Planting for justice in a time of ‘unpeace' in the Philippines

Herald Malaysia

04-07-2025

The seeds were sown in Rome, and what grows will depend on how they are watered through solidarity, prayer, action and faith Jul 04, 2025
More than 70 representatives from various faiths and human rights groups from 13 countries attended a conference titled 'Sowing Seeds of Faith Solidarity for the Filipino People's Struggle for Peace' in Rome, on June 27-28. (Photo: philippinerevolution.nu)
Every Jubilee is a summons — an interruption of injustice and an invitation to begin again. In Rome, on the cusp of the Church's 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope, a gathering called Pagtatanim — the Filipino word for 'planting — became such a moment.
It was a spiritual milestone in a long, often unseen journey. That road began more than four decades ago in Stony Point, New York, when Filipino and international faith leaders first gathered to oppose the Marcos dictatorship and stand with the poor.
In Rome, those same seeds of solidarity were replanted, now watered by the cries of today's oppressed, the testimony of the disappeared, and the prophetic insistence that peace cannot come without justice.
On June 27–28, more than70 faith leaders, human rights defenders, and international solidarity partners from 13 countries gathered for Pagtatanim: Sowing Seeds of Faith and Solidarity for the Filipino People's Struggle for Peace.
The gathering brought together Catholic clergy, Protestant ministers, Indigenous advocates, lay leaders, and grassroots organizers in a deeply spiritual and political encounter.
The conference's title captured the spirit of the moment: sowing courage, memory, and commitment into what many participants called a season of 'unpeace.'
Rooted in Leviticus 25, the Year of Jubilee, participants reflected on God's call to free captives, forgive debts, return ancestral lands, and restore the earth. As one delegate said, "Jubilee is not just a metaphor: it's a command. It remains as urgent today as ever."
But how do you proclaim a Jubilee in a country where the sins of the past have not only gone unconfessed but returned to power? The Marcos family, ousted by the People Power Revolution in 1986, is back in Malacañang, propped up by a machinery of disinformation and impunity. Their return was paved by Rodrigo Duterte, whose drug war left thousands dead and who is now under scrutiny by the International Criminal Court.
His daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, is herself facing impeachment scrutiny for corruption. Yet even as Duterte faces justice in The Hague, his legacy continues at home: a militarized bureaucracy, criminalized dissent, and politics driven more by dynastic feuds than democratic renewal.
In this landscape, Jubilee is not just a symbol. It is a moral counterclaim, a cry from the margins for a new beginning grounded not in nostalgia, but in truth.
'Justice is not optional in our faith traditions; it is integral,' said Beth Dollaga, secretary general of the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) Canada. 'Pagtatanim reminded me that planting seeds of justice is an act of hope, but it is also an act of defiance.'
Bishop Gerardo Alminaza of San Carlos, the vice president of Caritas Philippines, opened the gathering with a deeply personal keynote address. He recalled growing up in Sipalay, Negros Occidental where mining explosions shook the ground and corporate greed left communities dispossessed.
'To remain neutral in the face of injustice is to side with the oppressor,' he declared. 'The Gospel calls us to uproot the weeds of militarism, lies, and fear — not with hate, but with active, daring love.'
Bishop Alminaza linked the biblical Jubilee with the Church's 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope. In his words, the work ahead is to 'plant seeds of justice, even in hostile soil.' He called on churches to accompany the disappeared, shelter the threatened, and demand peace talks, not surrender.
His words resonated through the halls of the conference and were echoed in testimonies of resistance and grief.
Throughout Pagtatanim, participants described the Philippine reality as one of systemic 'unpeace,' a term invoked to name the normalization of repression and violence.
Charmane Maranan, from Karapatan, described unpeace as repression made legal, where resistance is criminalized, codified in the Anti-Terrorism Law, and dressed in the language of peace and development.
Testimonies detailed the war on drugs under Duterte, continuing red-tagging and harassment under Marcos Jr., and the silencing of Indigenous, environmental, and faith-based defenders. This is not peace but pacification in the service of profit and foreign power.
A just and lasting peace is not about silencing the guns; it is about addressing the longstanding socioeconomic roots of the armed conflict between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.
Charlie Ocampo, a longtime ecumenical and human rights advocate, traced the seeds of Pagtatanim back to the International Conference on Human Rights in the Philippines held in Stony Point, New York, in 1981.
That pivotal gathering brought together solidarity groups and church organizations from North America, Japan, Europe, and other parts of the world to challenge US support for the Marcos dictatorship. It called Christians to a faith that does justice. Four decades later, that call resounded in Rome.
'Pagtatanim encouraged me to continue responding to human rights as a faith commitment,' Ocampo said. 'Jubilee is both a reminder and a challenge for us to uphold Indigenous rights, care for creation, and walk with the oppressed, to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly — a timeless call to action.'
What began at Stony Point and continued in Rome was not simply a meeting, but part of a faith journey, one unfolding today under a restored dynasty, elite rivalries, systemic corruption, and a democracy increasingly silenced. It is telling that voices so often silenced in the Philippines and the US could speak with clarity and courage in Rome, where distance gave space for truth and solidarity offered a sanctuary.
Reverend Patricia Lisson, vice-chairperson of ICHRP Global, was moved by the convergence of spiritual and political convictions she witnessed, particularly among youth and Indigenous leaders.
'Leviticus 25 reminded me that justice begins with restoration,' she said. 'It's a divine interruption of exploitation. Jubilee isn't ideology — it's covenant.' She committed to creating bilingual educational tools on faith-rooted resistance and to advocating for Canadian accountability in arms exports and corporate complicity.
Speakers did not shy away from naming complicity. Several participants denounced the roles of the US, Canada, and Australia in funding militarization and enabling impunity.
Coni Ledesma, of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) negotiating panel, detailed the systematic breakdown of peace negotiations and the targeting of peace consultants. She said that the Philippine government 'has used every occasion to stop, suspend, or terminate dialogue. The obstacles are not accidental. They are deliberate.'
Advocates from Catalonia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, and the US shared their own solidarity efforts, affirming that support for the Filipino people's struggle is both historical and ongoing. 'We are also people of faith supporting an existing people's movement,' said one participant, 'a movement that has continued to persist and persevere in the face of roadblocks to peace.'
The gathering ended with a call to faith that moves, resists, and restores. Participants vowed to plant justice where violence has taken root: to root theological reflections in the lived struggle of the marginalized, to speak against US military aid that underwrites repression, and to walk with the threatened, the defenders of land, truth, and life. They pledged to demand the release of political prisoners, to stand with the disappeared and displaced, and to push back against the machinery of red-tagging and fear. Their call also includes continuing support for victims of the drug war and the movement for justice and accountability.
'Hope,' Bishop Alminaza reminded the gathering, 'is not a feeling. It is a discipline. A seed we plant. A path we walk.'
In Rome, those seeds were planted. What grows from that ecumenical gathering will depend on how they are watered: through solidarity, prayer, action, and with a faith that refuses to give up.--ucanews.com