresses solidarity to the forty three (43) health workers who were illegally arrested on February 6th while attending a seminar conducted by a non-government organization, the Council for Health and Development, in Morong town, Rizal province in the Philippines. The health workers were brought to Camp Capinpin, Rizal where they were detained and tortured. Since their arrest, they have been denied visits of relatives and friends. It was only through the intervention of Commissioner Leila de Lima of the Commission on Human Rights that some of the relatives were able to see their loved ones on Tuesday, February 9th. A writ of habeas corpus has been filed by the family members of the detained health workers in the Supreme Court.

The detained health workers include Dr. Alexis Montes, a member and former national health program coordinator of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines. The arrest, detention, torture and false accusations hurled on him are intended to malign the Christian commitment and service Dr. Alexis Montes has been giving to the poor, deprived and oppressed communities in the Philippine society.

In this situation of the 43 detained and tortured Filipino health workers, we assert the statement of Jesus Christ, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick…” which is an ethical assertion of attending to the health needs of the poor and sick people that these 43 health workers have unselfishly responded to. Therefore, we join the World Council of Churches, the Christian Conference of Asia, the National Council of Churches in the Philippines and our partner church the United Church of Christ in the Philippines in calling for the respect of the human rights of Dr. Alexis Montes and the 42 other detained health workers, including their rights to legal counsel, access to visitors, and due process, as guaranteed by the Philippines Constitution and international human rights instruments to which the Philippines is a signatory. We urge the authorities to ensure the immediate release of Dr Montes and his co-workers.

REV. BAE TAE-JIN
General Secretary
The Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea (PROK)

The Morong 43-Filipino Health Workers Become an International Concern

2010-02-18T13:11:00.002+09:00

In my previous blog, the statement of KASAMMAKO has decried the Philippine security forces for illegally arrested, detained and tortured the 43 health workers who were peacefully assembled in a farmhouse attending a seminar on health procedures in times of calamity. Today, in the Philippines daily inquirer webpage, inquirer.net mentioned the following and quoted here below:

18 February 2010.
Inquirer.net
Int’l outrage growing over ‘Morong 43’ case
By Alcuin Papa
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 03:58:00 02/18/2010

Filed Under: Human Rights, Torture, Military, Healthcare Providers, insurgency
MANILA, Philippines—International outrage over the arrest, detention and torture of the “Morong 43” is growing.

A Methodist delegation, led by Rev. Sandra Richards, said her congregation in the United States had expressed concern over the detention of the 43 health workers who were arrested on Feb. 6 in Morong, Rizal, on suspicion that they were communist rebels.

“The issue is already of international concern. We received an e-mail today from our General Board of Church and Society and they are expressing concern,” said Richards, who went to Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal to visit the detainees on Tuesday.
Richards also said that on Feb. 12, the World Council of Churches issued a statement requesting the immediate release of the 43 detainees. The World Council of Churches is a worldwide fellowship of 349 churches seeking unity in the Christian service.
Two presidential candidates in the May elections have also expressed concern over the situation of the detainees.

Villar, Perlas“I condemn any violation or abuse of human rights,” Sen. Manuel Villar, standard-bearer of the Nacionalista Party, said in a statement.
Villar said “the manner and circumstances of the arrest and detention already raised a lot of questions. Thus, the authorities should ensure that the legal procedures will be followed.”

Nicanor Perlas, an independent presidential candidate, called on the military to release the health workers, saying the “practice of medicine should be given to all regardless of their political ideologies.”

“The members of the medical profession should not be subjected to any harm or danger in the performance of their official functions as embodied in the Geneva Convention,” Perlas said in a statement.

He said the arrest of the Morong 43 while they were conducting health training showed the need to professionalize the police and the military.
“And, if the rights of these workers were, in any way, violated, those responsible should be held accountable,” Perlas said.

Richards, who was accompanied by Rev. David Farley and Rev. Irwin Lee McKlenshaw, tried to visit the Morong 43 on Tuesday.

They are members of the United Methodist Church California-Pacific conference. The congregation’s General Board of Church and Society is one of four international programs of the church.

Lay minister a detainee
One of the detainees, Dr. Alex Montes, is a lay leader of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP), a Christian denomination formed by the merger of various congregations, including the Methodists.

“He is a well-respected surgeon and had given up his material well-being to serve the poor. We don’t think acts of mercy are criminal acts,” Richards said.

US lawmakersRichards said her group would bring the issue to US legislators belonging to the Democratic Party, including Sen. Barbara Boxer and Rep. Loretta Sanchez, both of California, and Sen. Daniel Inouye of Hawaii.

Boxer chaired hearings in the US Senate in 2007 on extrajudicial killings in the Philippines, while Sanchez is a member of the House committee on armed services and homeland security and the joint economic committee in the US Congress.Inouye championed a bill giving aid to Filipino World War II veterans and their families.

Protest at RP consulates
Kuunsela Hilo, vice chair of Bayan USA, who was part of Richards’ party, said Filipinos and non-Filipinos had been holding protest actions at Philippine consular offices in the United States, including Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York, asking for the release of the Morong 43.

“It’s definitely an international issue especially with so many Filipino health care workers abroad,” Hilo told the Inquirer.

She said national labor unions in the United States like the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations and the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance had sent letters to US and Philippine officials “condemning the ongoing treatment, detention and torture of the 43 health workers.”Richards’ party met with Commission on Human Rights Chair Leila de Lima on Tuesday morning at her office in Quezon City.

De Lima, for her part, said the CHR would exhaust all remedies to secure the release of the Morong 43. If all else fails, the CHR can also bring the issue to the United Nations, she said.

Left out in the heat
Richards lamented the hardships the families of the detainees were undergoing just to see their loved ones.

“These are young men and women, children and grandparents waiting to see their loved ones. One poor family had come from very far. They had not seen their daughter. They were left out in the heat all day waiting. We were moved by the plight of the parents and families of the detainees,” she said.

Based on stories told to them by the families, Richards said some of the detainees “fear the coming of the night” because they would be interrogated. The detainees also suffered psychological torture.

De Lima said that based on the report of Richards’ party, the families were waiting on Tuesday to see the detainees since morning. But it was only close to 4 p.m. that they were able to spend just five minutes with the detainees. With reports from DJ Yap and Jocelyn R. Uy

Forty Three Health Workers Illegally Arrested, Detained and Tortured

2010-02-11T13:39:00.000+09:00

08 February 2010

H.E. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
President of the Republic of the Philippines
Malacañang Palace,
JP Laurel St., San Miguel
Manila Philippines

Gen. Avelino Razon, Ret. PNP
Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process
Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP)

Norberto Gonzales
Secretary, Department of National Defense

Atty. Agnes Devanadera
Secretary, Department of Justice

Atty. Leila De Lima
Chairperson, Commission on Human Rights

Dear President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Sirs and Mesdames:

We, leaders and members of the Katipunan ng mga Samahan ng Migranteng Manggagawa sa Korea (KASAMMAKO) or the Alliance of Organizations of Filipino Migrant Workers in Korea vehemently condemn the illegal arrest of 43 health workers in Morong, Rizal on February 6, 2010, conducted by the joint elements of the 202nd Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Army (202nd IBPA), and Rizal Philippine National Police (PNP) headed by Colonel Aurelio Baladad, commander of the 202nd Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Army based in Tanay, Rizal and Police Superintendent Marion Balonglong of the Rizal PNP.

The actions of the military and police personnel constitute violation of domicile; destruction of property; divestment of property; illegal search and seizure illegal arrest; illegal detention; threat, harassment and intimidation, and fear for safety victims.

These actions are brutish and with no regard for the rights and civil liberties of individual persons as guaranteed in Philippine Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. As informed and organized Filipino migrant workers, we are angered by the sheer abuse of power and discretion by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Mr. Norberto Gonzales, the military generals and their commanding officers involved in this crafty scheme of things. We have no other way to describe this ongoing situation in the Philippines but barbarity, worse than martial law. The narrative of witnesses of the illegal arrest and other violations of human rights that took place on Saturday February 6 in residential compound of Dr. Melecia Velmonte in Bgy. Maybangcal, Morong, Rizal cannot belie our description of the country right now.

The initial reports gathered by Karapatan, at 6:15 am on February 6, 2010, around 300 heavily armed elements of the military and police forced their way into the farm of Dr. Melecia Velmonte in Bgy. Maybangcal, Morong, Rizal. At gunpoint, the military forced the caretaker to open the gates. Inside, the soldiers fanned out to different directions. They also kicked the main door to get into the building. When Dr. Velmonte and her son, Bob demanded for a search warrant, they were merely brushed aside by the military.

All medical practitioners and health workers, were ordered to line up at the garage, frisked, and handcuffed. The victims were also questioned and photographed by the military, while another took a video recording of the interrogation. The male victims were then blindfolded with old shirts brought in by the soldiers and secured with packaging tape. All of the personal belongings of the victims were also taken by the military.

When the participants were already handcuffed, it was only then that Police Superintendent Marion P. Balonglong showed Bob a search warrant for a certain Mario Condes of Bgy. Maybangcal, Morong, Rizal, charged with illegal possession of firearms. The search warrant dated February 5, 2010 and issued by Judge Cesar A. Mangrobang of Branch 22 of the Imus, Cavite Regional Trial Court, did not indicate the exact address of the Velmonte compound.

Bob asserted that the warrant did not specify their address, and that Mario Condes, who is subject of the warrant, is not even the owner of the house, but he was ignored by the authorities.

Outside the compound, were eight (8) vehicles. Along with the four (4) 6 x 6 military trucks were two (2) Armored Personnel Carriers (APC), a KIA Pride car, and an ambulance. Some of the vehicles had no plate numbers while the rest of the license plates were either covered, or smeared with mud.

The health workers were forced into the military trucks and were brought to Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal, headquarters of the 202nd Infantry Brigade of Philippine Army. The military declared that the victims were members of the New People’s Army because of the explosives allegedly found inside the compound. However, according to witnesses, the military conducted the search of the compound’s premises only after all of the victims, as well as the residents, were already outside the buildings. Witnesses also said that the military have brought in with them plastic bags with the GMA Kapuso logo printed on it.

Allegedly found were C4 explosives, a pistol with seven bullets, 3 grenades (one allegedly found under a pillow); beside the grenade were some improvised landmines. However, Bob said that they were not issued a receipt of the inventory of the said firearms and explosives. The illegal search of the Velmonte compound ended at past 9:00 in the morning of Saturday, February 6, 2010. The military and police arresting team were led by Col. Aurelio Baladad and Police Superintendent Marion Balonglong.

In the afternoon of the same day, Karapatan Deputy Secretary General Roneo Clamor, husband of Dr. Merry Mia, Olive Bernardo, Karapatan Services Head, along with Karapatan counsel, Atty. Ephraim Cortez, Dr. Geneve Rivera and Dr. Edelina De La Paz, chairperson of Health Action for Human Rights (HAHR), went to Camp Capinpin to inquire about the victims. They were not allowed to enter the camp premises. As of this writing, the military has not allowed any of the relatives of the victims to see anyone of them.

We express our support and solidarity to the following doctors, health workers and caretakers in their fight for justice:

Illegally arrested and illegally detained (partial list):
• Dr. Mary Mia, Health Education and Training Services coordinator for Council for Health and Development (CHD)
• Dr. Alexis Montes
• Gary Liberal, Registered Nurse (Jose Reyes Medical Memorial Center)
• Teresa Quinawayan, Midwife
• Lydia Ubera, health worker
• Reynaldo Makabenta, health worker
• Delia Ocasla, health worker
• Jane Balleta, health worker
• Janice Javier, health worker
• Franco Remoroso, health worker
• Ailene Monasteryo, health worker
• Pearl Irene Martinez, health worker
• Ellen Carandang, health worker
• Dany Panero, health worker
• Rayom Among, health worker
• Emily Marquez, health worker

Victims of threat, harassment and intimidation and violation of domicile:
• Dr. Melecia Velmonte
• Bob Velmonte
• Bernardo Landag
• Two caretakers

We demand that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the respective government agencies do the following urgent actions:

1. The immediate release of the health workers who are illegally arrested and illegally detained at Camp Capinpin, Tanay, Rizal.

2. The government to ensure the safety of the victims and that they are not harmed; their belongings be returned immediately to them.

3. The immediate formation of an independent fact-finding and investigation team composed of representatives from human rights groups, the Church, local government, and the Commission on Human Rights that will look into raid and illegal arrest of the health workers conducting health skills training in Morong, Rizal.

4. The military to stop the labeling and targeting of human rights defenders as “members of front organizations of the communists” and “enemies of the state.”

5. The Philippine Government to be reminded that it is a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and that it is also a party to all the major Human Rights instruments, thus it is bound to observe all of these instruments’ provisions.

Very truly yours,

Mr. Pol Par
Chairperson
KASAMMAKO
Seoul, South Korea
09 February 2010

Extraction of more consular fees not justified

2009-03-04T14:17:00.001+09:00

We oppose the extraction of more consular fees from OFWs in Europe

The Unity of Filipino Migrant Workers Associations in Korea or KASAMMAKO expresses its solidarity with the migrant workers in the Eurozone who are seeking an investigation over new service rates imposed by the Department of Foreign Affairs in nine Philippine embassies and three consulates general across Europe.

KASAMMAKO noted in the websites of Philippine embassies in Greece, Germany, Belgium, Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria and Vatican City that they have increased the costs of a new passport from 40 to 50 Euro. The replacement of lost passport costs from 90 to 140 Euro applying the minimum 25 percent increase on it and on other consular documents effective January 2, 2009 for the main reason of difference in Euro to US Dollar conversion rate.

This increase in passport and other consular service fees is the least expected by migrant workers in the midst of severe global economic crisis. The Department of Foreign Affairs continues to levy unjust increases in rates and add unnecessary fees without considering its economic implications and impact on the OFWs. Thousands of migrant workers are losing their jobs and others are forced to be repatriated to the Philippines and extracting 10 to 40 Euro from the depleted pockets of distressed OFWs is a betrayal of hope for a better life and nationality of migrant workers.
Migrante International has received information that migrant workers, organizations, groups and Filipino communities in those countries were not consulted regarding the reasons and process of every fee adjustment the DFA approved. In this regard, Representatives Satur Ocampo, Luzviminda Ilagan, Teodoro Casino, Rafael Mariano and Liza Maza introduced House Resolution 949, “directing committees on overseas workers affairs and foreign affairs” to conduct an inquiry into the “unreasonably huge increase of consular service fees”.

KASAMMAKO supports the statement of the house representatives stressing that “the hike in consular service fees is unjustified as it only increased the financial burden faced by migrant Filipinos and their families in these times of severe economic crisis.” The resolution further seeks the government to “explain and democratize” the process of adjusting old service rates and imposing new ones. It is not a farfetched possibility that the increase in fees on consular services in Philippine Embassies and Consulates in Europe will also be implemented in the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region especially in South Korea, where more than 40,000 OFWs live and work.

It is lamentable that instead of supporting Filipino workers abroad in these times of crisis and uncertainty, the government is determined to collect more fees from suffering OFWs. This simply shows that the Arroyo government’s response to the worsening crisis is intensified labor export policy program rather than restructuring and freeing of the Philippine economy from control of monopoly and transnational capitalists and from the dictates of World Bank/IMF, and eradicating graft and corruption.

KASAMMAKO urges the Arroyo government to stop this monetary extraction from OFWs. The OFWs that are directly affected by the worldwide economic crisis in the form of retrenchment without just compensation and due process, wage depreciation, an escalating number of unjust policies and bilateral agreements and increasing human rights violations should be effectively addressed by Philippine Embassies and Consular offices around the world.+

Palliatives not enough for terminated migrant workers

2009-03-04T14:14:00.001+09:00

There is a cloud of doubt to the responses of the Philippine Embassy in Seoul to retrenched OFWs

KASAMMAKO the Unity of Filipino Migrant Workers Associations in Korea has cast a cloud of doubt on the appropriateness and effectiveness of the responses of the Philippine Embassy in Seoul to the situation of OFWs in a ‘shaky economic climate’ in South Korea. The greater concerns for protection of labour and human rights of migrant workers have been sidelined because of the Embassy’s concentration in palliatives such as conducting seminars on money management, bookkeeping, entrepreneurship and feasibility studies. These palliatives used are based on ineffective social welfare practices and shallow analysis of the Philippine society that do not match the actual situation of migrant workers especially those in South Korea.

One of the appropriate responses for migrant workers who are retrenched and facing retrenchment is the ultimate use of legal injunction and diplomatic processes for OFWs to get the maximum compensation and benefits for the loss of their jobs. It is within the legal boundaries to ask for a full year payment of migrant workers’ salaries, as their contract would assume in the event they are retrenched prior to completion of contract as in cases of some migrant workers in Taiwan. This, the Philippine Labour Office (POLO) hesitates to do, KASAMMAKO disclosed.

Furthermore, KASAMMAKO asserts that there has been inadequate provision of shelter for retrenched and distressed migrant workers. Overseas Filipino Workers need a place where they can be housed until they land new jobs. The justification POLO would say for not providing adequate shelter for retrenched and distressed OFWs is the lack of funds, which many migrant workers would not easily believe. For there were many occasions that OWWA used the OFWs funds for purposes that do not serve their interests and welfare but for the business ventures of those in government.

KASAMMAKO also observed that the reintegration program for OFWs and their families introduced by the composite team from National Reintegration Center for OFWs (NRCO), DOLE, OWWA, POEA and TESDA visiting Seoul this month mainly focused among others, on Micro Enterprise Development where OFWs can apply for 50,000 pesos loan from TESDA at 5% interest rate. Minister Abraham Estavillo commented after the presentation of the reintegration program, that the program is a good idea but does not take into consideration the national and global economic situation, especially in terms of market viability. He further said that talking about OFWs engaging in business is good, but who will buy or patronize their products is the question that must be answered. KASAMMAKO pinned that the Arroyo government is not willing to overhaul the national economy to provide a better life for the majority of the Filipino people. The government continues to assert its labour export policy even if countries of destination are no longer hiring OFWs.

Moreover, KASAMMAKO analyzes that the contraction of the South Korean economy will result in job loss of more than 200,000 is alarming because there are more than 8,000,000 Korean irregular workers. In this situation, the South Korean government will first serve the interest of their labourers and the need for migrant workers will eventually diminish. This is the reason why OFWs under the Employment Permit System are retrenched and the undocumented ones are arrested and deported. The Philippine Embassy in Seoul has been indifferent to the plight of estimated 20,000 undocumented OFWs and no substantial social services were given to them aside from the token issuance of travel documents for them to be allowed passage back to the Philippines.

The number of OFWs retrenched as reported by the Philippine Embassy is only 12 cases. Although there is a disclaimer clause in its press statement, ‘several more may have gone unreported’, KASAMMAKO insists that this does not free the Philippine Embassy from the responsibility of establishing the actual number of OFWs retrenched by their employers. Several retrenched OFWs in Korea have opted not to seek the assistance of the Philippine Embassy especially of the POLO and managed their own situation on the thought that they will not be fully assisted anyway. The responsibility is not just establishing the actual number but to assist distressed and retrenched OFWs from the very beginning up to the time when they get a new job in South Korea. +

New Year, Birthdays, Vacationing

2009-02-08T00:06:00.004+09:00

It seems like five days ago.
Gloria and I flew to Cebu for a five week long most awaited vacation last December 29, 2008. After that more than five hours flying from Incheon airport to Mactan, we finally arrived there past midnight. We were glad that Mike and Rose Camba picked us up from the airport and allowed us to stay at the VCMC guest room.

Because year 2008 was almost over, we decided to buy a ticket for a boat trip to Maasin Leyte on the evening of the 30th and we finally reached Maasin at dawn of the December 31st. After few hours of rest at home in Laboon, it was New Year's Eve. The worship service was at 10:00 P.M. and was followed by pot luck meal and the congregation met the new year 2009 inside the church. It feels good to be home and to be reunited with family members and friends in Laboon. The taste of bread, biko and hot chocholate was just delightful. Conversations were convivial and the people around were all happy to see us joining them in meeting another year in their lives.

Four days after we planned to go back to cebu to prepare for the resplendent nurture program for the korean teenagers from Singal Church. However due to a storm in northern Samar, our trip was postponed two days after. Eventually we reached Cebu and met the staff of Cendet and West Visayas Jurisdiction and discussed with them the program. We all agreed on the details and were all willing to go another mile in open mindedness just to make the program meaningful for the children. The Korean kids arrived on January 9th and we met them at Mactan Airport and brought them to Cendet where they were billeted for a month.

On January 14th we left Cebu for Iloilo. We flew with a smaller airplane and it feels a bit scary to ride in that 80 seater airplane, although the weather was generally good. We reached Iloilo airport in Sta. Barbara toward noontime and we decided to proceed to Mrs.Carmen Rio's pension house. Gloria and me were very eager to see Tita Carmen because we lost touch with her for two years or more. She looks thinner and a bit weak and she's already 76 years old?? The same day we attended the funeral service of Auntie Erlinda Hernando, half sister of my father. The worship service was held in a nearby Foursquare Church and Pastor June Frances Gange preached. My mother was there in the church and she looks good but a wee bit weak. Instead of going to the Tanza Cemetery for the internment we accompanied mother home in San Juan.

The house in San Juan has further deteriorated since the last Typhoon Frank that turned over the roof. It was in early evening the same day when sisters, brothers, nephews and nieces gather for dinner at San Juan but we left them for a dinner appointment with Tita Carmen, Pastor June Fances and Manay Vicky Gacutan. We enjoyed our stay in Iloilo and on Sunday January 18 I preached in the morning service at UCCP Iloilo City. It was a time to meet old friends and relatives in Iloilo. We had lunch with Tita Carmen and Many Vicky, sumptuous pinoy delicacies. We stayed in Iloilo for five days and went back to Cebu on the 19th and continue to join the Korean kids in their various learning experiences.

On the 22nd I had an apppointment with a doctor at the VCMC for the removal of a small cyst on my forehead. Few days after we left Cebu for Ormoc City. We took a day boat trip and arrived in Ormoc almost four o'clock. Tito Gloria's younger brother picked us up from the pier. We stayed there overnight and the following day we journeyed to Maasin. It was about four-hour bus travel from Ormoc to Maasin. The bus travel gave us the chance to see the sceneries in Leyte Island and refamiliarized the towns and villages we passed by.

On the 26th of January we offered lunch to friends as part of the extended birthday celebration given to me. It is was interesting to note that on the 28th another birthday co-celebration with Bishop Ben Camino took place where the Korean kids joined in the dinner. We flew to Manila on the 30th of January and when we arrived at Shalom Center we met Ate Winnie Barloso and greeted her. We had the chance to visit the project of UCCP tondo in the Smokey Mountain-2. We also visited Bishop Bolocon and Bishop Jessie Suarez in Cubao and saw the Durebang-Sinag Kababaihan and the Youth Development Center in Filinvest, Quezon City.

Time flies so fast and were back to Seoul since February 2nd and once again adjust to the cold weather and the warm and balmy philippines is once again a memory that can come to reality only on vacation time and probably retirement. Thanks be to God for God's mercies and love in our travel to the Philippines.

Wonderful Counselor

2008-12-22T16:16:00.002+09:00

"Wonderful Counselor" is one of the names given to the king to be of Israel as prophesied by Isaiah. This is of inseparable from other names like "Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace" (Isa. 9:6). It is quite an approriate name or characterization of the one who will govern a nation given the socio-historical context of the 8th century Israel. I have chosen for our Christmas meditation the title "Wonderful Counselor" for it captures what God's incarnation in Christ intends for humanity.

Guidance counselors or whatever kind of counselors we have in our community and society have special responsibilities as trained professionals. But one can be just an ordinary person who has skills in counseling and employ them to help others. There are special characterisitics in counseling that other people may not have due to their professional training. Let me reflect on these characteristics.

First, a counselor is one who is able to listen. Listening for a coounselor is not just hearing words and sentences. It is listening to the words and the meaning that flows out of a person's heart and mind. This includes verbal and non-verbal expressions or actions a person utters and shows which allow interpretion. More importantly listening has to do with understanding the deepest longing and hopes of what the person wants to become.

In the Gospel of Luke the angels announced to the shepherds the birth of Jesus saying "be not afraid, for behold I bring you glad tidings of great joy which will be to all the people; to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord" (Lk 2:11). The birth,life and ministry of Jesus shows us that he is a wonderful counselor because he lived like anyone of us in this world. Remember those moments he had with his disciples when he intently interacted with them and listened carefully to their hopes, aspirations as well as to their struggles and inner contradictions. He is even now our wonderful counselor who is alive in us and we can communicate with God through him.

Second, a counselor is able to intervene in our thoughts and behavior. Through psychotherapy a person may get healed through the intervention of the counselor. The counselor guides a client in overcoming oppressive thoughts or other distrubances that render the person unproductive. It is so with God in Jesus Christ, through the consistent devotion and reflection of God's word, we can be guided in our thoughts and actions. Individuals have their own perceptions of reality and at times these brings despair or hopelessness. God's intervention in our lives is through the Spirit of Christ that convinces us that life is larger than our jobs, our health, our families.

Third, the counselor exercises leadership as in the experience of one who is being led to a pasture--to peace and harmony. This leadership function enables a client to change behavior that will improve his or her relations with himself/herself and with other people. There are many great leaders in our world today who have good intentions to make life worthwhile, but many of them have been lost in fame, wealth and greed. They have lost touch with the very reasons of their leadership. God in Christ is our wonderful counselor because he is able to lead us to where we wanted to be and to what we may want to become.

Merry Christmas

Oh Wow! Wonderful Everland

2008-11-10T22:36:00.000+09:00

they call him "father"--he's absolutely cool

2008-11-10T22:27:00.003+09:00

One cool evening at Hyehwadong

2008-11-10T22:22:00.001+09:00

GFMD a sell-out of the souls of migrant workers

2008-11-10T22:19:00.001+09:00

THE CHALLENGE TO THE GLOBAL FORUM ON MIGRATION AND DEVELOPMENT AND OTHER ISSUES OF MIGRANT WORKERS
October 19, 2008
Seoul, South Korea

KASAMMAKO believes that GFMD is a device to sell neoliberal anti-poverty and financing strategy. It thrives on the poverty of Third World countries, directs them to institutionalize migration policies as a mechanism for development and development cooperation.

The GFMD as localized in the migration policies in South Korea, the government under President Lee Myung Bak has institutionalized labour migration as a means of off-setting the lack of labour resources due to its ageing work force. Although there is so much publicity about better working arrangements for migrant workers and other foreigners employed in the country, the government is up to flush out undocumented migrant workers to less than 100,000 out of over 200,000 in 2010. This has resulted to insurmountable anxiety, loss of income to thousands of migrant workers who were forcibly deported. Both the South Korean government and the Philippine government did not respond to the need to provide amnesty and eventual legalization of undocumented migrant workers. The rampant violations of human rights of migrant workers have not been addressed by both the sending and receiving governments of migrant labour.

Furthermore, the recent surreptitious agreement on the National Pension System and the Social Security System between the two governments intends to divest migrant workers of their hard-earned retirement benefits when finally approved by the Philippine Senate and the Office of the President of the Philippines. The NPS-SSS equalization scheme would eventually deprive migrant workers who contributed to the NPS a lump-sum refund of their contributions at the end of their contract. This is a scheme that would increase the funds of the NPS and the SSS but not benefitting directly the migrant workers. This should not be ratified in any way.

Moreover on the broader scale the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) which is ensuing in Manila this week is a lip service to the situation of the migrant workers worldwide. KASAMMAKO believes that the GFMD is characteristically against the interests of the migrant workers, on the following grounds:

• It hides under the cloak of universally-accepted concepts and principles such as the right to migrate, the “right to development”, “responsibility of government to manage” but peddles on “remittance as a survival mechanism for poor countries” and “temporary labor migration” as a “flexible way of meeting labor surplus and shortage across countries”.

• It avoids the notion that migration is an “alternative to development” because it will expose the undeniable fact that “neoliberal” globalization has failed miserably on its promise to usher development, especially in poor countries that has a vast pool of unemployed. It also unmasks the real intent of the current drive of First World countries and their institutions to exploit the migration phenomenon, the lucrative labor export programs and migrant remittances for the purpose of salvaging or propping up the collapsing economies, especially of semi-colonies and dependent countries.

• GFMD sells neoliberal anti-poverty and financing strategies by promoting the concept that “migration promotes development” and that the remittances of migrants helps the economy and therefore serves as a “tool for development”. It directs its efforts towards capturing the remittances of migrants to: a) ensure super profits of bank monopolies, and b) ensure that debt-ridden economies have a large currency reserve to pay off debts.

The underlying agenda however is to do away with capital pump-priming and ODA which donor countries and IFIs have so far been unable to meet for the past several decades. This exposes the fact that neoliberal globalization currently has not brought Third World countries any closer to the eradication of global poverty and unemployment.

• It promotes the concept of government responsibility to “manage migration” in order to augment state revenues and help cover deficits in foreign payments. Managing migration meant institutionalizing migration policies, adopting “policy coherence” in all its related branches of government, and by “aligning” migration policies with development policies domestically and internationally. This concept exposes that the underlying neoliberal agenda is for Third World countries to continue to tow the line of neoliberal policies (liberalization, privatization, deregulation, etc), policies that bred a vast pool of unemployed and underemployed, the very same policies that brought Third World countries heavily indebted and in a state of abject poverty.

• It employs post post-Washington strategy of “transparency” and “shared responsibility” thru “inter-partnership” with all “stakeholders” in the name of development but marginalizes the role of the most important stakeholder on this issue – the migrants themselves. Consultations and representation of migrant organizations in HLF are nil. Even in dialogues wih civil society organizations, migrant representation is merely a token.

While there is some truth that remittances temporarily alleviates the financial woes of families of migrants, this perverse notion signifies greater commodification of migrants and the perpetuation of conditions for cheap labor, not to mention the social costs of migration, especially on children and families.

KASAMMAKO exposes the so-called “development” through migration and reliance on remittances as development tool are neoliberal anti-poverty and financing concepts and strategy that thrives on people’s exploitation and miseries of migrants, enhances labor flexibilization and therefore, greater commodification of labor, and only brings Third World countries into the quagmire of poverty because these do not address the root causes of underdevelopment and the massive migration of peoples from poor countries. We call on governments, NGOs and all migrant workers to work for a just economic development and unconditional respect for the rights of migrant workers.

How it's like locally--Global Forum on Migration and Development

2008-11-10T22:03:00.003+09:00

KASAMMAKO STATEMENT ON FORCED DEPORTATION OF FILIPINO WOMEN MIGRANT WORKERS IN SOUTH KOREA AND ITS IMPACT ON THEIR MINOR CHILDREN

While many state representatives and participants from non-government organizations are gathering in Manila for the United Nations sponsored Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) many migrant workers are forcibly deported, especially in South Korea where recently two Filipino women migrant workers have been arrested without considering the safety and welfare of their minor children. The ongoing clampdown on migrant workers in South Korea has remained unabated. We member organizations of KASAMMA-KO or the Unity of Filipino Migrant Workers Associations in Korea expose and deplore these ongoing violations of human rights of migrant workers and their family members.

On October 23, 2008 at around 2:00 p.m. Bernadette Bourbon of legal age and a Filipino migrant worker was arrested by the Korean immigration police in Caribi, Yangju City while she was on her way to pick up her nine years old daughter named Princess from an Elementary School in that city. She was brought to the immigration detention Center in Uijungbu City and is being processed for deportation. Despite the intervention of social workers and a minister from a Methodist Church to free Bernadette Bourbon for the main reason that she has a daughter who is schooling, the request was not granted unless she either post a bail of ten million won or not less than 8,000 US dollars and the temporary release that will last for only three months or both she and her daughter be immediately deported to the Philippines. While she is in detention her daughter Princess is under the care of the Methodist minister.

At around six o’clock on the 24th day of October another Filipino woman migrant worker was nabbed by the Korean immigration police in Tongdocheon city, north of Seoul. She is Mercy Silvano, of legal age and has a year and two months old baby boy named Freddie Cartel. Both were arbitrarily arrested and are being processed for deportation. With the sudden arrest, Mercy Silvano cuddling her baby was dragged by the immigration police to the car and was not allowed to bring any baby food such as milk and others. Inside the detention center, baby Freddie is being fed by food served to detainees. The Korean immigration office in Uijungbu refused to release the mother and child even with the knowledge of how to protect the rights of minor children and of migrant workers. The office hurriedly processed them for deportation to avoid criticism and protests from social workers and migrant workers organizations in Korea.

It is preposterous on the part of both the Korean and Philippine governments to allow the deportation of migrant workers with little regard of their human rights and their abdication to protect minor children of migrant workers. Not too long ago South Korea’s Counselor of the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Korea to the United Nations has reported to the 44th Session of the UN Commission for Social Development that the government will realize programs to respect rights of children through its Child Protection and Development Plan and Comprehensive Measures for Children’s Safety, but it seems this is just a lip service to children.

Let everyone know that the United Nations International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families ensures the protection of rights of migrant workers and members of their families. We reiterate the provisions of this convention to remind the Korean and Philippine governments of their ethical responsibility to protect and respect the rights of children especially:

Article 29
Each child of a migrant worker shall have the right to a name, to registration of birth and to a nationality.
Article 30
Each child of a migrant worker shall have the basic right of access to education on the basis of equality of treatment with nationals of the State concerned. Access to public pre-school educational institutions or schools shall not be refused or limited by reason of the irregular situation with respect to stay or employment of either parent or by reason of the irregularity of the child's stay in the State of employment.

These articles in the UN International convention for the Protection of Rights of Migrant Workers and their Family Members will only be meaningful when participating governments should truly STOP CRACKDOWN and legalized all migrant workers. Also, the disregard for the rights and welfare of migrant workers and members of their families is the reason for migrant workers to unite for ZERO REMITTANCE DAY tomorrow October 29. The GFMD can only have its impact when labor sending countries can institute just distribution of national wealth and develop national economies so as to provide decent livelihood for the majority of its people.

They're still cracking migrants down!

2008-07-07T16:19:00.002+09:00

STATEMENT ON MASSIVE CRACKDOWN OF MIGRANT WORKERS
IN SOUTH KOREA
July 07, 2008

We member organizations of the Katipunan ng mga Samahan ng Migranteng Manggagawa sa Korea (KASAMMAKO) or the Unity of Filipino Migrant Workers Associations in Korea, with clenched fists calls for a stop to the massive crackdown on migrant workers in South Korea especially Filipino migrant workers, respect and protect their human rights.

The Korean government under President Lee Myung Bak has intensified the crackdown on undocumented migrant workers for the last few months and remains unabated up to this day. This systematic and calculated crackdown under a conservative government is a contradiction between its neo-liberal capitalist priorities and the need for cheap labour force. This is also a contradiction to the well publicized notion that South Korean society is becoming a humane multi-cultural society. This intensive crackdown has forcibly deported thousands of migrant workers in spite of their health and family conditions just to accomplish the immigration quota of arrest and deportation of undocumented migrant workers. There are migrant pregnant women even bleeding badly and men who are so ill yet arrested, incarcerated and consequently deported. Recently, immigration police are tucked with tasers or electric stand guns in arresting migrant workers, a threatening method which can be used in case of resistance to arrest. We vehemently condemn this treacherous crackdown.

The economic slowdown due to various capitalist market schemes and the looming economic recession in the U.S. which affects other economies has been used as justification for flushing out undocumented migrant workers in many countries particularly in South Korea. This should never be an alibi for the inability of the government to design mechanisms that will integrate migrant workers into the regular work force. The government has been stuck in recycled and obsolete means of labour outsourcing that exploits and maims the lives of migrant workers. Migrant workers have contributed to the industrialization and wealth of South Korea and should not be blamed for the economic downturn.

Migrant workers’ basic labour rights are protected in the South Korean constitution, including the right to freedom of association. The South Korea’s 1948 Constitution mentions in its preamble that the state is ‘determined to consolidate national unity with justice, humanitarianism and brotherly love and to destroy all social vices and injustice’. More so in Article 6 under Treaties, Foreigners, it stipulates that: (1) Treaties duly concluded and promulgated under the Constitution and the generally recognized rule of international law have the same effect as the domestic laws of the Republic of Korea. (2) The status of foreigners is guaranteed as prescribed by international law and treaties.

It is unthinkable that for several decades South Korean society has benefited from the labours of migrant workers that have supplied cheap labour for the small and medium scale industries, but the human rights of migrant workers are violated. While only a handful of Korean citizens would take on the difficult, dirty and dangerous jobs, hundreds of thousands of migrant workers spend their lives in these jobs, but often ill-treated and maligned by their employers and worse still, not paying the salaries and suffer many other sub-human conditions in their work places. Many have languished in detention centers waiting for their unpaid salaries to be paid by their delinquent employers. Worst of all many migrant workers have to endure the anxiety of the continuing crackdown some have even died or were hurt escaping arrest and deportation.

Finally, labour exporting or sending countries like the Philippines ought to develop its economy based on agriculture and move towards national industrialization which when realized will put a halt to forced migration which at present Filipinos working abroad has reached up to nine million. We reiterate our vision for the Filipinos and all migrant workers that we look forward to the day when families are no longer separated, that they don’t have to migrate in order to find decent jobs, that each person and family are able to provide adequately for their basic needs and each person will have meaningful life—a life lived in justice and peace. Once again in one voice, we call: STOP CRACKDOWN! LEGALIZE UNDOCUMENTED MIGRANT WORKERS!

CALLS FOR ACTION:
 For the Philippine government:a) Make immediate diplomatic and legal intervention on the plight of not less than 30,000 migrant workers in South Korea who face imminent deportation due to intensified crackdown.
b) The Philippine Labor Office (POLO) and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) in South Korea should inform and make written recommendations to the Philippine Senate and Office of the President how to avert intensive crackdown, and how Filipino undocumented /irregular migrant workers can become legal, regular, or integrated into the regular work force, that is, outside of the framework of deportation and the Employment Permit System (EPS).

 For South Korean government:
a) Stop crackdown and protect human rights and migrant workers;
b) Legalize and integrate all migrant workers regardless of visa status into the regular work force
c) Ratify the United Nations International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families

 For other governments:
a) All labour sending and labour receiving countries should devise and work out means and strategies to protect human rights of migrant workers;
b) Evolve just and sustainable economic system that will eliminate forced migration and enhance international solidarity and peace among nations.

 For all migrant workers and the general public:a)
All migrant workers should unite against the commodification of human labour in the neo-liberal market globalization;
b) Condemn and put a stop to crackdown as a strategy to flush out migrant workers from labour receiving countries.
c) Know that crackdown is being used not just in South Korea but also in other parts of the world and therefore unite against it.
d) All people should help protect human rights of migrant workers because in terms of peoples’ economic survival and more importantly in having a just economic order in the world, nobody is “illegal” or “undocumented”.

The Typhoon named Frank

2008-06-30T16:58:00.002+09:00

Hundreds of people died in the Philippines because of the wrath of a super typhoon named Frank or Fengshen as its international name. I have seen how sturdy trees knocked down, billboards fell from buildings, flood waters drowning rooftops and destroyed thousands of hectares of rice lands and a ship en route from Manila to Cebu capsized because it was swallowed up by mountain like waves. When you are caught in treacherous storms like this, there's nothing you can think of but destruction, hunger, death.

With typhoon Frank, I would guess that many people who knew me in the Philippines and other parts of the world have associated my name with the typhoon, and if ever they have forgotten my name, they were once again reminded of me. Well, human persons are part of nature and human nature can at times be likened to typhoons. The typhoon's fury was unleashed unexpectedly or perhaps its strength underestimated. Living in the panay island where our local community faces the smaller island of guimaras does make you accustomed to storms, or learned to like to storm. The strong winds test the strength of your house, the big waves wound unearth the lost coins in the sand and the mussels and other sea creatures good for food are washed to the shore.

For us who live in the shores of Panay Island would welcome the coming of southwest moonsoon in the months of June to August. The months when the southwest moonsoon would bring income to the fisherfolks. It's the time when milkfish fry are drawn to the shore by the currents and fisherfolks has something to catch and sell. In the last few decades much have change in milkfish fry catching. Less and less fry are caught because of pollution and environmental degradation. Typhoons are seen as destruction rather than bringing rain to rainfed rice paddies and income for fisherfolks.

Similarly when I saw on tv the destruction brought by storms or hurricanes and tornados in continental US that made houses like cardboard boxes. The sights of totally destroyed houses in the US causes me to think that regardless where you live, whether you are in an upper middle class society or in the developing country like Burma or the Philippines houses are nothing in the eye of the storm. So what kind of houses do we need that can stand the storm? Or what kind of food production technology do we need that can stand the storm? And what kind of society should we have that can anticipate if not is prepared to face the fiercest of storms and earthquakes?

Come to think about these!

Candlelight vigils in Seoul

2008-06-24T14:28:00.002+09:00

The hundreds or thousands of unquenchable light from burning candles seem like an ocean of yellow dots arranged in organic artisty can be seen from the birds eye view on the main thoroughfares of downtown Seoul. Burn, burn burn! oh tiny candlelights that can shed light to the darkened souls of the South Korean political leaders who choose to take the side of the profiteers and in the name of economic globalization.

The first candlelight vigil started on May 2 by students airing their concerns on the safety of U.S. beef and it became a continuing protest action even to this day, June the 24th. The main motive of the candlelight vigils was to call for the renegotiation of the beef import deal, but various groups joined the nightly vigils and rallies which started to criticize other policies of President Lee Myung-bak such as privatization of public firms, the inland canal project and many others.

From a small group of students the nightly vigils swelled to hundreds of thousands especially on the night of June 10 that commemorated the historic democracy movement massive protest actions. The big swell in number of protesters on June 10 estimated at 500,000 included church people from the member churches of the National Council of Churches in Korea (NCCK). In a night long vigil pastors and lay leaders from the Protestant churches gave speeches on various social issues that affect the life of society such as the privatization of the national health insurance and other social services. Church leaders who came to the gathering remembered the dark days of military dictatorship. They challenged church people to continue to raise its prophetic witness in the present time now that there is a resurgence of conservative right.

People from all walks of life from students to workers and former activists who fought for democracy 21 years ago joined the rallies, demanding the government to renegotiate the beef deal with the United States made under the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement. Because of this the clarion call for renegotiation the government sent emissaries to the US in an attempt to renegotiate the trade deal on beef importation. The South Korean government will urge the US trade negotiator that only beef from cows less than 30 months old can be imported to the country. Health experts believe that mad cow disease which affected the cattle in the US few years ago may be transmitted to humans through beef from cows older than 30 months.The US negotiator hopefully will reconsider the deal.

Moreover, the candlelight vigils also affected the credibility of the cabinet members of President Lee Myung-bak, where all of the ministers resigned from their post and the president has appointment their replacements. The president's popularity rating has plummeted since his first 100 days in office due credibility issues surrounding ministerial appointees.

The candlelight vigil will go on as long as the government will only serve the its own political and economic interests and the interests of the powers that it serves. In the context of globalization, more and more people will be disadvantaged due to the widening economic gap among people with varying economic capacities and the global economic recession.

Burn, burn burn! Oh candlelights of Seoul.

Living good enough! Tribute to Bae Gwang-Jin

2008-04-15T13:59:00.003+09:00

It seems like fleeting moments. The last time I saw him physically present on his desk was Thursday afternoon, the 27th of March. Few days earlier he was busy phoning people in Myanmar checking whether the flight to Mandalay was booked and the car to be used to travel to Tahan was arranged. And on that Thursday afternoon before leaving the office for my English class, I checked his departure date and he said he and his two companion will leave on Monday the 31st of March and they will be Myanmar or Burma for a week. I bid him a safe travel and goodbye. That was the last time I saw him animated with friendly smile and gleaming eyes.

Last Friday, the 11th of April was his funeral service. My dear friend and colleague Bae Gwang Jin has joined his Creator. He died in Burma few days ago. Just like all his colleagues, friends and most especially his only daugther and family members were shocked at his demise at 41 years old. Four years ago, he came to our welcome party in Kang Nam Church in the Southwest part of Seoul and two years after when I joined the staff in the PROK General Assembly, he is one of those I closely work with. As a member of staff, he invited me for two consecutive years to give a talk on doing Christian mission in the East Asian context. The world Christian Academy of the PROK is the annual program he coordinates.

As ecumenical workers in Korea for four years, me and Gloria are indeed grateful for the friendship of Bae Gwang-Jin. When we moved in to our new house in Mapo-gu, he took time to facilitate some of the basic amenities in the house, such as the internet and telephone connections. He accompanied me to a second hand furniture shop to buy refrigerator and sofa. He is such a generous person, that somehow we feel orphaned by his departure to eternal life.

I can't help myself recalling the last few months when we interacted in the office, we are seated across each other with the glass divider separating our desks. Mary Collins sits on the desk to his right and diagonal to me. One lighter moments I recalled Gwang-jin was responding to Mary's queries, he said, "I've live long enough at 41." I'm not very keen on premonition, but with the events that followed I'd guess that what he said was a kind of anticipation. Well, we normally say to ourselves, you can die anytime, anywhere. We have to accept the fact that all of us will die. However the time between now and the time of death is very crucial to all people, especially to adult persons who have established matured relationships.

I believe in what Gwang-jin said that he lived long enough at 41. More so I'm convinced that he lived good enough as a person of faith. I might be in the stage of denial that he is no longer here with us, but there is that kind of confidence in my heart and in my mind that he is alive somewhere. Thanks a lot dear friend for living good enough!

2008 A New Year Full of Promise

2008-01-01T09:03:00.000+09:00

The new year 2008 for the skeptics can be just like any year in one's life time. I dare to disagree because I know that every day there are new things that can happen to any person. As a person of faith, I know that this new year has a lot to offer and I have to make the best out of this short life-span.

I'm quite inspired by what the prophet Isaiah said during the recovery years in Israel after captivity in Babylon:

"Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up;
do you not perceive it?
I am doing a new way in the desert
and streams in the wasteland..."
(Isaiah 43: 18-19)

The prophet is not suggesting a voluntary historical amnesia. He admonished his people to forget about the past which they can no longer undo. Instead they should focus on the future that is full of promise and hope. The dawning of another year is an opportunity for us to learn from the past and give ourselves a chance to purge ourselves of unbecoming behavior. Also we have to think of better ways to be of service to those in need.

It is important to make a mental review of the past year and weigh the positive aspects of life against the negative ones. This will help us see who we are as human beings in relationships. Oftentimes the negative things we have done predominates in our minds and forgetting the good and the best things that we have done and have been doing. Don't get paranoid with the things you consider unworthy. Nobody is perfect.

"A new way in the desert," is a metaphor of the great possibilities not just for this new year but in life as a whole. I hadn't imagine myself and my wife working abroad, living in a strange land and at the same time guiding and helping migrant workers in their problems and needs. A new way out of the difficult economic situation for migrant workers emerged. But leaving one's home and country is not at all easy. Working in foreign land is not easy. There is always contempt and discrimination of those who does not belong there. Working abroad is a new way in the desert. The desert however is everywhere. The desert like social situation in one's own country pushes people to move out and find a better way to live as human beings. The desert will remain a desert unless human and divine intervention is made. Human society has to create a new way in the desert of deprivation and oppression. Transforming deserts to oasis --an arable land that produces food and provides sustainance to its inhabitants.

I have great hopes for the 2008 not because it is a new year, but rather in God's grace I can be of service to others and use my life, skills and abilities to the utmost so that our world will be better with me and with you around.

Welcome the New Year as you would be welcomed in a friendly home.

They Shall Know Me

2007-12-07T13:58:00.000+09:00

”They Shall Know Me”
Jeremiah 31: 27-34
By Frank J. Hernando
19 October 2007
PROK Dong Gwang Church
Kang Nam-gu, Seoul, Korea

This occasion is indeed rare and I’m grateful to the Rev. Jang Bin for generously giving the University of the East Chorale the chance to sing and for giving me this opportunity to preach in this worship service. Most of my preaching time for the last three years and ten months work in South Korea was spent with the Filipino Migrant Workers Community in Shin Weol Dong. Due to lack of Korean language facility, I did not have many opportunities to preach in PROK churches, but I have a very intensive teaching experience in English Church School and learning facilitation in the Peace School of the PROK Peace Community Movement Centre. I’m more of a teacher than a preacher. This is the very reason why I have chosen the text from prophet Jeremiah for tonight’s meditation. The catchy phrase from the text is “No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least to the greatest…(v. 34).

This text has inspired me since I started my pastoral ministry in 1991. Instead of intensive theologizing in this meditation, I would rather use an illustration. Listen to this: There is a young boy who have just entered his age of puberty and learned about God in his experience of storms in life.

“When the typhoon comes tomorrow morning,
Don’t forget to take care of your younger siblings.”
“Yes, mother,” the boy replied.
At dawn the following day the waves roar from the nearby shore.
The wind wasn’t whistling, it’s howling. Dark clouds covered the horizon.
He wasn’t terrified, but seems helpless as he stood at one corner of the house that has been rocking at the tumultuous force of the storm. “Where are your younger siblings?” his mother yelled contesting the sound of the angry wind and the pouring rain.
“They have left for the community hall, they’re safe,” he answered his mother in a timorous voice.
The boy looked up to see the color of the wind,
He gazed on the ceiling,
He saw the thatch palm leaves roofing dancing in the wind.
Some parched palm leaves that were once part of the roof were blown away,
Patches of skylight appear from where it once a dark brown roof.
Oh God, why should there be typhoons!
Why are they so destructive?
He was standing in that corner not just for a minute or two, but for a while.
His dry throat has been soaked by the rain that drips from his hair.
His brown skin covered with bits and pieces of the roof.
His mind soared while standing in that corner;
As if that corner was a safe haven for a fragile and faltering body.
Whoooz…! whoooz…! The wind was blowing hard on the house.
Lightning cuts jigsaw lines into the dull gray sky. Thunder released its fury, the ground trembled.
Still standing there in the corner of the house,
He was waiting for the final collapse of their house.
He wished the house could stand the storm.
But his mind entertained the idea of a total collapse.
Why should I wish for this house to collapse? He asked himself.
No, I should not, he reasoned, my parents are poor.
But, we need a new house, a much stronger one.
A house that is safe even in the midst of storm,
We need a home where our young lives can grow freely.
It was late afternoon when the storm finally left the island.
There was calm. The dark clouds have dissipated.
The voices of worried men and women calling out their children can now be heard.
The boy has tamed the storm.
His body is once again animated.
He walked down and made ready to extend his hands for the repair of their house that must be done immediately, for all his brothers and sisters to have a dry bed for the night.

Jeremiah is a prophet of doom and hope. He prophesied about the eventual collapse of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, the time when they will be under the control of powerful Babylon. He repeatedly told the people and the kings for 40 years that unless they truly repent and change their attitudes toward God, they would not survive as sovereign kingdoms. What he prophesied about Israel and Judah finally came and it made a great blow on their life and future. It was on this crisis situation that Jeremiah uttered vivid messages of hope. In the mouth of Jeremiah God said, “The days are coming when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.” Following the old covenant through the letter did not make Israel and Judah a covenant people, and rather than living out God’s salvation and peace they preoccupied themselves offering sacrifices to the gods of war and destruction. Their captivity in Babylon was a result of their lack of faith and failure to show kindness, justice, love and mercy. The two kingdoms were desperate during their captivity in the land of Babylon. Israelites were conscripted into the labor force of Babylon. Hence God offered them a second chance through the new covenant which will no longer be written on papyrus but in their hearts and minds. This is a new relationship between God and his people whereby leaders administer justice; each and every person internalizes and lives out compassion and love, and acts out solidarity.

The boy in our story grew up a few more years and he realized that there is so much in him that he may be able to share with other boys and girls of his generation.

It was the beginning of the long vacation from school:
“I wanted to teach children in the Vacation Church School,” he unwaveringly told his parents, brothers and sisters.
Encouragement was not found wanting for the eager boy.
In the volunteer teachers training, he studied the Vacation Church School (VCS) manual carefully.
Every word in the manual stuck in his brain.
The training was very short for a neophyte volunteer teacher to master every bit of detail of the lessons.
Yet, the boy was determined to actualize his potential.
Before the sun rose on sixth day of the teachers training, the departure day for all the Vacation Church School teams, he was all set for the four- week long teaching engagement in the hinterland villages.
The boy lodged his back pack on his shoulders ready for the journey.
Like a first time missionary he’s ready for any eventually on the road.

The jeepney ride was over an hour and reached the jumped off station.
The seven-hour walk has begun.
The sweltering heat of the sun was severe.
Perspiration dripped unceasingly from his forehead to his body,
Climbing the rugged mountainous terrain, complaining neither for sweat nor for aching legs, he tagged along with his teammates.
Stopping on some cool spring for a drink to relieve his dry throat; short stops on shady areas to reinvigorate his lungs and preventing total exhaustion.
It was almost the seventh hour of the journey when one of his teammates shouted, “we’re almost there.”

On the small village of Protestant Christians the boy’s team finally arrived.
The night welcomed them together with a group of children and some women.
Steaming boiled bananas, hot coffee and roasted peanuts were offered on metal plates pushed by some generous hands on the cool and shiny bamboo slats floor. The food served was like heaven.
The boy taught children in this hinterland rural village with confidence. His voice was melodious and the group of fifteen kindergarten kids could hardly follow the rise and fall of the musical notes, but he patiently sang with them, and told them to follow the song through hand and body movements.

The fourth day came in a very unusual way.
At dawn it was not the sound of migrating birds he heard.
The crickets were silenced. The crowing of rosters was drowned by the weeping of two or three women.
That very dawn a child died of German measles. That was the third death during the month.
The boy asked God why on earth in this place surrounded by beauty and grandeur of the mountain ranges; where mountain peaks reaching the clouds, and heaven is on earth; the cool winding rivers seem to lead to eternity;
but some children are unable to see the sun at noontime.
He believed in his heart that this is not a God forsaken village,
This people are God fearing. They pray to God for good harvest, for health, for prosperity and for peace. But certainly, there are a lot of things missing here!

Think of cable cars traversing the Swiss Alps, or the helicopter riding medical doctors that visits remote mountain villages. Think of self-sustained mountain villages where doctors, midwives, pastors and teachers serve the people.
The boy verbalized his thoughts to his friends, and one of them said,
“Unless our political leaders repent from their sins of corruption, selfishness, love of money and prestige, greed and violence, our people will never have a better chance for life and peace.”
The boy absorbed what he heard.

We know that it is not God’s intention that human beings whether in their persons or in society lead a destructive life or fortress social injustice. In the history of Israel and Judah, God saw their kingdoms collapsed. God was not a party to their idolatry or the worship of human power and wealth where human lives were sacrificed to satisfy their greed and ambition. Much more, inter-tribal solidarity which was the best expression of God’s providence was neglected and diminished. God witnessed how Israel and Judah were plucked up from their homeland and their kingdoms overthrown by foreign powers and their land was laid desolate. On the other hand God, as Jeremiah pointed out will witness how they would rebuild their nation, plant their land and produce a bountiful harvest to satisfy the needs of all people and not just a small segment of society. Their life as a nation will be one that truly resembles God’s kingdom, where people will no longer be taught how to do what is just and loving for they know it from heart.

Endowed with the love and compassion of Jesus Christ, Christian Churches all over the world have realized that God’s deep concern for the poor and the marginalized cannot be taken for granted. We are challenged to make known the love of God in Jesus Christ in ways that will not only alleviate the economic impoverishment of people in poor countries, but to help transform structures that prevent God’s love and justice to take root in society. This local church, Dong Gwang Church of the PROK has been supporting the life of Light house Church in Coronadal, South Cotabato, the Philippines extending spiritual and material assistance so that this congregation will become a channel of God’s love, solidarity and peace. I share your best hopes for this congregation in Mindanao and for the whole Filipino nation to become what God intends them to be.

I’m also aware that the Rev. Jang Bin is the chairperson of the Board of Management of the PROK centre for prostituted women called “My Sister’s Place” or Durebang located near a US military base north of Seoul. Lately the PROK National Church Women’s Association and the United Church of Christ in the Philippines have agreed to construct and support a women’s counseling centre in Cubao, Quezon City, Philippines. This project is an expression of your deep concern and solidarity with Filipino women that are victims and survivors of prostitution and other kinds of abuses. As members of this local church, you have been at the forefront of Christian mission in many frontiers, always praying and acting for the development of the marginalized people.

Finally I would like to thank you all for hosting the University of the East Chorale and for the chance to preach on tonight’s service. Indeed, we all share Jeremiah’s vision of the time when God’s people will know him from the least of them to the greatest and God will forgive our iniquities and live as God’s forgiven people. May the God of peace sustain you in every good work that you do. Amen.

When Temptation Comes

2007-02-28T22:45:00.000+09:00

It has been a while that I haven't entered a blog on my theological reflections. Perhaps the many changes in work arrangements and preoccupation with various kinds of work load have somehow prevented me to sit down and write. Anyhow, I am indeed grateful to God for the changes that are taking place in our lives.

Last Sunday is the beginning of the Lenten Season and the Gospel reading was in Luke 4: 1-13, where Jesus went to the wilderness and fasted for 40 days. It was also the time when he was there on the mountain that the devil came and tempted him three times. The first temptation is to turn stones into bread, next is to pursue glory and authority through political power and the third is jumping from the pinnacle of a building. It is indeed amazing to note that Jesus, human as he was, hungry, tired and lonely was able to respond to the tempter in a way that gets into the roots of the both the earthly and eternal realities.

On the first he responded, "It is written, human beings do not live by bread alone." It goes straight to the heart and mind that in life we go hungry and crave for food, but food and other material provisions could not satisfy the hungering of human being. This does not mean however that food is non-essential in life. Jesus emphasized that his mission is wholistic and that feeding the hungry would not solve the spiritual problem of greed. The insatiable craving for food for those who have enough reosurces is symptomatic of psychological disturbance such as depression and other mental disorder. "Bread" in this context would also refer to money or economic resources such as land, houses, etc. If we may infer from Jesus' response human beings do not live by bread alone, means that human society must be organized in a manner that primarily attends to physiological needs of people and matched it with ethical nurture.

Secondly, Jesus responded to the temptation of having great political power in the world saying, ..."worship the Lord your God and serve him only." In our contemporary history, we have witnessed how political leaders have been tempted to hold on to power even if they do not serve the interests of the people who put them into power. Worshipping or giving honour and allegiance to the tempter was not Jesus' way to prominence. Well, this is a bribery test for Jesus, but he did not gave in. The worst wars occured and are occuring in the world because political and religious leaders continue to pretend that they're representing the democratic institutions of their nations, however their actions are totally opposite to the very principles that they stand for.

The truth is, this kind of contradictions are not only present in the political arena, there are even worst situations in the homes and work places. There are disgruntled families resulting from parents overpowering each other through use of domestic violence or verbal abuse. There are businessmen who exploit migrant workers in order to gain more profit so that they can be "someone" or outsmart others through their fat bank deposits and investing in China or Vietnam or India.

Thirdy, Jesus replied to the tempter saying, ..."do not put the Lord your God to the test." It is possible that someone may attempt to test another who is far greater than he is. Thus asking ourselves, "can we manipulate God?" or that making God fit into our shoes or personal mould. I have read in the English daily here in Korea that South Korea is the number one in terms of suicide incidence in the world. A social scientist has commented on the high suicide rate in Korea and that she believes that one of the causes of suicide in Korea is depresssion and other mental problems which are not considered as diseases in Korean society. With this youth and adults decide to end their lives. Jumping from a pinnacle of a building is suicide. The tempter would want human beings to follow him, Jesus resisted dying for nothing for that is depreciating life itself.

Every moment of our lives we need to fight these temptations. With God's love and compassion we can surmount the difficult times of our lives.

Into the Cup of Life

2005-10-04T01:42:00.000+09:00

Sermon Title: “Into the Cup of Life”
Text: I Corinthians 10:14-22
By Rev. Frank J. Hernando
World-wide Communion Sunday
02 October 2005 Seoul, Korea

I Corinthians 10: 14-22
/14/ Therefore, my dear friends, flee from the worship of idols. /15/ I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. /16/ The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ? /17/ Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. /18/ Consider the people of Israel; are not those who eat the sacrifices partners in the altar? /19/ What do I imply then? That food sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? /20/ No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be partners with demons. /21/ You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. /22/ Or are we provoking the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

INTRODUCTION
I am thankful indeed for the invitation of your pastor to share with you the message on this World-wide Communion Sunday. For the ten (10) long years of pastoring a local church in my Presbytery in central Philippines, my wife Gloria and I always ensure that World-wide Communion Sunday would be a meaningful experience for the members. Even here in South Korea, my wife and I normally prepare a special kind of worship service for this very important Sunday in the life of the Church.

In our migrant workers community in Kang Nam Presbyterian Church we are celebrating World-wide Communion Sunday as well. In the light of this occasion let me share with you insights into the text written by Paul for the first century Christians in Corinth.

ONE
Into the cup of life, believers are poured in as catalysts for transforming the character of life in society. There are many people including Christians who are indifferent to the plight of the suffering ones. Thus it is not wise for Christians to maintain its bystander attitude or go on with their sheer indifference towards actual life situations in society.

Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians thinks that the worship of idols is irreconcilable with the worship of God in Jesus Christ. The idols that Paul refers to are those which demand obedience and replace God in the life of believers. These gods are not represented as sculpted images or icons in temples. These are things, spiritual and moral values that oppose God. The attitude of Corinthian Christians toward these gods is one which competes and even displaces belief in God in Jesus Christ. This is disgusting before the community of faith in the church in Corinth. Christian unity was disrupted in the Church in Corinth.

It is within this purview that Paul admonishes the Corinthian Christians to stay away from idolatry or the paying allegiance to things such as wealth, money, prestige and icons of power and politics. It is not right for Christians to be enslaved by idols, rather their life as community of faith must show forth the life of Jesus Christ. He asked them, “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ? “(v.16).

The point of unity of among Christians is the sharing in the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Thus, every time we bless the cup and break the bread, we are reminded that we had been redeemed by the life of Jesus Christ. In drinking from the cup of blessing that we bless is sharing in the sufferings and death of many people in our world today. We bleed with those who are wounded of the wars of aggression. We are in solidarity with those who are hungry and sick in our world today, because we are all poured into the cup of life. The bread that we break today is participation in the life of Christ—the life that anticipates the realization of a peaceful and abundant life for all.

I had the chance to participate in the 90th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea (PROK) in Gwangju, Jeolanamdo. Gloria and I had the chance to chat with the Rev. Samuel Muriguh, general secretary of the Presbyterian Church of East Africa. We asked him about the extent of HIV-AIDS infection in his country and other nearby countries in Africa. He mentioned that in Kenya alone 400 people die of HIV-AIDS everyday. Life expectancy in his country is only 45 years old. He is personally saddened by the reality of this pandemic disease which has infected even his relatives.

There are many people in our world today who feel the dread of this disease, yet unable to do something to help. Rev. Samuel Muriguh has best hopes that someday healing will surely come to his own people. He believes that God has a plan for the healing of peoples. While listening to this young church leader, I was challenged. My hope is reinvigorated in the saving power of God in Christ. But neither I can hope alone nor act by myself for I need the great number of committed Christians like you to hope and act in synchronized manner to overcome difficult situations. You are part of this. If we can act for the poor family next door, we can as well act for the hungry, sick and dying in other parts of the world.

TWO
Furthermore, from the cup of life we are being poured out. We who have received the power of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are expected to serve at our best. This means that, as Paul has reminded the Corinthian Christians we are not to participate in idolatry whether to offer sacrifices to gods or to act in a ways that violate the Spirit of Christ in us.

Inasmuch that we profess the Lordship of Jesus Christ in society we are expected to live out our monotheistic belief and initiate community oriented programs that enhance our faith and witness. By giving allegiance to gods of modern times such as wealth, power, prestige and comfort we are in fact making sacrifices to them. The only possible means of restoring our affinity and identity with God in Christ is by being poured out. When our lives are poured out, we become means of inspiration to live an exemplary Christian life.

Working with migrant workers coming from different countries in Asia has given me a deeper understanding of my faith in the context of Korean society. I am saddened by the experiences of many migrants workers who have worked in factories but their wages are not paid by their employers. The phenomenon of migration is a result of uneven economic development in the world. For many migrant workers their lives are being poured out or sacrificed for the sake of their families and relatives. They continue to endure long hours of work in the factories. They let pass the demeaning remarks of their Korean managers and supervisors. There are times of homesickness but they resist it. There are many other types of unexpected circumstances like arrest and deportation which I as a pastoral counselor can only assure migrant workers that there is life after South Korea. Migrant workers’ identity is so molded by their struggle for abundant life and not by the amount of money they have earned in working abroad.

People’s identity is formed by culture and the political economy of a family, tribe or nation. For Christians their identity is grounded on their faith in Jesus Christ. This means that human constructs such as culture and political economy can be transcended when Christians live in love and unity. When Christians pour out their lives not just for their own selves but for those who are in dire need, Christian unity is not far from reality. While there remain distinct cultural heritages, we strive to live in solidarity with struggling peoples in the world.

THREE

Finally, Christians all over the world ought to have the collective consciousness of being part of the one loaf—the body of Christ. Paul said, “Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread” (v.17). The broken bread and the poured wine are the rich theological Christian symbolism that must be never oversimplified in the nice pictures of freshly baked bread or by the advertisement of gentlemanly effect of expensive wines. What I’m saying is that even our theological symbolism such as bread and wine and the unity of the Body had been co-opted and used by the market place—and clichés of capitalist advertisements. Thus our community life has become captive of the consumerist values. I even heard people measuring love for the other person or loved ones in terms of monetary value. It is not only awkward, but shameful for Christians to think that way.

There is one loaf—the Body of Christ. As members of Christian communities we participate in the life of Christ in the world. Christian unity is expressed in various ways. Prior to my appointment as UCCP mission co-worker to PROK 2004 I was teaching the Old Testament and Contemporary Theology at Saint Paul’s Theological Seminary of the Philippine Independent Church in Iloilo City. This Christian Church has a type of Anglican tradition. Our dean Rev. Father Larry Herrera would complain to me when I would skip the Eucharist. He would remind me that I have missed half of the service because I did not take the communion. I would reply to him saying, “That’s my concern Fr. Larry, because as one coming from the Presbyterian tradition, I would only take communion once a month and not as frequent as you do.”

My dear sisters and brother in Christ: our lives are poured out for the healing of those who are sick and dying. We are poured as a balm that not only soothes the pain, but cures the disease. Our lives can truly be the cup of passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, where our lives are joined together with the Spirit. Our lives reach out to hundreds and thousands of people near or far because of the enduring faith and committed service we have to the struggling and suffering peoples. We should never take for granted our witness and service to the life of God in Christ. In doing of our Christian witness we are in forefront of the overcoming the demonic powers of our times. May God bless you all. Amen.

YOU SEARCHED ME AND KNOWN ME

2005-07-18T09:54:00.000+09:00

“YOU SEARCHED ME AND KNOWN ME”
Psalm 139
17 July 2005

1. In so many ways we are confronted by the question “why is God so powerful that even my inmost thoughts he knew?” For sure it’s not good to be scrutinized all the time by someone who is not even human, a God who is spirit and it looks like there is no escape from God’s confronting presence in our lives. Alam ko na nakakatakot ang ganitong sitwasyon na walang kang mapagtagu-an sa pagsusuri ng Diyos.

2. Psalm 139 gives a vivid description of God’s omnipresence in our lives and that whatever we do and will do God knows. This Psalm has body imagery and that it is one of the Old Testament meaningful presentations of the human body as one coherent and interrelated body. In having this, it is important that we should miss the prerequisite theological understanding, namely to understand the body as a psychosomatic unit, can help to qualify the sometimes dualistic concept of humankind in the Christian tradition. It can thus counteract a devaluation and disdain of the body on the one hand, and its spiritless fragmentation on the other hand.

3. In so many ways the human body is described in the Bible both the OT and NT as a weaker part of the human being. The soul/spirit is the higher part that animates the body. This kind of dualism is very prevalent in the NT especially in St. Paul’s theology. But this body imagery in our text shows that our human body is an integrated one and thus it is a total whole in relation to God. Thus, the Psalmist believes that God searches and knows every human being not just as spirit or soul but as a psycho—mind and soma-body unit. God is well acquainted with our mind, heart, body. That makes God’s concern overwhelming and God’s care and love empowering. On other hand many people would tremble at the though that ever second of the day, he/she is being judged by God and that an act of disobedience or the thing we call sin is absolutely known by God.

4. Cristl Maier a woman German theologian has this to say about 1-5 of Psalm 139:

Up to the present, verses 1-5 have been interpreted in two opposite ways. Does the close relationship between the person praying and God express a feeling of security and divine protection? Or is it proof of a fundamental despair of God which provokes thoughts of escape? Due to the parallel with Deuteronomy 6 and the use of the adjective “wonderful” in verse 6, the psalm is very often interpreted as a hymn celebrating God’s closeness. However, the evaluation of a life which is completely open to God’s scrutiny is negative from the point of view of the person praying: the phrase “you hemmed me” used in verse 5 is normally only used for warlike surrounding and besieging, the “behind and before” makes it impossible for the psalmist to move horizontally, renders him incapable of going on, to go on his way, and to rest as he sees fit. The laying on of hands in this context is not a gesture conveying blessing, but prevents the psalmist’s movement in vertical direction: YHWH’s hand rests heavily on him, even presses him down. Human as well as divine actions are concentrated in the hands.

They can be creative and destructive, powerful and violent. In the Old Testament the hand is thus very often a symbol for power and its literally shattering effect is clearly emphasised in verse 5.
It thus becomes inevitable that we think that God’s hand is always here with us.

3. Moreover, Psalm 139 shows that it is not just the body as such that matters, but that relationships are described with the help of physical phenomena. On the one hand, a person is determined by his or her situation in place and time. Our human existence can be very significant because of the place we occupy and the kind of life we live. Relatively speaking those who are acclaimed leaders and “stars” both in the context of cinema and politics have gained their prominence because of the physical existence.

On the other hand, one’s bodily existence is defined by a person’s relationship with God and with fellow human beings. In the relationship with God, one’s physical, sensible and sensitive side cannot be excluded, for how else can we praise God but with a body and reference to our affections? We cannot separate our physical body from what we do in worship. Our emotions and physical movement such the clapping of hands, swaying in praises to God and other meaningful movements are in concrete relationship with the one we worship—God. Perhaps I am saying this self-critically as a person who grew up with much formality in Protestant attitude which, due to its stress on listening to God and the intellectual debate about God, is in danger of neglecting essential dimensions of human existence. Meaning there is a tendency that we intellectualize our faith rather than live as integrated human beings.

3. Finally, body imagery can be an intermediary with regard to the concept of God. In the psalm, God is presented – with the help of physical aspects – as a living force, and at the same time as an acting personality and the dynamism in this concept of God cannot be overestimated. By stressing God’s omnipresence, Psalm 139 also shows that speaking of God in relation to human activity has its limitations. We know that God in relations to us human beings maintain God’s unique qualities in contrast to human beings. God’s mind is not like our mind, God’s thoughts are unreachable.

Verses 13-17 of Psalm 139 gives us a clearer picture of the Psalmist belief that even when we were still in our mothers’ wombs God has already known us and even knitted our bodies as they are.

13 For it was you who formed my kidneys,
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works; that I myself know very well.
15 My bones were not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.
In your book were written all the days that were formed for me,
when none of them as yet existed.
17 How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!

Cristl Maeir has this explanation:
By verse 13 at the latest we notice a change of mood: mentioning the kidneys of all organs – which to us today seems very strange and which is unique in the Old Testament – makes sense if we look at the relational function of this organ. The kidneys, whose existence as a pair was familiar from the slaughter of animals are the seat of affections (Psalm 73:21; Proverbs 23:16) and of conscience (Psalm 16:7; Jeremiah 12:2). This association is based on the experience that the area around the kidneys is particularly sensitive to heat and cold. As the creator of the kidneys, God is described in verse 13 metaphorically as the one who makes his people’s affections and their ability to relate with one another possible. The idea often found in other prayers, namely that God tests hearts and kidneys (Psalm 26:2; Jeremiah 11:20; 20:11; Revelation 2:23) – most translations speak of “heart and mind”, omitting the concrete organ – shows that the relationship between those praying and the deity is being comprehensively tested.

Psalm 139 combines the formation of a human body in the womb, which can be physically experienced, with the theological tradition of God’s primeval creation known from Genesis 1-2. The divine creation of an individual here is defined metaphorically as weaving; the parallel metaphor of being woven in the depths of the earth (verse 15) contributes a variant of this idea that has a cosmological and even mythical background. The verbs “creating” and “weaving” also denote divine actions in the primeval creation of Lady Wisdom in Proverbs 8. The reference to the psalmist’s bones (Mc() again links the mythical concept with the individual’s body.

Through its communication structure Psalm 139 expresses the close relationship between the psalmist and God and this is emphasized by its body-related language. The body imagery stresses the fact that the psalmist is a creature, i.e. created by somebody else and in this respect the prayer is related to many other psalms. The emphasis on the individual, on the other hand, is un-typical since the majority of Old Testament texts stressed the social integration of the individual. However, physicality, being a created body, is a prerequisite for social relationships even in Old Testament thinking and in a biblical context the relationship with God is part of this.
We are integrated human beings and that our being creatures of God, we are endowed with great possibilities of wholesome life lived in peace. The very consciousness of God’s omnipresence assists us in our faith and action towards a renewed understanding of total existence under the reign of God in Jesus Christ.

Embattled Good Soil

2005-07-10T21:02:00.000+09:00

EMBATTLED GOOD SOIL
Matthew 13:1-8; 18-23
July 10, 2005

1. Every time rainy season comes to the Philippines, I am reminded of the planting season in the rural areas. In the many years that I have worked as pastor in the island of Panay and Guimaras, I viewed agriculture—plowing the fields, sowing rice seeds, and harvesting crops as God’s own way of sustaining Cod’s creation especially human beings who depend on the good soil for life. In human history, the fertile soil had been coveted by individuals, tribes and classes in society. There have been situations where fertile and arable lands are embattled—that is, the land is the object of conflict.

Out text in the Gospel of Matthew is a parable the sower who went out and sows seeds in the field. In his attempt to harvest double and triple from what he sowed, he sowed abundantly on every square meter of the field. The parable as interpreted is about the characterization of receivers of the message of the Kingdom of God. The seeds that fell on rocky ground, those that fell along the road, are those that fell among the thorns are the receivers of the message of the Kingdom who somehow due to prevailing situations, fail to hear, accept and live out the message of the Kingdom of God. While the seeds that fell on good soil had delivered plentiful harvest. The good soil is known as those who willingly and openly received the message of the Kingdom of God. They have heard of it, understood it and produced crops yielding a hundred, sixty of thirty.

2. The good soil can be inferred as those who followed Jesus’ message of the Kingdom of God or the Christians, while those who did not listen, accept and live with it are considered indifferent people who refuse to listen and do something of the message of the Kingdom of God. Christians who are considered the “good soil” is now embattled, that is, they live in social situations which confuse their minds and twist their Christian values. We live in situations where there are ambiguities in our claims as Christians. And oftentimes these ambiguities have semblances of the work of the indifferent ones.

Russel Pregeant in his meditations on Matthew 13 says that:
The interpretation of The Sower in 18-23 makes clear that the various seeds in the parable itself represent varying responses to the “word of the kingdom,” and the image of the harvest in both The Parable of the Weeds and its explanation make clear that wrong responses are subject to God’s eschatological judgment. Both the Parable of the Net and the identification of the sower with Jesus in vs. 37 show that the judgment involves not only the world at large but the church itself. Thus the seeds treated negatively in the Parable of the Sower include members of the church, and the parable and explanation serve as a warning to Christians and encouragement to hold fast to their commitment to the word. Even those who once received it with joy can fall away in the face of trouble, persecution, worldly cares, and “the lure of wealth.”

(Cite instances when Christians are too busy to hear the message of God’s kingdom, when they can’t accept the truth about God and about life in its fullness)

3. Moreover, the good soil has been differentiated from the barren soil. The latter is referred to as those whose hearts have become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. However, in our modern tines, this characterization can’t be limited to those who are considered “bad apples” but may also refer to the Christians themselves. In this situation Paul in his letter to the Romans chapter 11 tells of the difference between “life in the flesh” and “life in the spirit” which gives a better understanding of the life of Christians in contemporary society. Russel Pregeant has this point:

For an examination of Paul’s usage of the Spirit/flesh dichotomy shows that the latter term does not refer to sheer material reality. Both flesh and spirit are powers according to which one can live. To live according to the flesh is to live within the field of force of an alien power, a power that denies the realm of the Spirit altogether. It is to live as if material reality were the only dimension of existence. To live according the Spirit is, by contrast, to live within the sphere of influence of God’s empowering presence. Thus, if we think of the action of the Spirit in process terms, we can envision it as the agent of God’s luring us toward the good in every moment of our lives. We can interpret it as God’s persuasive influence in every decision we have to make. And this insight can help us with the Parable of the Sower. It is not easy to resist the desire to seek safety in a time of persecution or the seductive lure of material comforts and luxuries. Paul’s image of the Spirit, however, encourages us to be attentive to another set of lures and another field of force that offers a fundamentally different mode of fulfilling our human nature.

4. Finally, Jesus mentioned that those who listen to his words, those accept it willingly and live up to the expectations of the Kingdom of God are called “blessed”. For they have continued in the life which God intends for God’s children. And even if they live in difficult situations, they are able to hear, see, accept and bear witness to the power of God in the world. Amen.

GIVE ME LIGHT IN MY SOUL

2005-07-08T11:00:00.000+09:00

JUNE 26, 2005
A MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR EDISON LAPUZ
Texts: Genesis 22:1 -14; Psalm 13

“Give me Light in my soul”

1. A life threatening situation will not find you sitting back and relaxing in the comfort of your home, it gives quivers and sleepless night and groping in the dark corners of life questioning your faith and even your philosophy in life. Then in the process of reflection you see a spark of consciousness and you say “give me light in my soul or I will sleep in death.”

2. We do not know exactly what troubled the Psalmist when he wrote the 13th Psalm which captures the immensity of the trauma he’d been going through. In many circumstances in life we have had inquiries into the divine will, “how long must I wrestle with my thoughts and everyday have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?

3. Since childhood I have not know an enemy worst than institutionalized violence, poverty cause by unequal distribution of wealth and oppression brought about by those who wield power in society. Those I can consider enemies were actually bits and pieces of the larger social evil in the world. Yes, these institutionalized violence cause deep emotional distress, person can even kill another person because one can not longer think and see clearly. For one who has this, persons become things and things are objects adulation for the owner.

4. Persons of faith turn to God for help, appeal for God’s justice and asks for light in his/her soul. The very consciousness of the divine will of God for life assists persons of faith in their unreserved service to people whom they considered as underdogs of society. However those who remain in their emotional distress and social alienation go down to the dark pit of selfishness and godlessness. Those who experience this depravity has the tendency to appeal to God as well, but in the process, distorts the ethical and moral meaning of faith in and obedience to God.

5.Distortion of faith can be seen in the co-optation of the religious symbols and rituals such as in the case of sacrificial blood offering. They who distort the message and co-opt the Gospel with their selfish interests think that it is possible to manipulate the divine will, like siding on them even if what they are doing are morally absurd.

6.The story about Abraham offering his son Isaac as the sacrificial offering is an anthropological evidence that blood sacrifice was practiced by the tribes during that time. The substitution of Isaac with a ram preludes that Yahweh would no longer require human sacrifice as proof of obedience and faith, rather, moral and ethical values are far more important than sacrifice.

7. In Christian Theology, the initiative for redemption of humanity from sin was taken over by God. It used to be that human beings make sacrifices to God, now God has willfully offered the Son as the living sacrifice for the redemption of the world. Thus the once and for all sacrifice of the Son of God on the cross is enough for the world. It is there for our taking, it is there for our commitment and obedience. With this, we therefore resolve that human sacrifices should never be used to please one’s God or deity. If ever there is we should exert our effort to stop them.

8. Even yet, in our world today, there are persons like the Rev. Edison Lapuz who was made a human sacrifice for the well pronounced “Strong Republic” of the Philippine government. Because of the inability of the agricultural, export oriented and import dependent Philippine economy to substantiate equality, opportunity and stability, the Arroyo government in connivance with the military name their “enemies”. Unfortunately, the UCCP the CBCP and other churches and peoples organizations were tagged as “enemies of the state”.

9. Edison Lapuz and I were contemporaries at Silliman University Divinity School in the Philippines. I was a year senior of him, yet we shared common interests like music, theatre arts and activism. While attending the seminary in the late from 1986 to 1991, I realized that this young man from the Island of Leyte was gifted, the moment he take hold of a guitar, he will sing for not just a song but would hold a concert, in which other students would love to sing with him. I thought he will not become of good pastor because he was too jolly and not so formal in so many ways.

10. Tell story about our attendance to the inauguration of the Center for Development Education and Training.

11. Edison and I did not know that he’s dear friend Pastor Dikoy will die of cardiac arrest two weeks after our cabinet meeting in Tacloban city in Leyte, which showed the sorrowful Edison Lapuz.

12. The Bishops of the UCCP know Edison so well, not just as an activist pastor, but is more well known for his singing talent.

Like the Plsamist….(refer to Psalm 13)

A MEMORIAL FOR EDISON LAPUZ

2005-07-01T10:45:00.000+09:00

Rev. Edison C. Lapuz was brutally assassinated on the evening of May 12, 2005. The whole United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) is horrified that a respected pastor and church leader, an ardent supporter of the poor and oppressed, who at the time of his murder was serving as Conference Minister of the North Eastern Leyte Conference of the UCCP became the target of State persecution. Rev. Lapuz was loved and respected by his colleagues, parishioners, and the communities where he served. His slaying has proclaimed him a prophet and a martyr.
Rev. Lapuz was calculatingly outspoken, unflinching, principled, and yet, a humble man. His words against corruption in the government, exploitation by the rich and big business, impending environmental degradation and displacement of those economically poor by large-scale mines, the government’s agrarian reform program that is not redistributing land to the landless tillers, and most recently, summary executions and State repression in Samar and Leyte earned him the ire of evil. Edison’s body was destroyed by henchmen’s bullets, but his spirit lives on in the work of God’s people.

“Why Must There Be Sacrifices?”

Why must there be human sacrifices? Whether we understand the present phenomenon of war and violence in the world today in the moral ethical perspective or not, we are convinced that human life should never be sacrificed for whatever purpose on earth or heaven.

Our lectionary text in Genesis 22: 1-14 is a story of an attempted human sacrifice—Abraham was summoned by Yahweh to offer his only son Isaac as a sacrifice. The story is a tribal legend and as its stands now Abraham and Isaac are mere supporting actors to the central actor who is Yahweh. It emphasizes three fundamental elements of Israel’s tradition: revelation of the divine will and purpose by means of an epiphany; the trust and obedience of the patriarch as the representative of the whole people of God, and the provision of the ritual needs for true worship. There is an anthropological necessity in the practice of human sacrifice in which tribes had receive revelation of the divine or were practiced as a means of resolving conflicts. In the Genesis story of Abraham offering Isaac as a sacrifice to Yahweh, human sacrifice has come to an end, because God decided to have a ram instead of Isaac. The very objective of the human sacrifice was to test the faith and obedience of Abraham and he finally passed it.

In our contemporary times human sacrifice has not ended or eradicated. The recent developments in the Philippines where priests, pastors, lawyers and journalists were killed in the name of national security—or in the name of a “strong republic” shows that human persons are sacrificed for the interest of government. The political killings in the Philippines must be put to a stop. A government that kills people will not stand the test of genuine democracy, more so of the quality of life, liberty and equality. The present government under President Arroyo due to its inability to alleviate the plight of the poor and its preoccupation of gaining more wealth for itself, not to mention the election fraud and other anomalies in governance is now on its collapse.
Organized people’s movements and even the professional and middle class sectors have called for the ouster of President Arroyo. We anticipate that soon the death of prophets like Rev. Lapuz will be vindicated in the downfall of this unfit regime in the country. Migrant workers and all expatriates can work and pray for new economic and political systems in the Philippines.**

A MOTHER'S PRAYER

2005-05-23T13:57:00.000+09:00

by Juliet Tudence

Heavenly Mother-Father God:
We thank you for all the blessings that you have given to us.
Thank you for your guidance and protection
We feel completely secure because you are with us,
Bless each and every one of us today
While we celebrate mothers and mothering
and children of their childhood,
We implore you to bless all mothers for their encounters with pain and sacrifices
for the sake of their children
Lead them O God, on the right path and never let them depart from you
May the sacrifices of all mothers bear good and lasting fruits
Watch over all children, O God
Especially those whose mothers left them for jobs abroad
for their sake and their future
Let their homes be safe and secured places for growing up

Watch over us, mothers and fathers who are away from home
We pray for family reunions,
when we can touch and talk with our children and family members
and enjoy the graces that you have given to us.
Bless and keep all mothers in your care
Remind us always of our true home
Keep all mothers and children from sickness and accidents

O God, bless our families in the Philippines
as well as the families of our brothers and sisters in Korea
Protect us from all dangers while we are here in Korea
To do the work which you have given us
Shelter us and bring us back safely to our families
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

2005-05-21T20:04:00.000+09:00

The Rev. Edison Lapuz, a minister of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) was killed by suspected government operatives on May 12, 2005 in San Isidro town, Leyte.

They Killed Him!

2005-05-21T19:55:00.000+09:00

A STATEMENT ON THE KILLING OF REV. EDISON LAPUZ

Early in his theological formation he sang:
“Dili sayon ang pagsunod kang Kristo. Daghang tunok ang dalan nga agian ta
Bug-at ang krus nga pagapas-anon ta, Ug kamatayon naa gahulat kanato.”

“To follow Christ is not an easy choice. The thorns are many in the pathways of struggles
Heavy the cross on our shoulders we must hoist and agonizing death ever waits to get us.”
(From the song “Ang Hagit sa Ebanghelyo” -The Challenge of the Gospel)

He is a person filled with joy and goodness never tired of doing well for poor peasants and mobilized resources to assist the struggling and oppressed.

We are saddened by the untimely death of The Rev. Edison Lapuz, Conference Minister of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) in Northern-Eastern Leyte Conference, central Philippines. He was brutally murdered on May 12, 2005, in San Isidro Leyte, together with Mr. Alfredo Malinao, a peasant leader, by suspected military officers The slaying happened in front of his house and was witnessed by his eldest child. In that day, Rev. Lapuz had just arrived from the burial of his father-in-law. His sudden death left orphaned his two children and his wife, Emma.

He unceasingly challenged the powers and principalities in his country and the world at large with the Gospel of love in Christ.

The Rev. Edison Lapuz is one of the many contemporary committed and concerned Filipino prophets who in the midst of escalating political repression and worsening poverty situation has always been in the forefront of protecting people’s human rights but was considered threat to society by the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo government. The slaying of Rev. Lapuz and Alfredo Malinao has brought to five (5) the number of people’s organizations’ leaders killed in Eastern Visayas, central Philippines by assailants associated with the government’s military establishment since the month of March, while three (3) others escaped slay attempts.

We strongly condemn the ongoing political repression in the Philippines targeting priests, pastors, and other church workers as part of the evil design to stifle prophets and legitimate political dissenters of the morally bankrupt Macapagal-Arroyo government. It is deplorable that the Philippine government has unreservedly made public exposure of the military list of the enemies of the state entitled: “Knowing your Enemy” that includes, the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP), the Catholic Bishop Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), Association of Major Religious Superiors (AMRSP), Promotion of Church People’s Response (PCPR), Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI), and National Union of Journalist in the Philippines (NUJP) among others.

We call on President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to act immediately to give justice for the Rev. Edison Lapuz and the other Church workers who were murdered in the service of the people and God. Let justice be the value in governing the Filipino people, respect human rights and institute social justice to improve living conditions of the poor and oppressed in society.

I WILL NOT LEAVE YOU AS ORPHANS

2005-05-02T20:53:00.000+09:00

Last year a Canadian friend asked me if I was stopped anywhere in Seoul by Korean immigration officers for visa spot check and I told her that I haven't experienced that yet. Jokingly, I told her that probably I looked too formal wearing coat and tie or decent clothes, or I'm handsome enough to be checked. Well, last week I experienced it not in Seoul but in Suwon station.

Wednesday, April 28 I attended the overnight seminar-workshop in the Korean Exchange Bank Seminar House in Yongin, Kyonggi-do sponsored by the Migrant Workers in Korea office under the Ministry of Labor. After the long inputs and discussion on various topics we were on our way home on Thursday afternoon April 29. The good pastor from Songnam Migrant Workers House patiently gave us a lift from the seminar venue to Suwon station which was around 20 minutes ride. In front of Suwon station we disembark and after saying goodbye to moksanim I hurried to ward the subway entrance. Before reaching the entrance three plainclothes men approached me showing their ID, which I didn't bother to see, introduced themselves as immigration officers. One of them asked for my passport, I said well, maybe you want to see my alien ID. He said, yes, so I got it from my wallet and showed it to them. He could not identify what a D6 visa is and he saked me. I told him it is a missionary visa. He may not have heard me right so he asked again and I said, missionary. Third time he asked and I said "missionary."

Wow, now I have that experience in Suwon. The question is what did the immigration officers saw in me that gave them an idea I am an undocumented worker in Korea? My best guess is my my looks. I was wearing a denim jacket, carries a back pack and unshaved for a day--which emphasized my non-korean profile. This experience is alarming for many undocumented workers.

In one occasion Jesus said tohis disciples, "I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you" (John 14:18). This is a fulfilled promise through the presence of the Holy Spirit. We are never alone because we have someone who listens to us. We have someone who is able to lift us out of our loneliness, anxiety and even in desperate situations. May we have the faith that transcends what human beings can do.

Assurance or Anxiety

2005-04-24T19:17:00.000+09:00

Assurance or Anxiety? Is the question we're asking when we are confronted with divine images of heaven opening or of divine vengeance. There are so many aspects of our Christian faith that provide assurances about a better future or freedom, justice or peace and most of all eternal life. Many Christians know what it means to be assured by the love of God in Christ but inevitably we are driven to anxiety because of the unexpected which may fall on us and we are scared of the consequences of our actions. In this kind of uncertainty we ask ourselves does our faith provide assurance or anxiety?

Our biblical texts both from the Book of Acts of the Apostles and the Gospel of John are two contrasting texts that declare what God’s love means both for the disciples and for those who cause bad things to happen to good people. In the Book of Acts we can read that Stephen one of the apostles was filled with the Spirit and spoke with the Jewish elders and that he spoke well of the Scripture and they were caught off-guard, thus they persuaded some men to plot against him and they successfully carried their intention. Stephen witnessed to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He proclaimed to them that Jesus Christ is the Son of God whom they crucified but victoriously rose from the dead. On that moment, when Stephen was stoned to death, he saw the heavens opened and saw Jesus standing on the right hand of God. While he was on the point of death, he said, “Lord, Jesus receive my spirit.” Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he said this, he fell asleep.

James Alison,( Raising Abel, pp. 79-80.) observes that there are additional stories in the Bible with the image of the heavens opening (bumubukas ang langit): Jesus' baptism in John (1:51), this passage about the stoning of Stephen, and the new heaven and earth in Rev. 21. He said:

Look at the progression in our three stories of the open heaven: first we saw the witness chosen to see heaven open, one of Jesus' companions chosen to be able to bear witness to everything lived and worked by him; then we saw the 'ordinary Christian', that is, someone who was not an apostolic witness, who learns to create his own diverse story in the light of the risen victim; and finally we understand that the whole project which Jesus initiated is the coming down of a new, collective, story, woven out of the many stories of those who have allowed themselves to be illuminated by the God who gives himself to be mediated by the slaughtered lamb. That is, the stories of those who, in the superlative language of the seer, have washed white their garments in the blood of the lamb. (p. 81)

Meron mga tawo na dahil sa kanilang pananampalataya ay nagbuhis ng buhay upang mapakita ang wagas na kalooban ng Diyos para sa mga naghihirap at nanganga-ilangan. Ito ang pagpapahayag ng kalooban ng Diyos sa buhay ni Jesu-Kristo na siyang nag-alay ng kanyang buhay para sa karamihan na nanganga-ilangan nga kaligtasan at masaganang buhay.

In the Gospel of John 14: 1-12, Jesus assured his disciples that in God's house or abode there are many rooms and those who believe in him will find rest. This is an assurance that whenever the mythical ingredients are removed from the text shows that God has places for various kinds of people. This is ecumenicity and unity. I am glad to hear what John has to say in his Gospel because it is written to give assurance to Christians that the future is now, and nothing in anticipation can be greater than the promise of the present. I love to hear and listen to this realized escathology--what is to come is now here with us!

2005-04-24T19:15:00.000+09:00

God is our refuge

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

2005-04-19T16:19:00.000+09:00

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will in the house of the Lord forever (Psalm 23:6). Seldom can we speak of goodness and mercy/love that will abide with us through life. Why is that? Regardless of culture, Christians can’t proclaim to other people that they are sure that goodness and love will be with them every day of their lives. It is because of the immensity of the challenges and struggles in life, and in the complexity of contemporary life, we are not sure of anything. Because of the lack of a happy and blissful future, Christians are prone to resign to whatever fortune or luck will befall on them (Bahala na ang kapalaran ko).

Culturally speaking Filipinos are very religious and even to the point having unquestioning attitude with whatever is religious. This kind of religious life is a great challenge to all of us especially when we talk about God in Christ in our Shepherd. In Psalm in 23 as in John 10:1-10, God in Christ is the Shepherd who watches over the sheep in the fold. More specifically Jesus tells people that he is the gate for the sheep. A very unique imagery for one who is also considered the good shepherd.

Jenee Woodard tells about the biblical shepherd: Shepherds had a hard life, since they faced all of the hardships of the hostile landscape through which they herded their sheep. Being with the flock, they faced all of the dangers and difficulties that the flock faced, and they were just as vulnerable -- to heat in the day, to cold at night, and to human and animal predators at all times. They slept with their flocks on nights when there were few enough predators for them to sleep at all; they were seen as poor prospects as husbands and fathers, since they had to leave their families alone and vulnerable at night as well.

That's the kind of life Jesus lives for and with us. Jesus journeys with the most vulnerable, and takes on all of their vulnerability. He knows what it's like to be out in the cold. He knows what he's saying when he calls people to leave their homes and villages, and even their families, since he had done the same himself. He knows what it's like to have people think that you're crazy or irresponsible because of what you leave behind and let go of, because people said the same things about him.

And he knows something else, too: this crazy life he lived, and calls us to live, is abundant life (John 14:10). It's THE abundant life, to be precise.How could that be? Jesus of all people knows the risks and the hardships, the cost of the life he's leading. But Jesus is the shepherd, and he knows that as hard as it can be to follow the shepherd, it's much better than being prey for the others, thieves and bandits.

Raymund Schwager has this to say about abundant life: This passage be a companion to the John 10:1-10 conclusion of receiving life more abundantly? Life lived in mimetic rivalry is one in which the basic experience is that of scarcity. In that well-used Girardian example of the children fighting over one toy in the midst of a room full of toys, the children experience that toy they are fighting over as scarce. In the midst of what is actually an abundance, their basic experience is that of scarcity.

New community in Christ begins to melt away the mimetic rivalry such that we can truly begin to experience the abundance that has been there all the time. Christ the Lamb of God who lays down his life for us, only to receive it graciously back from God, is the gate to entering a new life in community, one that operates out of such grace. It is a life of sharing with others the abundance of the Creator which has been here all the time ... except that our being trapped in mimetic rivalry made us blind to it.

2005-04-16T22:33:00.000+09:00

The Good Shepherd

Of bandits, thieves and hired men

2005-04-16T11:21:00.000+09:00

In contrast to the role and function of the Good Shepherd, there are persons and functions mentioned in the Gospel of John 10:1-10, they are the bandits, thieves and the hired man. Listen to what Jesus said:

"I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep" (John 10:1-2).

Who are the thieves and bandits who come in a different way?

The word "bandit" or robber has the connotation of being a revolutionary, or insurrectionist in the context of the Jewish religion. A revolutionary is one who turns the direction of the sacrificial system. He doesn't transform it; he simply redirects it. The system reovlves, but doesn't transform. A genuine revolutionary can be characterized as those who are willing to die to radically transform the system. There's a truth to this in our contemporary life because there are people who wish to be categorized as "revolutionaries" but are not resolved to radically transform whether sacrificial system of religions or the socio-political systems. Jesus stressed here the difference in intention between the Good shepherd and the bandits and robbers in relation to the flock.

Moreover, thieves are categorized together with the bandits or robbers. The flock knows their shepherd and can easily identify the thieves, therefore they refuse to follow the latter. In fact they run away from the thieves because they don't know his voice. True to every relationship in the world. A familiar voice gives assurance and can be a head turner. For those who knows a particular voice would wait patiently to hear what that voice would say to them. The moment the words are spoken by the familiar and respected voice, the flock listens. The voice of the stranger or thief is easily discriminated and the flock run away upon hearing the voice. Interesting but true. Similarly the hired man would be recognized easily by the flock.

By contrast, Jesus says, (John 10:14-15) "I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep." Here Jesus identified himself with the flock--who are victims of various forms of oppression. So shepherding is being in solidarity with the victims of the empire and work with them towards the reversal of system.

Shepherds in Distress

2005-04-14T13:07:00.000+09:00

In both Roman Catholic and Protestant churches the office of the priest and pastor is the best expression of the shepherding role. In recent world history as in the case of the death of Pope John Paul II, many issues came out into the open. The whole Christian church is on fire! This is because many of our shepherds are in distress--they face tremendous stress in their vocation. The shepherds are trying to swim in the church's moral and ethical landscape which, prohibits them to do certain moral acts because these are contrary to the Gospel which they preach. The many experiences of violations of moral norms and Christian ethical standards have come to the point where the members have already come out and indict their shepherds of their immoral acts. In the U.S. itself there are a good number of cases of shepherds priests, pastors, and bishops in distress. It is high time that the laity members should pray for their shepherds.

The Lord is my Shepherd, I will not be in want (Psalm 23:1).

2005-04-13T00:03:00.000+09:00

frank in black

Speaking of the time and place of distress

2005-04-12T23:17:00.000+09:00

Tonight as I draw close to the day's end, that is, I'm about to sleep I am bothered about the incidents that took place last Sunday. I remember the Bible Study session we had in Itaewon which was focused on Psalm 116. Although the materials I had from exegetes gave me a somewhat morbid picture, it is however balanced by the resounding praise and thanksgiving. Listen to some of the lines:

The cords of death entanged me, the anguish of the grave came upon me; I was overcome by trouble and sorrow. Then I called on the name of the Lord: "O Lord save me! Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the Lord has been good to you." (Ps. 116: 3, 7)

Considering that all human beings are created in God's image, the abnormal behavior of human beings are caused either by genetic or social defects. In the past family life is considered a safe haven for persons, especially the young. It has change a lot in modern times. That is the very reason why a house can be home but a home cannot be a house. The very foundation of a home is love, respect and peace. When there is a lack of love whether romantic, philial or agape, it is a miserable family life. If there is a growing commoditization of human relationships, we have no one to blame but ourselves who have fell into the trap of capitalist value system. I believe that international marriages can succeed if there is love and respect, but it cannot survive if at the very beginning it was not motivated by love or the willingness to love.

Filipino women married to Korean men who are in disturbed psychological situation are in one way or the other verbally, physically or sexually abused. The cultural differences is heightened when a man would think that "he bought a wife". A kind of investment and that must give a man joy and satisfaction at his own terms. This kind of mentality will not bring about a happy marriage. Frequent quarrel will result from this, and eventual separation, when one of the partner's tolerance has run out.

Women in this kind of situation is having an existential death--as in having a difficult time with adjusting and understanding their abusive husbands. It is my hope, as we all hope that our friends who are undergoing this "death experiences" will one day rise above it and victoriously praise saying:

In the courts of the house of the Lord--in your midst, O Jerusalem Praise the Lord.(Ps. 116:19)

Unidentified Company

2005-04-11T08:42:00.000+09:00

Walking alone in the rural areas especially embarking on mountain climbing in the Philippines can be a dangerous pursuit. It is important that whenever you go to the countrysides you must have a company preferably local natives who know the terrain and the political situation in the area.

Last week there were two important events that catch the attention of the world--the death and funeral service for Pope John Paul II and last Saturday the wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles the Duchess of Cornwall. These are prominent people in our world and that they can never be mistaken as somebody else. It looks like our Lord Jesus Christ in his resurrected body was incognito even among his disciples. The two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24: 13-25) did not know they were talking to Jesus. Why is this incognito presence of Christ among his people?

The disciples were in a state of shock. They were scared to talk to strangers and especially to those whom they have no association whatsoever. Walking to Emmaus was a kind of escape from the fear-laden experiences of the past few days. Perhaps going to the suburb was a respite for some of his disciples. But an unidentified presence of the Risen Christ was unexpected. His voice and conjectures seem odd to the disciples as they talk about the Law and the Prophets. Was his voice changed because of the resurrection? or the disciples had the slightest idea who that was. The sheep knows the shepherd's voice! Indeed the person talking to them on the road was more than human, because it has the inflection that is characteristically confident and assuring.

John Kavanaugh, S.J. in his meditation The Word Embodied said: The story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus presents a strange state of affairs indeed. Jesus was more with them on their journey, even in their doubt and unbelief, than they actually saw and recognized him and finally believed. And it was only in retrospect that they could see that their hearts were enkindled as they were walking and talkling on the road--even though they did not know that it was he who was explaining to them.

Truth about a person can be veiled by layers of personal commitments and arrangements. This fact encourages us to talk it out with a known or identified company, but God in Christ can also be our unrecognized and unidentified company who longs to be listened to and waits for our company. Try walking the road to Emmaus.

Flipping Earth and Carl Jung

2005-04-06T23:03:00.000+09:00

While resting for two days after my Monday's appointment with my dentist, I learned from the Discovery channel that there are time when the magnetic fields of the earth which determine the four directional poles: north, south, east and west lessen their magnetic flux in the evolutionary processes of the globe. In the past it was observed that the magnetic north variates from the true north at significant degrees, although it continues to variates every year. However, the loss of magnetic flux from the western magnetic field may cause the earth to flip, that is the magnetic north may tilt to the east and even further south--or simply the globe is turned sideward and finaly flips upside down.

Scientists believe that this can happen in thousands of years. It may not happen in our life time but as one of them said, by the time it happens humanity has already prepared how to cope with the new situation--those who life in colder countries will live in the tropics, those in the tropics will live in the cold climate. This scientific fact brings us close to the apocalyptic understanding of a new eon or time. Who knows the new eon will be ushered in when the earth flips and that will be the realization of the reversal of values and truly peace will be experienced after chaos--cosmic and social upheavals.

* * * * *

Every Wednesday since I bought Carl Jung's book on Dreams, I pour my attention to the various dreams and Jung's interpretation mentioned in the book. Inside the crammed sub-way train I read about dreams until my brain is numbed and get a short nap until I reach my destination. I'd like to quote this dream here because it is very brief.

Dream: An actor smashes his hat against the wall, where it looks like a circle divided into eight (8) slices from the black circular center botton.

Jung's interpretation: As certain material not included here shows, the "actor" refers to a definite fact in the dreamer's personal life. Up to now he had maintained a certain fiction about himself which prevented him from taking himself seriously. This fiction has become incompatible with the serious attitude he has now attained. He must give up the actor, for it was the actor in him who rejected the self. The hat refers to the first dream of all, where he put the stranger's hat. The actor throws the hat against the wall, and the hat proves to be a mandala. So the "strange" hat was the self, which at that time--while he was still playing a fictitious role--seemed like a stranger to him (Jung:1974,p.264).

It is very hard to know oneself especially the unconscious part of it. It is only by seeing ourselves from a distance that we get to know who we really are. Our true selves are revealed in how we act out our human will and values. Our true selves are revealed in the way we show agape love to others.

Eastertide, Terri and John Paul

2005-04-03T23:02:00.000+09:00

Today is the second Sunday in Eastertide. Few days ago the parents of Terri Schaivo lost their case of putting back the life saving tubes on their daughter and Terri passed away. In Terri Schaivo's case the main issue was whether or not to prolong the life of a patient who has suffered irreversible brain damage. The U.S courts ruled that there are no basis in prolonging the life of Terri Schaivo. Sixteen years of being attached to the life support systems and without any prospect of recovery is long enough. The question of longevity or quality of life was also put to the fore. In my perspective both should be an experience for all people.

The basic ethical standard used in our contemporary world is premised on beneficiality--this means that if a person acts what amount of good will his/her action bring. On the one hand it is calculating the good an action may bring and on the other having in mind the evil that it may bring. Ethical decisions are influenced by many factors. The family members of a Filipino woman a mother of 7 children who was in coma decided to let go of life support systems because the doctors pronounced that the impact of her cardiac arrest was irreversible. It takes a fortune to sustain the woman with life support system. In a matter of two weeks, the woman died. Terri Schaivo live for 16 years on life support system, but the Filipino woman live for two weeks only.

The news of the ailing Pope John Paul II finally covered the Terri Schaivo's case. Last night he died in his room in Vatican. He's 82 years old when he died and he served the Roman Catholic Church for a long time. For centuries the attitude of the people about the pope especially the Reformed Christians has changed a lot. The pontificate which is the highest post in the Roman Catholic Church is seen as an exemplar of Christian values and advocate for peace, love and unity among peoples and nations. I doubt if Pope John Paul II was really a stunch anti-communist advocate, as what Bill Clinton and George Bush (father) former U.S. presidents had mentioned in their tribute to the demised pope.

It is approriate to talk about death in the context of Christ's resurrection. I believe that the reality of the Risen Christ is in the world today. The tremors of people's struggle for emancipation from traditional coercive systems are indications that soon the victory against the powers of evil will come to fulfillment. The Christian faith articulated by the poor and oppressed will one day bear fruit and justice will roll down life waters and the young men and women will be filled with the spirit and will prophesy of the coming of the new age.

In utter confidence

2005-04-01T15:15:00.000+09:00

As we move on to another weekend we anticipate rest and recreation to enhance our well-being as persons. There are many people and I for one would have preferred to work five days a week that is from Monday to Friday and rest on Saturday and Sunday. For some people spending weekends at home is a kind of respite and taking refuge in the shelter of their home. It seems that our work places have become too crowded and very demanding and we lost ourselves in what we do--just like having no identity inside an assembly plant, and what is more important is the product.

Psalm 16 is a prayer of one who is in grave threat from external forces. This is also considered as a resurrection psalm because of its theological significance with the risen Christ. There is no other Psalm that mentions about the rest of body, but this one has given it a special attention: "Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body will also rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay" (16:9-10). Here we can understand that the Psalmist believes in immortality as characteristic of Ancient Near East religions. In Christianity the resurrection of Jesus has given us the assurance of eternal life.

Another interesting statement the Psalmist mentions is that "The sorrow of those will increase who run after other gods"(16:4a). Running after other gods means replacing Yahweh with somebody or something else in one's life. The Psalmist must have known what it is to run after other gods, such as those that gives momentary pleasures or things that assume important functions and roles in life. Being lured and hooked with these gods increases sorrow. They cannot give security and peace.

Howard Wallace has this thought on the Psalm:

These statements of confidence could easily be taken out of context and read as a kind of prosperity theology, where faith and well-being or security go hand in hand, where faithfulness is the key to pleasant places, a goodly heritage, and pleasures forevermore. But the psalmist is talking about a deeper security than that. Note the context of the psalm. The psalmist seeks protection (v. 1). They speak out of the context of some kind of threat or insecurity. For the psalmist, trust in the Lord is neither an easy thing entertained only in times of relative ease, nor a general statement covering all of life. It is an attitude or position that is truly tested and refined in times of darkness. So if we do read Ps 16:10 in the light of Jesus’ resurrection, as many will this day, it is never out of the shadows of the cross. The psalmist knows fear and insecurity, even possibly the fear of death, and in that context recognizes that their ‘welfare indeed rests on (the Lord)’ (v. 2b as one commentator translates this difficult clause).

In utter confidence we ask God to keep us safe.

Reading without understanding

2005-03-31T22:18:00.000+09:00

I am reminded of my lessons in biblical studies that in order to understand the printed Scripture, you have to consider the various obstacles or barriers in comprehending the printed text. One on the barriers is culture, that includes the original languages on which the Bible were originally written, values, norms and mores of the writers and their intended audience. There is always the possibility of reading the Bible without understanding.

I have resisted several times taking my part in reading the Bible in Korean language in the daily office devotional-meeting. My justification is that I don't want to read the Bible without understanding it. Being integrated into a particular culture is to be able to speak their language. I agree with this fact of life. Not speaking fluently the language of the people where you work does not necessarily mean you don't like their culture. It is rather attributed to the lack of skill and the lack of opportunity to learn it systematically.

Today the bank teller facilitated my transaction. All the while she thought I am transacting a some kind of Korean currency to U.S. dollar money exchange or what. Then I told her this transaction is for a person living in Kyonggi province. She realized that what she's telling me to do was not correct. The transaction was simpler than she thought. What a pity, oftentimes our well-focused attention to all things Korean or all things English can complicate matters.

This reminds me of Isaiah's statement on the possibility of Israel to go back to their own land because the time has come when God will restore them to their land and many had doubted it. He says "Who has understood the mind of the Lord, or instructed him as his counselor?" (Isa. 40:13ff). While it is important to be literate, it is extremely important as well to comprehend and be understanding, for nobody knows what is in the mind of a person.

"Feed My Lambs"

2005-03-31T05:41:00.000+09:00

Jesus and the disciples meet again by the shore of the Sea of Galilee. There was a miraculous catch of fish that morning and Jesus had breakfast with them. After breakfast, they talked. Jesus asked Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you truly love me more than these?" "Yes, Lord he said, you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my lambs." This was followed by two more questions of the same content and intention and Peter said, "Lord you know all things; you know that I love you"(John 21:15-17).

It is on this resurrection event that Jesus verbalized the concept of love among his disciples. Although the teaching about love for one's neighbor and love for one's enemies was given outstanding treatment in his teachings, there was not much articulation on how the disciples should relate with him and with fellow disciples and with the anticipated followers. In many actual life situations, teachers, professors, and all those who are engage in the teaching and nurture of other people especially the young, seldom verbalize their love for their learners and inversely the learners to their teachers. Most often they express it in ways which shows their genuine concern for the students or learners.

Taken in the Christian ethical point of view, Jesus asked Peter if he is willing to bear witness to the love which he himself experienced in the three years ministry they had. Jesus did not intellectualize his relationships with the disciples, nor dwell solely on their capacity to feel. In this sciptural passage, we can feel with Peter how it is to answer a question of intention and commitment. It is just like standing in a wedding ceremony and being asked questions of commitment and you are expected to say "I do."

Every day, we are confronted with the question of intention and commitment. In the midst of growing commodification of labor and life itself, we are always deluded to think that we are no longer bound by the commitments, but human beings capable of making choices. Social contracts no longer seem to be expressions of good intention and commitment but are instruments of gaining profit and control. It is my hope that again and again I will be confronted with the question "Frank, do you love me more than this?" and deep down in my heart and soul I will answer Christ, "You know that I love you."

Unresolved Doubts

2005-03-29T10:10:00.000+09:00

"Unless I see the nail piercings in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it." This is a well articulated doubt about the reality of the resurrection from Thomas, one of the disciples of Jesus. He is a representative of the many contemporary men and women who cannot be persuaded by the mere heresay or rumors. I suppose Christians should have this kind of skill to separate the grain from the chaff. It is through faith in the risen Christ that the disciples had their powerful proclamation even in front of their detractors. The rational faith is very important in our contemporary world, but this should not prevent us from expressing the emotional aspects of it.

A week later when the disciples were having their weekly meeting to know what were the possibilities of the conntinuity of their ministry, which already rocked the bottom line of Greco-Roman and Jewish authority, Jesus appeared to them. The Gospel of John tells us that Jesus pass through a closed door. Then he said "Peace be to you!" Then he told Thomas to verify the authenticity of his crucifixion and resurrection, filled with awe and wonder he said "My Lord and my God!" Jesus reacted in a manner that confronted Thomas with his unbelief, he said "...blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." This does not mean however that faith is non-rational, Jesus emphasizes faith as response to what was historically revealed. The recognition that God has revealed God-self in the past and now is being revealed in inscrutable ways through Jesus Christ is a courageous act of faith.

Personally I believe in Jesus Christ because his love for me and for humanity is unmatched in history. Just like Thomas I can exclaim "My Lord and my God!"

Post-Easter Morning

2005-03-28T10:31:00.000+09:00

"Why did you come away?" I am wondering what would Peter and the beloved disciple be doing after the Easter morning events. In Matthew's Gospel Jesus instructed the disciples to go to Galilee and the Fourth Gospel tells that Jesus prepared a meal of bread and fish by the shore. This gives us an idea that the disciples after the Easter morning resurrection events went back to Galilee and decided to go fishing. Personally, I doubt if the disciples were really opting to go back to what they've been formerly doing for good. I think they're not. Psychologically persons who went through difficult times, would go on retreat and hopes to get through with it.

Anent this, the disciples could have asked the question "Why did you come away?" It is just like graduating from high and college, when friendships have to end, if not suspended. In the case of Jesus and the disciples, they underwent a process of psychological adjustment--both on the affect and cognitive aspects. The separation between the teacher and student at first can be emotionally disruptive, especially when the learning relationships was not feudal but of respect and genuine concern. But later the teacher in search for his or her own future would inevitably leave and the learners become teachers themselves.

There is that assurance as well that Jesus will come again, in the same manner he left them. He ascended to heaven and now seated at the right hand of God the Parent. While I hope for his coming back, that does not preoccupy my life now, because what is more important is how put to practice what I've learned from Jesus. The post-Easter days of the disciples as we know from the book of Acts of the Apostles were filled with awe and wonder-they change the world in which they live. They had traverse dangerous places and situations. They had weathered the storms of life. Our post-Easter days is living in the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. With that I'm greatly challenged to get a tune-up with the Spirit's fire.

How's Easter in Seoul?

2005-03-27T21:56:00.000+09:00

Dawn Easter Service at 5:00 A.M. it's our second round here in Seoul. No doubt the sermon was fiery and the Choir anthem was okay and after the service a cup of ginger tea and boiled egg. Later at 9:00 A.M. I attended the high school youth service where at a segment of the youth population of the church is a bit expressive in comparison to the the adult congregation.

If I were in the Philippines, much could be said about and experience on Easter Sunday. Preparations were made way ahead for the liturgical movement from Maundy Thursday to Easter Sunday. I can recall the mood settings vary from the Thursday which is more reflective--the betrayal, the agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, arrest and trial. Then Good Friday--the conviction, crucifixion and death--it is mourning and contrition. Saturday is mourning still. Sunday is triumphant--although ironic Filipinos make Easter very celebrative. Easter Sunday is a fiesta or Pascua.

Black Saturday is Glorious Indeed

2005-03-26T22:19:00.000+09:00

Today is Black Saturday or Sabado de gloria. It is black because Christianity observe it as a day when Jesus' mortal body was laid in the tomb. As the Gospel records it, on the day after the Sabbath day, that is, on the first day of the week, Jesus rose from the dead--thus the reality of the empty tomb. Easter Sunday became the centerpiece of the Christian faith. The resurrected Jesus is the Lord of life and history. He is Jesus Christ who is alive and lives and works among us.

In my internet search for Easter meditations I came across the web site called 'Homiletics on line' where it describes the modern method of dead body preservation called 'cryogenic treatment'. Let me briefly quote this material:

The body of baseball superstar Ted Williams has been put in a freezer, in the hope that this will give him a shot at new life. Sadly, there are plenty of people who are content with a Cryonics Christ. Cryogenics has been all over the news this past year, largely because of the controversy surrounding the freezing of baseball superstar Ted Williams, the "Splended Splinter," one of the greatest players in history and the last Major Leaguer to bat over 400 in a season. When Ted died on July 5 last Summer, a fight broke among his children, pitting his oldest daughter against his youngest son. The daughter wanted his father cremated and his ashes scattered off the Florida coast, as his 1996 will made clear. But the son and another daughter wanted to put the slugger on ice, arguing that they signed a pact with their father in November 2000, agreeing that their bodies would be frozen. The son had Ted's body carted to a cryogenics lab in Scottsdale, ARizona, shortly after his death, and he remains there today, suspended upside down wuth two other bodies in the tomb of liquid nitrogen frozen at minus 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

So Williams was put on ice on the off chance that someday someone might be able to thaw him out and spring him loose.

Well, this is quite interesting. What does this means to us? A possibility of believing in a frozen Christ or becoming frozen Christians! I can't imagine a Christ that is frozen inside a freezer and then take him out or thaw him when you need him. This Christ was not frozen, he is risen from the dead. He is alive and with us now. Happy Easter friends!