Mission World - March, 2008
Mission Intention for March
That Christians persecuted because of
the Gospel in various parts of the world and in various manners may be
sustained by the strength of the Holy Spirit and continue to bear
witness courageously and openly to the Word of God.
Importance of networking, cooperation stressed to serve migrants' needs
Malaysia (UCAN) - About 65 people attending an Asian bishops' consultation have explored deeply the situation of migrant families in the continent and the Church's role in ministering to them.
Archbishop Charles Maung Bo of Yangon, FABC-OHD's chairman, said in his address that the Church recognised the need for greater participation from more Asian nations to serve the pastoral needs of migrants and refugees.
"We see around us events and trends that are tearing apart the very fabric of Asian societies," the Myanmar prelate said. Today's phenomenon of people being moved for various reasons, he pointed out, has generated "dehumanising poverty or insane violence and servitude."
With economic globalisation, people seeking better livelihoods away from home are caught in webs of greed, exploitation and manipulation by the rich and powerful. Many such people, participants noted, are deprived of basic human rights and dignity, in the name of "economic growth and production." Participants asserted that the whole Church must be sensitised to migrants' needs.
Southern Philippine farmers return to Manila, resume fight for land
Manila (UCAN) - Farmers backed by bishops announced they would march again because the government did not act on their petition to stop a food corporation from turning their claimed farmland into a piggery.
Farmer Bajekjek Merida read a declaration after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ordered the contested 144 hectares of land returned to the country's agrarian reform program.
A total of 137 farmers, including indigenous Higaoonon, claim the area in Sumilao, Bukidnon province, 835kms southeast of Manila, as part of their ancestral domain as well as land already granted to them under the government's agrarian reform program.
Merida's group will resume protests against San Miguel Foods Incorporated (SMFI)'s construction of a piggery on the property, which another developer had received court authorization to convert into an agro-industrial complex.
Arroyo authorized an executive order revoking the conversion order after 55 of the Sumilao farmers marched for two months to the presidential office. They ended that protest on Dec. 21 "despite our doubts and reservations," to give "this president the space to fulfill her promise," the farmers wrote in their manifesto.
They said they are resuming their protest because "the government did nothing." This time, the farmers said, they will go to schools and churches to "knock at the hearts and conscience of the ordinary people as we continue to knock on those of the powerful," until farmers are granted the land.
Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo of Manila heads the social action, justice and peace commission of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), said SMFI president Ramon Ang had called him about a possible settlement with the farmers.
The bishop said Ang "did not make any concrete offer" but proposed "jobs to the farmers' families and 200 hectares of land in another area in exchange for the Sumilao land."
SMFI had already invested 2.5 billion pesos (US$61 million) in the piggery, Ang reportedly told Bishop Pabillo.
Rene Pena was among farmers at the press conference. He told UCA News all the land in the area is owned by other people and a large part is planted with pineapple. "Where would they get this land to trade with us?" he asked.
Cardinal Rosales, in his message, asked the government to stand by what is "true and just." He later told UCA News he got involved because it concerns justice and he was bishop of Malaybalay for 11 years until 1993. Malaybalay diocese's territory includes all but one town of Bukidnon province.
"The Church stands with the poor and cannot allow business gains to trample on the justice owed these farmers who had prior rights," the cardinal added.
