ANGELES CITY – The Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP), a mission partner of the Association of Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines (AMRSP) condemned yesterday the government’s red-tagging of various congregations and denominations including the RMP.
“We condemn in the highest terms this slander against the church sector and the spreading of lies and malignity against our organizations and our Christian mission,” said Sr. Elenita Belardo, RGS, RMP national coordinator.
In a statement, RMP said “vandals were spotted last September 27, 2018 with markings such as IFI=NPA,” “UC-CP=NPA” and “RMP=NPA” along the highway in Barangay Lacupayan, Tigbao, Zamboanga del Sur.”
“We are being targeted because we are vocal against the Mindanao-wide Martial Law that has resulted to widespread displacement of rural communities, extrajudicial killings, and other forms of harassment as documented by various fact-finding and solidarity missions in Mindanao,” Belardo said.
She noted that in Zamboanga del Sur where the vandals where found, a series of solidarity mercy missions were held from June 19 to 21, by Aglipayan dioceses of Pagadian, Oroquieta and Ozamiz, the UCCP North-West Mindanao Jurisdiction, the RMP, the Roman Catholic Church and other sectoral groups.
“This is definitely alarming especially with the AFP spreading ludicrous gossip of the “Red October” ouster plot linking various progressive organizations and critics of the Duterte regime. These can be used as justification to go after rural missionaries, priests, sisters and lay workers,” she said.
The RMP also called on the religious community to condemn the latest attacks.
Belardo said “these are efforts to sow terror and fear among those who actively expose and condemn the intensifying state perpetrated abuses and anti-people polices of this fascist regime. We must be ever vigilant and stand together with the Filipino people in exposing and resisting the state’s attacks against those who oppose them.”
