Auckland Philippines Solidarity

Justice for Father Pops – solidarity statement from NZ religious leaders

On the of 17th October in Arakan Valley, North Cotabato, Philippines Father Fausto Tentorio, an Italian missionary, was shot dead.  Father Pops, as he was known by Arakan Valley locals, was a staunch advocate of the struggles of the local indigenous people against mining companies displacing local residents  from their land and causing environmental destruction.  The following statement was published on the Mindanao Examiner website.

“But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” Amos 5:24

JUSTICE FOR FR. FAUSTO TENORIO! JUSTICE FOR ALL VICTIMS OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS!

We, leaders and members of the clergy and church-based justice and peace advocacy programmes in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, are greatly shocked and saddened over the news that Italian missionary Fr. Fausto Tentorio of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Mission (PIME) was brutally shot dead on 17th October in Arakan Valley, North Cotabato, Philippines.

We echo the cries for justice. We call for fast, full and fair investigation of this terrible crime. According to his co-workers, Fr. Tentorio’s killing could have been related to his staunch opposition to large-scale mining in the province. He was gunned down just a week after the Philippine president reportedly approved a military proposal to allow mining firms to organise and fund militias to beef up their security.

We are further disturbed by other reported incidents of anti-mining indigenous community leaders and church workers, including Rabenio Sungit, indigenous leader of the Pelaw’an tribe and active lay leader of the Taguao Outreach Congregation of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) who was gunned down on 5th September. We therefore support the Filipino people’s appeals for President Benigno Simeon Aquino III to:

1. Dismantle the militias that have threatened the life of Fr. Tenorio since 2003 and claimed lives of several anti-mining indigenous peoples and human rights advocates since the Marcos dictatorship.

2. Scrap the Mining Act of 1995 and immediately cancel mining permits for big foreign mining firms that have been encroaching on indigenous people’s ancestral domain, destroying the environment and livelihood sources, displacing hundreds of families and disregarding their basic human rights.

In his 30 years of mission among indigenous people, poor peasants and other disadvantaged sectors in Mindanao, Fr. Tentorio lived out true Christian discipleship. Witnessing injustice, poverty and rampant government neglect, he joined them in their fight to defend ancestral domain while setting up education and health programmes for the poor.

We fervently pray for courage and blessings for our sisters and brothers in the Philippine churches who commit to carry on Fr. Tentorio’s advocacy against destructive mining and his various ministries for the poor despite the threats of persecution.

Most Rev. Patrick Dunn
Bishop of Auckland, New Zealand

Rev. Desmond Cooper
President of the Methodist Church of New Zealand

Most Rev. Peter J Cullinane
Bishop of Palmerston North, New Zealand

Rev. John H Roberts
President Elect, Methodist Church of New Zealand

Fr. Claude Mostowik, MSC
Director, Missionaries of the Sacred Heart Justice and Peace Centre (Australian Province), President, Pax Christi Australia

Rev. Stuart Vogel
Asian Ministries Committee, Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand

Marion Harper
Honorauble Secretary, Melbourne Unitarian Peace Memorial Church, Australia

Fr. Chris Sullivan
Coordinator, St Marks/Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Justice and Peace Group, New Zealand

Gillian Southey
Campaigns Coordinator, Christian World Service, New Zealand

Rev. Brian Turner
Methodist Church of New Zealand

Michael Yore
Director Mission and Justice, Good Shepherd Australia, New Zealand

Sister Pamela Molony RGS
Sister Caroline Price RGS
Sister Anne Manning RGS
Sister Jan Ryan RGS
Sister Joan Murphy RGS

Rhonda Cumberland
CEO, Good Shepherd Australia, New Zealand

Emma Davey
Community Engagement Manager, Good Shepherd Australia, New Zealand

Michaela Guthridge
Justice Development Manager,Good Shepherd Australia, New Zealand

Michael Kane
Finance Manager, Good Shepherd Australia, New Zealand

Wayne Gorst
Business Manager, Good Shepherd Australia, New Zealand

(phsolidarity@gmail.com)

Call for release of political prisoners

Remove the Communist Party of the Philippines from NZ’s terror list

Ka Joy, a member of the New Peoples Army

Auckland Philippines Solidarity Press Release

The 11^th of October marks the first anniversary of John Key designating the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the New Peoples Army (NPA), as terrorist groups under the Terrorism Suppression Act.

 “The terrorist designation of the CPP/NPA is baseless.  This movement has never engaged in tactics such as bombing public transport or kidnapping tourists for ransom” said Cameron Walker spokesperson for Auckland Philippines Solidarity.

 “The Terrorism Suppression Act defines terrorism in such a broad way that nearly any type of guerrilla warfare or armed struggle can be covered.  Had this legislation existed in the 1980s it is likely that Nelson Mandela’s ANC would have been designated, as it engaged in armed struggle against the Apartheid regime and was called a terrorist group by then Prime Minister Muldoon.”    

 The NPA has been engaged in armed struggle with the Philippines government since 1969.

 The terrorist designation meansNew Zealandcannot play a meaningful role in facilitating peace talks between thePhilippinesgovernment and the CPP/NPA

 “Labelling one side of the conflict terrorists means the New Zealand government cannot be a neutral arbiter between the two parties” said Walker.

 “Since theUSand European Union designated the CPP/NPA in 2002 they have not contributed to helping peace negotiations between the movement and the Philippines government.  Political violence has intensified in the Philippines.”

 The Armed Forces of the Philippines has extended its counterinsurgency campaign against the CPP/NPA to target civilians involved in trade unions, legal left wing political parties and other advocacy groups.  Since 2001 the Filipino human rights organisation Karapatan Monitor has documented 1251 extrajudicial killings of political activists in the Philippines. Forty five of these killings have happened since President Aquino was elected last year. 

In contrast to the US and EU,Norwayhas refused to designate the CPP/NPA as terrorists and this year has hosted peace negotiations between the movement and the Philippines government.

“New Zealand should follow the lead of Norway and help support a fair and just resolution of the conflict in the Philippines”.

Statement of Auckland Philippines Solidarity on 10th Year of 9-11 Attacks

10,000 strong protest against the war on Iraq, Auckland, February 15th, 2003

New Zealand: Stand for Peace and Sovereignty, END Support for US Wars

Statement of AucklandPhilippines Solidarity on 10^th Year of 9-11 Attacks

11 September 2011

Today, we remember the victims of theSeptember 11, 2001 attacks in theUnited States. We join their families in demanding that the perpetrators be brought to justice. We also call for justice for the victims ofUS state terrorism in Iraq, Afghanistan, Philippines and other countries around the world. 

With the coming November 2011 elections, we challenge the parties to go public in declaring their stand in regard NewZealand’s involvement in the US wars. We urge voters to support those who strongly advocate forNew Zealand to promote peace and respect nations’ sovereignty versus the bloody wars of aggression for control of other nations’ oil and resources. 

 When the US declared its ‘war on terror’ in the aftermath of the 9-11 attacks, countries around the world were unnecessarily dragged into this borderless war. Troops from New Zealand, Australia, Philippines and others were deployed to fight side by side with US troops who led invasions that have killed, maimed and terrorised hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan.

 The recent death of one New Zealandspecial forces soldier in Afghanistanshould be the last. New Zealandor any other country must not be dragged into supporting the US-led war of terror which is now the biggest act of terrorism in the world that has resulted to indiscriminate killing of civilians.  In his recently released book Other People’s Wars:  New Zealand in Afghanistan, Iraq and the War on Terror, the well known New Zealand journalist, Nicky Hager, exposes that our country’s armed forces have had a much greater role in the war on terror than New Zealand political leaders have admitted. 

 After 9-11, we have also witnessed how attacks on civil liberties intensified in the face of arbitrary terrorist listings and anti-terror laws that brought waves of unlawful arrests and raids in communities. On15th October 2007, more than 300New Zealandpolice carried out raids on the baseless claim that local activists from the anti-war, environmental and Maori sovereignty movements were planning terrorist attacks. The police unsuccessfully attempted to charge the activists under the Terrorism Suppression Act (TSA).  Four (4) people arrested in that police operation still face spurious charges of participating in an organised criminal gang and unlawful possession of firearms under the Arms Act.

 In October last year the National Party led government of John Key designated the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army as terrorist groups under theTSA  – a move that effectively bars New Zealandfrom playing any meaningful role in supporting the peace talks between thePhilippines government and the National Democratic Front. 

 In the face of massive civilian deaths and human rights abuses inIraqandAfghanistan, the actions of three Christian activists to deflate one of the Waihopai Spybase domes represented the people’s rejection ofNew Zealandparticipating in the bloody wars of the US. The “damage” they have done on the Waihopai base is nothing compared to the crimes against humanity committed by the US and its allies in their greed for oil and other resources.

 Declared by the US as its “second front” of the war on terror, the Philippines has been battered with more human rights abuses and increasing USmilitary presence. To date, almost 20 years since the historic vote of the Philippine Senate on 16^th September 1991 to dismantle theUS bases, the puppet government has allowed the continuing deployment of US troops in Philippine soil.

 In Korea, the Jeju naval base construction currently endangers the Korean peninsula andNortheast Asia. While destroying the lives of Gangjeong residents and the natural environment, it is bound to be used by the US versus China, as the US obtained the right to station there based on the ROK-US Mutual Defense Agreement.

 The Waihopai Spybase, as in theUS troops and bases in thePhilippines,Korea and around the world, do not serve the interests of ordinary people who simply wish to have their rights to land, livelihood and dignity respected and protected.  

In the spirit of international solidarity, we call for:

• Justice for the victims of 9-11 and justice for the victims of US-led state terror.

• End to any New Zealand support for US wars of aggression.

• The repeal of the Terrorism Suppression Act and other laws that criminalise legitimate political dissent. 

• The closure of the Waihopai spybase near Blenheim, in the South Island of New Zealand.

• The total ban of all US bases and troops on foreign soil.

* Auckland Philippines Solidarity (APS) is a member of the International League of People’s Struggles.  APS is endorsing the ILPS call for March 20, 2012 Global day of Action marking 9th anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq and the protest vs G8 and NATO Summits to be held in Chicago, US in May 2012. 

APS Letter to President Aquino Receives Media Coverage in Philippines

Government of the Philippines panel chairmain Alexander Padilla, Royal Norwegian Government chief facilitator Ambassador Tore Lundh, and NDFP panel chair Luis Jalandoni in the closing ceremony for peace talks in Oslo in Feb 2011. (Photo by Raymund B. Vilanueva / bulatlat.com)

The joint letter co-written by Auckland Philippines Solidarity Philippines Solidarity Network of Aotearoa and Wellington Kiwi Pinoy, to President Aquino calling for the immediate resumption of peace talks between the National Democratic Front and the Philippines government and an end to enforced disappearances of political activists has received media attention in the Philippines.

Marvyn N. Benaning of the Manila Bulletin Publishing Corporation wrote an article on the letter entitled NZ groups urge peace grab.

CBCP News, the official news service of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, wrote: Special Report: New Zealanders urge P-Noy to end disappearances in PHl.