Maundy Thursday--The final wash for love and a morsel of bread for the way

The final wash for love and a morsel of bread for the way
Maundy Thursday
March 29, 2018
By Frank J. Hernando

Scripture Text: John 13:1-35

1. It has long been I have not led a Maundy Thursday liturgy, I estimate it to be sixteen years and similarly with Good Friday service. Both liturgical events I have missed leading in Korea because the Presbyterian local churches we are connected with do not hold these services during the holy week but do not miss to hold Easter Day services. No holy week holidays here in Korea, like Maundy Thursday and Good Friday like what we have in the Philippines. These two important days in Lent are celebrated in the weekly or monthly Lord’s Supper liturgy.

2. Maundy Thursday as captured in the liturgical sequence is part of the Passion narratives in the Gospels. The events that takes place at the Jewish Passover feast which Jesus and his disciples observed took place in a place temporary leased for the occasion. In the Passover meal that Jesus and his disciples prepared resembled the established Jewish ritual meal which is comparable to the descriptions of the Passover meal in the book of Exodus. The narrative of the John provides the details of how Jesus dealt with the impending betrayal of Judas and how he directed the fluidity of emotional tide among the disciples. We can follow Jesus lead in the Passover meal and the post meal disclosures of Jesus with the disciples.

3. First, Jesus knew that on the night of the Passover Feast is the time when he willingly accept the reality of betrayal, violence and death that his betrayer and persecutors will do and inflict on him. There is that resolute resolve that his love for his people and humanity as whole outweighs the anxiety of separation from family and disciples and the pain of physical violence and the dying process that leaves a human person helpless and would rather choose to be shot by a bullet from a gun than from wounds that torture one until the last breath.

4. The extent of pain that humans endure can be unbearable. But when someone is there to assure us that after the experience of severe pain, the amount of pain is not like we think it to be. Our mental and psychological response to relational break ups, such those of lovers, or marriage partners, and other forms of social relations, all depends on how we are willing to go through and endure the pain for a greater goal or cause. This is very essence of John’s capture of Jesus resolve, “...knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself”(v.3-4). The inner predisposition has been put into action.

5. The intrinsic tendencies of betrayal in Judas and in everybody in that dining room were awakened and it looks like a bomb that can explode and destroy all that are in close proximity to it. Worse still is the characterization of intent to betray as the devil, a personification of a destroyer doing maniacal or one ready to do a frenzy killing spree. But first it must find a willing host.

6. In many ways, betrayal and malignant evil is nourished in the mind and unleashes its destructive force in an opportune time. That is the reason why Jesus has to counter the growing restiveness among the disciples when he hinted that one of them will betray him. The restiveness was one of witch hunt and a mixture of self blame for not doing much for the movement for the kingdom of God and self preservation as there was an impending threat from the Jewish and Roman authorities are spying on them and any time they could be arrested and jailed.

7. So Jesus started to wash his disciples’ feet as he intended. Aside from Peter all of them allowed their feet to be wash from the water that Jesus poured in a basin. Peter as one of the closest disciples refused the washing of his feet, but Jesus explained that he may understand the meaning of this act plainly, but he will, later. Water cleansing as symbolic of cleansing of impure intentions and desires is what Jesus indicated to Peter. The disciples were clean Jesus said, but one of them is not, referring to Judas betrayal.

8. While the foot washing ensued Jesus mentioned that one of them will betray him and this awakened discordant feeling toward and so Jesus made a hint, that at meal time when the disciple he loved asked, “Lord, who is it?” Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” So when he had dipped the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot. After he received the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “Do quickly what you are going to do.” (Jn 13: 26-27).

9. A morsel of bread, a sop dipped in a dish and given to Judas was the act of identification of the betrayer. The act of dipping a sop in a liquid at dinner serving as a toast for an important guest joining the meal is an honorable gesture. The intent of giving Judas a sop dipped in wine or olive and honey was an expression of love and hospitality for the one who may be have desired death and destruction for Jesus and put into danger fellow disciples.After he received the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “Do quickly what you are going to do.” Judas left the place and in the dark of night pursued his intention to betray Jesus and received the payment for handing over Jesus to the Jewish and Roman authorities.

10. Maundy Thursday is significantly about the remembering the Last Supper Jesus celebrated with the disciples in Jerusalem on the Feast of the Passover. The other Gospel narrate about the words Jesus uttered during the meal, “For I tell you that I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes.” And He took the bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body, given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you. (Lk 22:19-20).

11. John’s Gospel emphasized the centrality of God’s unconditional love even for those who hated him and posed a threat to the disciples and followers. In the entire pericope of John 13, Jesus emphasized that God’s love is incomparable to the love humans have known. However, learning and living his commandment to love will somehow change their lives. I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (Jn 13: 34-35). May God’s love in Jesus Christ reconcile us to God and to one another. Amen+++

Assertiveness for freedom and peace-Passion/Palm Sunday Reflection

Assertiveness for freedom and peace
Passion/Palm Sunday
March 25, 2018
By Frank J. Hernando

Scripture text: Luke 19: 28-40
Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King
28 After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29 As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, 30 “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.’”

32 Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. 33 As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?”

34 They replied, “The Lord needs it.”

35 They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. 36 As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.

37 When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:

38 “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”[b]
“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”

40 “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”


I woke up at 6:00 A.M. on Palm/Passion Sunday morning to go to my Children’s Sunday School service at PROK Kangnam Church in Kangseo-gu, Seoul. At eight I was out of the house and walked hurriedly to the bus stop near Hongdae subway station with a cool mist of the morning but only to know the fog was of high level of fine industrial dust that pollutes Seoul’s atmosphere. At the bus stop there were passengers waiting for their bus ride to Incheon airport and to other destinations in Seoul and the Gyeonggi Province. A woman cuddling her baby and standing beside her husband with two huge luggages were refused a ride in an airport limousine bus. But the other two single passengers were allowed on the bus. The bus driver was signalling an “x” sign with his hands. They might be travelling to Kimpo Airport and the bus will not pass by that way. I waited for mine, it was either bus 5712 or 604. I saw on the overhead digital screen that my buses come after 3-4 minutes. Bus 5712 came first. The 25 minutes bus ride was very routine every Sunday morning and the streets were not as animated as it would be on weekdays. There were no sounds of roosters’ crowing, nor the early morning sound of religious procession from a local catholic church, with a slow beating of drums in a processional march rhythm that is less symphonic to hear.

Domingo de Ramos or Palm Sunday is celebrated with display of young coconut palm tree branches with intricate designs by local artists and some are accented with colorful ribbon ties. It is just an ordinary Sunday morning in Seoul and most people were asleep until late in the morning, aside from those who need to go early morning Protestant services either at 7:00 or 9:00. Our Children’s worship started at 9:15 and after singing songs led by one of the teachers I gave my children’s sermon on Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem. I did some revision and improvisation of the sermons4kids.com script. I introduced cheers and yells for Team Korea Winter Olympic medalists who were coming to town in a parade. The children joined in and participated well during the sermon.

The praises or cheers to Jesus as he rode on a donkey into Jerusalem was probably loud, when they shouted “Hosanna! Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” It was a spectacle for the onlookers and the unsuspecting residents of the city. But for those who have been anticipating a some kind of revolt, or perhaps a sort of “terrorist attack,” Jesus parade on the city streets could have awakened the anxiety of political and religious leaders at the center of Jewish religion and the center of control of the Roman empire in first century Palestine. In this parade, Jesus was acclaimed as “king” and in other Gospel texts, he is a king in the lineage of David. Of course Korean kids made an easy reference to their Korean monarchial history. Herod Antipas tetrarch of Judea and Perea was the ruler of the Jews under the control of the Roman empire.

This parade looks very spontaneous not just by the disciples but also by the grassroot people who were following Jesus’ teaching, preaching, healing ministries and exorcisms. The people exercised their basic freedom of assembly and of raising their own king, who is the opposite but greater than Herod Antipas. That assumption from the people was taken as rebellion and the leaders of this movement to overthrow the Jewish and Roman leaders in Judea, must be arrested and punished. But Jesus’ parade was about peace, not war. Hear what the people yelled, “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” Was peace in itself a threat? Or the absence of peace or shalom was the real threat to the people? I think it is the second. The absence of peace threatens the people’s wellbeing and prosperity.

Marcus J. Burg describes the socio-economic situation in which Jesus did his ministry stating that 90 percent of the people were peasants and 10 percent comprise the ruling elites. Meanwhile 66 percent of the wealth was concentrated in the hands of the ruling elite while only 33 percent was thinly scattered to the 90 percent. People who live in the present with similar circumstances with that of the people in the first century Palestine, would assume similar stances with those who were looking a peaceable king. They called him “king” and he came in the name of God. Well, Herod Antipas and Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor knew very well that this kind of mass action is a challenge to their power.

The peasants who joined the joyful entry of Jesus into Jerusalem did not hesitate to shout out and to claim their freedom to raise a peaceable king. They have overcome their fears and have given their time and resources to participating in a meaningful and purposeful program that will change their lives in the long term. However, members of the ruling elite saw and heard what the people were doing and the possible impact of their actions on the existing structures of economic and political relations in society. So in verse 39, Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” That means, tell them to stop because they are disturbing or rocking the social order. Jesus replied to them “I tell you, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out” (v.40).

Tagalog version Luke 19: 39-40:
39 Sinabi naman sa kanya ng ilang Pariseong kasama ng karamihan, “Guro, patigilin nga po ninyo ang inyong mga alagad.”

40 Sumagot siya, “Sinasabi ko sa inyo, kapag tumahimik sila, ang mga bato na ang siyang sisigaw.”


Interestingly, at the point of harassment and political repression Jesus asserted the people’s right to speak out and to join their people’s movement for genuine social change. Can the stones cry out? The muted stones are the mass of peasants who have been left on their own and fend for themselves or survive just as lifeless stones on a dry river or weary roadside, will shout out for their release from bondage into freedom. They may silenced Jesus’ disciples because Jesus has command on them, but not the peasantry or those who have been silenced for long.

We are witnesses to how the masses of people in millions have toppled down a corrupt government in South Korea, or how the Filipino people have ended Marcos despotic regime, and other experiences of ordinary people and Christians committed to justice and peace who are sacrificing their life and limb so as to bring about genuine social change. Now the struggle for respect for human rights, peace and social justice continuous in the Philippines under the Duterte regime. The masses of people who are suffering cannot be repressed forever. For like the inanimate stones that the Jewish and Roman authorities in Jesus’ time believed to be trampled upon only have started to shout out and risen up. In the long run, Jesus entry into Jerusalem was not so much about Jesus’ personal triumph, but the triumph of God’s empowered people.

On the personal level, Jesus entry into Jerusalem is an invitation for every person regardless of social class or race to reconsider one’s perspective on peace. Personal and family economic and social security is not detached from the greater issues in society and the world and inversely as well. In the afternoon of Passion/Palm Sunday our cellphones sounded the emergency alarm that high level of concentration of fine dust particles will occur on Monday and the entire week. People in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province especially must wear face masks to protect their lungs from lethal impact of the industrial pollutants floating in the atmosphere.

Meanwhile the Korean people have very strong political stances on their erring political leaders, like former presidents Park Geun-Hye convicted of corruption while in office and Lee Myung-Bak being arraigned for corruption cases are right now both imprisoned and are facing long jail sentences ranging from 30 to 40 years. It is expected that people will also be strong willed in controlling environmental pollution by reducing the use of personal and family cars and use public transportation which are very convenient as well.

Incumbent President Moon Jae-In has been making unprecedented strides toward negotiations for peace and reunification of the Korean Peninsula. Inter-Korean exchange visits and dialogue has been going on since the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. He also sent the Director for National Security to Washington DC to invite US President Donald Trump for personal meeting and dialogue with DPRK Leader Kim Jung-Eun and it has been scheduled in May this year. All these will be triumphant when the masses of people will support these positive initiatives for lasting and sustainable peace and eventual reunification will take place. May God help us understand God’s will this Holy Week.+++

NDFP suggests release of political prisoners from presumptive Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte

“While we look forward to the realization of the general and unconditionalamnest y of all political prisoners extended by presumptive president
Duterte, we also push for the immediate dismissal of trumped-up charges against National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace
consultants,” Cristina Palabay, secretary general of Karapatan said at today’s hearing of multiple murder charges against Benito and Wilma
Tiamzon, Adelberto Silva, Vicente Ladlad, Randall Echanis, Rafael Baylosis, Satur Ocampo and Prof. Jose Maria Sison.



The Tiamzon couple and Silva are among the 18 peace consultants of the NDFP who are detained under the BS Aquino government; while Ladlad, Echanis, Baylosis and Ocampo are temporarily released on bail for the same recycled criminal charge. Sison, the NDFP’s chief political consultant, has been a political refugee based in the Netherlands since 1988.



“The Tiamzons are also facing fabricated charges of kidnapping with serious illegal detention at the Quezon City Regional Trial Court, murder and frustrated murder in Laoang, Northern Samar and illegal possession of explosives in Toledo, Cebu,” Palabay said.


“The continued detention of the NDFP peace consultants violates not only the GPH-NDFP agreement on safety and immunity guarantees, but also an
expression of how the Aquino regime turned against the peace negotiation in derision.”


“Wilma Austria-Tiamzon, is currently suffering from “spondylolisthesis”, a displacement of a vertebra, while Silva already underwent triple
angioplasty, “which makes their release our urgent call,” Palabay said.


“While we await for the release of all political prisoners, we also prepare to send the biggest criminal in jail—BS Aquino, for all the crimes he committed against the Filipino people,” she added.


Karapatan cited the 318 victims of extra-judicial killings, 30 enforced disappearances, 583 cases of frustrated killings, the 106,068 victims of forced evacuations mostly in Mindanao communities, and the 543 political prisoners who are all victims of BS Aquino’s counter-insurgency program

Oplan Bayanihan. ###

http://www.karapatan.org/Karapatan%2C+progressive+groups+call+for+immediate+dismissal+of+false+charges+against+peace+consultants

Thirty years of EDSA UPRISING

*Press Statement*
*February 25, 2016*
 
*Reference: Marie Hilao-Enriquez, Chairperson, 0917-5616800
*
* Angge Santos, Media Liaison, 0918-9790580*

*30 years of EDSA uprising:
<http://www.karapatan.org/30+years+of+EDSA+uprising%3A+People%E2%80%99s+discontentment+persists%2C+rage+mounts>People’s
discontentment persists, rage mounts
<http://www.karapatan.org/30+years+of+EDSA+uprising%3A+People%E2%80%99s+discontentment+persists%2C+rage+mounts>*
http://www.karapatan.org/30+years+of+EDSA+uprising%3A+People%E2%80%99s+discontentment+persists%2C+rage+mounts
 
Thirty years after the people’s victory to overthrow the Marcos fascist,
corrupt, and puppet regime looms the threat of the return of the Marcos’
son, confidently inching his way to the realm of power with his well of
resources from the loot of the past. The past that Marcos Jr. arrogantly
refers to as the country’s glorious days.
Marie Hilao-Enriquez, Karapatan chairperson said the threat of the return
of the Marcoses “Clearly, shows that after 30 years of EDSA and five
succeeding regimes later, the same unjust social structures that
necessitate a revolution persist,” adding that, “only a determined people
and their decisive action can bring about a genuine change—freedom and
prosperity, a humane society and just and lasting peace.
 
The five regimes who held the reins of power, she said, “not only failed to
uplift the nation, but also to truly serve the majority of the poor
Filipinos. They harped on the wrongs of the preceding regimes to cover up
the essentially the same oppressive and exploitative system they
perpetuate. The masses have been anesthetized for a second after EDSA have
awakened to the same harsh realities, unchanged by the promises and hopes
of EDSA.”
 
Hilao-Enriquez added that the BS Aquino regime, the latest of the regimes
that followed the dictatorship “desperately failed to sustain the people’s
victory and fulfil their hopes. Instead, like his predecessors, he
continued to deceive the people with statistics of a farce development,
albeit the statistics of the increasing number of poor and hungry,” which
is ironic, she said, because B. S. Aquino III is a son of a Martial Law
martyr, Ninoy, and the so-called icon of democracy, Cory.
 
BS Aquino, like his predecessors, catered to his clique and foreign
master’s interest to the detriment of the greater majority. He compromised
sovereignty with his signing of the controversial Enhanced Defense
Cooperation Agreement (EDCA). He gave up patrimony by allowing foreign
corporations to engage in unbridled exploration and extraction of the
country’s mineral resources.
 
“Unemployment, landlessness, corruption, dwindling social services, low
wages and pensions that could not cope with continued spiralling of prices
of basic commodities, criminal negligence of victims of disasters, high
cost of education worsened by new policies, such as the K-12, and a lot
more debacles characterized the B. S. Aquino regime.”
 
Worse, Hilao-Enriquez said, “he adopted past administrations’ solution to
quell the people’s unrest. He activated his killing machine with a
rehashed counterinsurgency operational plan, Oplan Bayanihan, courtesy of
Pentagon.”
 
As Aquino steps down, he leaves behind a grim statistics of 306 extra
judicial killings, 27 enforced disappearances, 15 massacres, 108,938
evacuees mostly from militarized areas, 557 political prisoners, including
19 National Democratic Front peace consultants.
 
Realization from experience is a catalyst. No substantive change will occur
for as long as the interest of the ruling elite and its US imperialist
master is top of the agenda. No substantive change will occur for as long
as the great majority remains in its dire plight. “Only the people’s
collective and decisive action can reverse the oppressive and exploitative
system we are all in,” ended Hilao-Enriquez. ###
 
 
 

The Philippine govt should Stop political harassment of labor orgs and progressive churches

AN URGENT APPEAL FOR SOLIDARITY AND ACTION

Dear NCCP friend and supporters:

I write to you that you help us raise protest against the recent harassment of the family of one of our NCCP staff members and the ongoing harassment against the government employees union COURAGE. 

On June 28, 2015, Raquel L. Toquero, national staff of the Confederation for Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees (COURAGE), and her husband Mervin H. Toquero, the acting program secretary of the Program Unit on Faith, Witness and Service of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP), were having breakfast at their home in Cavite with their three children and preparing to attend church. At about 8:00 a.m., two men claiming to be soldiers suddenly appeared at their kitchen door asking for Raquel. They refused to show their identification cards or their mission orders. They said that “they wanted to talk to Raquel for they know what she has been doing ....” 

What Raquel “has been doing” is fighting for workers to enjoy their rights and receive decent wages. COURAGE contends for a national monthly minimum wage of 16,000 pesos per month, or about US$350, for private as well as public workers. Since April 2015, COURAGE union officers and organizers have had to face more than 20 incidents like this one involving Raquel and Mervin Toquero. The incident left the family agitated and threatened as it happened inside their family compound where Mervin’s father, Bishop Solito K. Toquero, a retired bishop of the United Methodist Church and former vice chairperson of the NCCP also resides. Naturally, the Toquero family is concerned about their safety, especially in the current environment of impunity that prevails in the Philippines. Indeed, human rights defenders in the Philippines who have had similar experiences to those of the Toquero family earlier often faced continued harassment and became victims of even more serious human rights violations, including arrest on false charges, extrajudicial killings and disappearances.

It is in this grave context that NCCP now seeks your solidarity and action to call on the Philippine government to stop its harassment of trade union organizers. This recent spate of harassment against leaders and officers of COURAGE, and of other defenders of the constitutional and international human rights must stop. We also covet your prayers for our ongoing efforts for human rights. Thank you very much.

Grace and Peace

Rev. Fr. Rex R.B. Reyes, Jr.

General Secretary

National Council of Churches in the Philippines

 

Please write to:

H.E. Benigno C. Aquino III

President of the Republic

Malacañang Palace

Manila Philippines

E-mail: op@president.gov.ph

 

Atty. Leila De Lima, 

Secretary, Department of Justice

Padre Faura Street

Ermita, Manila 1000

Republic of the Philippines

E-mail: lmdelima@doj.gov.ph / lmdelima.doj@gmail.com

 

Ret. Lt. Gen. Voltaire Gazmin, 

Secretary, Department of National Defense

Camp Emilio Aguinaldo, Quezon City

Philippines

 

Commission on Human Rights Of The Philippines

SAAC Building, Commonwealth Avenue

UP Complex, Diliman, Quezon City

Philippines

You can also release statements of support for the COURAGE unionists and to call on Philippine state agents to stop such attacks.

Write letters of concern to the UN Special Rapporteurs on the Protection of the Rights of Human Rights Defenders via defenders@ohchr.org , to the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression via freedex@ohchr.org , to the UN Special Rapporteur on Peaceful Assembly and of Association via freeassembly@ohchr.org , and other relevant international human rights mechanisms; 

The following letter may serve as a guide as you express your concern

Dear ...

 

We are alarmed to learn from the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) that one of its staff, Mervin Toquero, and his wife, Raquel are being harassed by persons claiming to be members of the military. We strongly condemn this brazen act of harassment perpetrated against Mervin and Raquel Toquero and their family.

The harassment incident took place on June 28, 2015 at the residence of the Toqueros in Cavite. Two men appeared at their door at 8:00 a.m. claiming to be soldiers and looking for Raquel,  a national staff  of a government employees union, Confederation for Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees ( COURAGE). The men refused Mervin’s request that they show their identity papers and mission order and that they have their conversation in the balcony. Instead, the men peered through the window and called to Raquel, who was inside the house, to say they know her activities and offered to help her, handing her a paper with the name, Delia, and the number 09261430628 on it.

The incident left the family feeling gravely threatened. They have reason to be concerned about their safety given the climate of impunity in the country. In most cases, the extrajudicial killings of human rights defenders were preceded by systematic harassment of the victims similar to the one experienced by Mervin and Raquel Toquero and their family. 

We are concerned that the harassment perpetrated against Mervin and Raquel Toquero and their family may be part of your Government’s national security policy and legitimizes the use of threats, harassment and intimidation to quell dissent and protests against government policies. We are aware that this is an ongoing campaign of harassment that has been targeting union activists, in particular the officers, staff and organizers of COURAGE (Confederation for Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees). In the last several months, COURAGE has documented 20 cases of union members being harassed by persons claiming to be members of the military and the police. 

We call on you to ensure that the legitimate rights of those involved in labor organizing are respected and that people be protected from forms of harassment and intimidation.

Mr. President, the violation of the rights of Mervin and Raquel Toquero, COURAGE members and other human rights defenders must be stopped immediately.

We call on you to guarantee their safety by ordering the military and police to halt immediately this campaign of harassment and threat against Mervin and Raquel Toquero and their family, COURAGE leaders and members and all human rights defenders.

“Accountability rather than blame…reconciliation rather than retribution…peace rather than war”--NCC-Philippines

The National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) together with all in our nation continues to mourn the deaths of those who lost their lives in the tragic conflict in Mamasapano, Maguindanao. We mourn with the grieving families of the PNPSAF (Philippine National Police Special Action Force) members, we weep with the MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front) families who have lost loved ones, with those elements that the PNP had engaged as force multipliers and with the civilians who were also killed and injured.

Fr. Rex RB. Reyes, Jr., General Secretary of the NCCP said “we join the nation in questioning why our police were so inadequately coordinated and equipped for the encounter they were engaged in, we question why the ceasefire protocols agreed to by the government with the MILF were not respected, we question what role president Aquino had in ordering this tragic operation, and the real reasons behind its prosecution.”

“We find it incomprehensible” said Fr. Reyes “why the Administration of President Aquino, that has so strongly stated it is all for peace, would engage in such an adventurist operation when its plans for a peace settlement were at such a critical stage.” Fr Reyes said that “we are outraged that what appears to be a poorly coordinated and ill-conceived operation, has not only resulted in the loss of precious lives on all sides, but has given reason for the voices of those who seek war rather than peace in Mindanao to unfortunately find strength and support.”

The NCCP fears that these events challenge the authenticity of President Aquino’s commitment to peace. Fr Reyes said “We fear that rather than bringing the nation closer to peace, the ineptitude of our President has brought us closer to war.” From the tragic experiences of the past it is clear that the loss of life, the displacement, the loss of livelihoods that would result from any renewed conflict in Mindanao would be even worse than the events that unfolded in the corn fields of Mamasapano, Maguindanao. Fr. Reyes said “We call on all parties to the conflict in Mindanao to do all within their power to pursue peace. We call on our political leaders of all persuasions to seek to calm our nation at this critical time rather than to inflame sentiments of revenge. We call on our president for transparency, honesty and contrition where needed. We pray that there may be accountability rather than blame, there may be reconciliation rather than retribution, and there may be peace rather than war.” “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” (Matt 5:9)



REV. FR. REX RB. REYES, Jr.

General Secretary – NCCP

US, Malacañang should answer for the Mamasapano Disaster—NDFP peace consultants--KARAPATAN

Press Statement

February 4, 2015



US, Malacañang should answer for the Mamasapano Disaster—NDFP peace consultants

http://www.karapatan.org/NDFP+peace+consultants+Mamapaso+incident



Benigno S. Aquino III has been, as usual, very glib (but obviously very evasive) in trying hard to explain the mystery of where the command and responsibility were for the operations of the Special Action Force (SAF) contingent that terribly failed and suffered a big number of its casualties (44 SAF forces killed) in its Mamasapano, Maguindanao operations last January 25. Twelve more SAF forces were wounded in action.


Aside from the SAF casualties, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) also suffered eight casualties and its breakaway group, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) also suffered six casualties. There were also civilian casualties in the Tukanalipao barrio of Mamasapano that was attacked by the SAF forces.

The unusually large, 392-man SAF operations contingent was sent, admittedly with clearance from Malacañang, to arrest the two elements in the U.S. list of "most wanted terrorist" operating in the Philippines, and supposedly reported to have been spotted in Mamasapano, Maguindanao.

That the operation was actually a directly U.S.-commanded one is seen from the fact that it was coursed by the U.S. through Malacañang and spuriously skipped all other lines from the top down to the local level—including the Department of Interior and Local Government that supposedly has supervision over the Philippine National Police (PNP) and its SAF, current PNP leadership and the local police/military commands (including the Western Mindanao Command and 6th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army), all of whom had no knowledge at all of what was going on.

Suspected Malaysian "terrorist" Zulkipli bin Hir (also known as "Marwan") with a $5-million bounty for his head, and a Filipino "terrorist" Basit Usman, with a $2-million bounty for his head, were supposed to be the targets of the 392-man, big-scale police-military operation of the SAF forces that were gathered from various units of the SAF, including from its national headquarters in Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City, Metro Manila, for this simple operation.

There is no verification yet of the SAF's boast that their operation succeeded in neutralizing "Marwan", who was supposedly killed in the operation.

What actually happened was that the SAF forces not only utterly failed in their operations, but committed a very big mistake and major violation in entering an area where the MILF forces and their families reside, such that most of the fighting that took place—and that decimated large numbers from the SAF—was actually with the local MILF forces in the area, and also inflicted casualties not only among the MILF forces but also among their civilian families. This, as the area unilaterally intruded into by the SAF attacking forces is part of the territory covered by the MILF's 105th Base Command.

The MILF forces only rightfully acted in their self-defense and the defense of their loved ones and community.

As there were also, in the area, forces of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), a breakaway group of the MILF, there was also some fighting between forces of the SAF and the BIFF.

There is now so much flak over who really have been in command at the top level of the SAF's Mamasapano attack—“admittedly" Malacañang, and according to Malacañang, suspended PNP Chief, Police General Alan Purisima. This, even if Purisima's "authority" is questionable because he had for some time already been suspended and replaced for charges of large-scale corruption against him. Purisima's replacement, Deputy Director General Leonardo Espina, has denied any knowledge of the plan and of the actual attack.

Worse, the SAF's Mamasapano attack grossly violated a standing peace talks and ceasefire agreement between the present Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GPH) and the MILF. The GPH, including the PNP and the SAF, should first have communicated and coordinated with the Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities and, through this, with the MILF, as required by the already-made peace agreement awaiting legislative approval and the still-continuing peace process between the GPH and the MILF.

As Malacañang has main full local reponsability for the SAF's failed January 25 operations in Mamasapano, Maguindanao and for the casualties such operations inflicted not only on the SAF forces, but also on MILF forces, on the local civilians and others, Malacañang should be made to principally answer for the failed operations, the casualties and the violations of the peace accords and process, and other related negative effects of the SAF operations.

Benigno S. Aquino III has also to answer for the dire and bloody results of his utter puppetry to the U.S., including its negative effects on the GPH-MILF peace process.

A related serious questions that needs to be asked of him and his regime is if he and his regime is really interested in the peace process—not only with the MILF, but also with others including the National Democratic Front of the Philippines(NDFP).

It is the U.S., however, that has been on top of it all and should be made to principally answer and be made to pay for all the violations, intrusions, casualties and other damages.


NDFP Peace Consultants
detained in Camp Bagong Diwa,
Taguig City, Metro Manila

ALAN JAZMINES
EMETERIO ANTALAN
LEOPOLDO CALOZA
TIRSO ALCANTARA
LOIDA MAGPATOC

January 30, 20115
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