Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 701 | Wed 12 Jul 2023
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PHILIPPINES: STILL ‘RED-TAGGING’ MISSIONARIES
By Elizabeth Kendal
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| Stop the Red-Tagging. NCCP, Aug 2020 |
When the Philippines government wants to silence a person or an organisation that is openly critical of its policies, it will tend to label them communist sympathisers, supporters, recruiters or financers. Known as ‘red-tagging’, the tactic imperils the lives of the accused – be they journalists, conservationists, human rights activists and advocates, or Christian missionaries tending to the needs of the vulnerable poor and downtrodden. Victims of ‘red-tagging’ often end up disappeared, imprisoned, tortured or dead, mostly at the hands of security forces with wide ranging powers and guaranteed impunity. In November 2019, RLPB 530 requested prayer concerning the situation after the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence ‘red-tagged’ 18 groups – including Oxfam, and the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP, a non-denominational fellowship of Protestant churches) – naming them as ‘front organisations of local Communist Terrorist Groups’. Elected in a landslide in May 2022, the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and VP Sara Duterte appears poised to continue and even accelerate the brutal and unjust policies employed by their fathers.
On Friday 3 June 2022 church workers with the Protestant Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI, an independent member of the worldwide Anglican Communion) in Ilocos Norte province in the country’s far north-west, found posters and leaflets scattered in front of its cathedral in Laoag city and its church in Banna town. The publications bore the names and faces of IFI church leaders, accusing them of recruiting for the communist New People’s Army (NPA), the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines. In August 2022, 16 missionaries – including five nuns – with the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP, a Catholic mission that works to alleviate hardship in poor rural areas) were arrested and charged with alleged financing of terrorism; specifically, transferring funds to the NPA.
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| click on map to enlarge (source: worldometers) |
On 3 October 2022 the IFI was again the victim of red-tagging, when a Facebook account named ‘NTF-ELCAC Caraga’ [in eastern Mindanao, in the country’s south] published the names and images of church leaders it accused as NPA recruiters and terrorists. [NTF-ELCAC is the government-run National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict.] In an official statement, the IFI lamented that ‘red-tagging has become now the present fashion and common face of harassment, intimidation and threats…’ It blamed ‘people and groups most likely associated with the state security sector and government’s agency NTF-ELCAC…’ adding, ‘The state security sector … [remains] hell-bent to propagate their devilish objective against the IFI, together with the UCCP [United Church of Christ in the Philippines] and certain quarters in the RCC [Roman Catholic Church], which only strive to be consistent with its prophetic ministry, social witness and pastoral advocacy. These churches have been named earlier as “enemies of the state” and the military and police have been circulating materials and personnel to proliferate this insinuation to the public.’
In November 2022 Reverend Edwin Egar of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) and his wife, Julieta Egar – along with 71 others – were red-tagged; charged with supporting terrorism. The NCCP lamented the situation, stating that ‘red-tagging’ occurs regardless of political beliefs or affiliations and is ‘an incitement to repression and persecution against those who are critical of the government’. Subsequently, Rev. and Mrs Egar, and lay leader Ronald Ramos, petitioned the Supreme Court for protection from ‘red-tagging by members of the Philippine Army’s 59th Infantry Battalion (59th IB) in Batangas’ [100km south of Manila]. Despite their legal success, the petitioners remain in hiding, ‘living in fear, wondering whether tomorrow will be their last’.
In late June 2023 the NCCP took its concerns to a meeting of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC). The WCC subsequently issued a statement condemning ‘red tagging’ and the ‘grave human rights violations’ allegedly being committed by the Filipino government, and exhorted believers to continue in prayer for all those affected by these injustices. On 1 July 2023 police in Sultan Kudarat province (south-west Mindanao) arrested Aileen Manipol Villarosa (41), a lay missionary with the Catholic Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP). She faces 55 counts of financing terrorism.
PLEASE PRAY THAT OUR MERCIFUL GOD WILL:
* motivate and embolden the Philippines Church to speak out – in unison and solidarity – against lies, abuse of power, exploitation and injustice. May the Church – as One Body – turn to prayer for revival in the Church and reform in government. (Matthew 5:1-16)
* intervene in the Philippines to end the country’s slide into a deadly, brutal authoritarianism – a decline in governance that would see the authorities increasingly standing in violent opposition against any believer who dares address, or speak out against, injustice. Lord have mercy!
* sustain, protect and defend Christian pastors, lay workers, missionaries, lawyers and aid workers who find themselves at odds with the authorities and the victims of vexatious ‘red-tagging’. May those who seek to silence or eliminate them – by way of imprisonment, disappearance, or murder – have no success. (Psalm 146)
Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy (Proverbs 31:8-9 NIV).
… faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead (from James 2:14-17 NIV).
SUMMARY FOR BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE
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PHILIPPINES STILL ‘RED-TAGGING’ MISSIONARIES
When authorities in the Philippines want to silence their critics – be they journalists, conservationists, human rights activists and advocates, or even Christian missionaries tending to the needs of the vulnerable poor and downtrodden – they will simply ‘red-tag’ them. That is, they will label them as communist recruiters or financers. People who are ‘red-tagged’ routinely end up disappeared, imprisoned and tortured, or murdered; usually at the hands of security personnel with sweeping powers and guaranteed impunity. Not to be a thing of the past, numerous Christian leaders and missionaries – both Protestant and Catholic – have been red-tagged, arrested, and driven into hiding since the May 2022 elections. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and VP Sara Duterte appear determined to continue and even accelerate the brutal and unjust policies employed by their fathers. Please pray.
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Elizabeth has authored two books: Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today (Deror Books, Melbourne, Australia, Dec 2012) which offers a Biblical response to persecution and existential threat; and After Saturday Comes Sunday: Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East (Wipf and Stock, Eugene, OR, USA, June 2016). She is also an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at Melbourne School of Theology.
For more information see www.ElizabethKendal.com
