PROCLAMATION OF A
MARIAN YEAR FOR THE PHILIPPINES

Recalling that at Lourdes, France in August 1983, the Holy Father suggested that it would be “opportune to celebrate the bimillenium of the Birth of Mary”  (Homily during the Mass, August 15, 1983), we desire to make the suggestion a reality.

As a Catholic people, we have been historically and culturally characterized by our deep devotion to Mary, the Blessed Mother of God, the Patroness of our nation.  We have been called the “pueblo amante de Maria”, a people looking up lovingly to her asking her to bring us closer to her Divine Son.

We recognize the tremendous flow of divine grace coming to the nation through the intercession of Our Mother.  Such efficacious intercession we continue to need most especially at this critical juncture of our nation’s history.

Realizing all this, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines unanimously approved on July 11, 1984 that a Marian Year be celebrated to mark the two thousandth anniversary of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Therefore the Philippine Hierarchy now hereby proclaims the year beginning December 8, 1984 and ending December 8, 1985 as a MARIAN YEAR FOR THE PHILIPPINES.

It is hoped that it would occasion serious reflection on the place of Mary in the Divine Plan of Salvation, stir up greater love for her, and inspire our people with new life and courage to live the faith in these troubled times.

For a well-coordinated and fruitful celebration, a National Marian Year Committee has been organized, headed by His Eminence Jaime Cardinal Sin, Archbishop of Manila.  This National Committee will be ready to assist the dioceses in their local celebrations.

Given in Manila on this 8th day of September in the year of Our Lord 1984.

For the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines:

(Sgd.)+ANTONIO Ll. MABUTAS, D.D.
Archbishop of Davao
President, CBCP

LET THERE BE LIFE

Joint Pastoral Letter
on the Sacredness of Human Life and Its Defenses

To the People of God:

Yahweh God fashioned man of dust from the soil, Then He breathed into his nostrils a breath of life, and thus man became a living thing (Gen. 2, 7).

So God made us.  And He made us in His image–to be like Him.  But how is it that in a nation that prides itself on its rich Christian heritage life is cheap?  This is our continuing shame and sorrow as a people.  We bewail the fact.  We occasionally beat our breasts about it.  And we quickly forget about it–until the next orgy of killing shakes our national conscience once again.

It is time we begin looking at the problem seriously.  We know we can not eliminate altogether the violent taking of life.  But we must ask ourselves what our part has been in the general cheapening of life and with the grace of the Lord of Life, search for ways and means of diminishing the problem in ways that will be in full accord with our faith in Him.  It is time.

We, your Shepherds in the faith, bear a heavy responsibility in the process of searching.  In the past we had occasion to reflect on the sacredness of life in a pastoral letter on abortion.  This time we would like to propose for your consideration some further thoughts on life and its defenses–the fruit of our joint deliberations in Tagaytay these past few days on recent national events.  We share our pastoral reflections with you in the hope that they will help in our common effort to arrive at some Christian and, we trust, viable answers.

Recent Happenings

We start with a review of recent events.

Next month it will be a year since the death on the tarmac of the Manila International Airport.  The murder shocked us all as no other killing has in recent history, and for many of us it was the one, single event that shook us out of our lethargy and forced us to face squarely the violence that has through the years been building up and becoming practically an ordinary facet of our life as a nation.

Last month we were horrified by the easy gunning down of “common criminals” — so they were said to be — by secret marshalls .  And the month before, at the time of the elections for parliament, we were numbed by the frequent press reports of murder and slaughter for “political reasons”.

It is a sad commentary on our times and nation that these killings were not at all isolated instances of “legal” and “illegal” taking of life.  For years now we have been, for all intents and purposes, in a state of war.

The Muslim struggle for independence in the South is at present at a standstill.  But the tens of thousands of lives that were lost in the early and mid-seventies still weigh heavily on the nation’s conscience.

The armed clashes  between military and communist forces are growing in frequently once more.  The “salvagings” by the one, the “liquidations” by the other, leave deep scars on our people’s memories that no amount of talk about national security or national liberation will completely erase.

In retrospect, we see that most killings are classified under the all-embracing term “political”.  Many of us will probably shrug our shoulders at this assessment, dismiss it, because we accept it, as a given fact of Philippine life.  But precisely because it is a “given fact”, we as Christian cannot accept it:  it is not right that people be killed simply because their political beliefs differ from ours, because they support candidates for office other than those we ourselves choose, because they are in the way of our ambitions to attain or keep political power.

Prospects for the Future

The present outlook is bleak, the future even bleaker.  Our current political problems, we see only too clearly, will intensify with time if they remain intransigently unacted on, unresolved.

The local elections will be on us a short two years from now.  Already we fear the blood-bath that we all seem to expect as inevitable.  Blood flowed freely in the past in similar elections; will blood flow again just as freely in the future as in the past?

We do not have to look back — or ahead — in time.  We have enough to fear, even now .  The economy is in shambles.  The prices of prime commodities are spiralling impossibly higher and higher with each passing day.  Something will have to give sooner or later.  For the specter of hunger hovers grimly over all the land, is already ruining the wellbeing of entire families, endangering the very existence of millions of our poorer countrymen.  And hunger can kill just as surely and systematically as bullets and guns.

This is the hard reality we are faced with now.  It is the reality of death.  Paradoxically, it is also the reality of life.  And instinctively, we turn our thoughts to life, not death.  We ask questions that pertain to life, not death.

Questions

We Filipinos are not alone in our high regard for life.  We value life.  We respect life.  But if we indeed have such a high regard for life, then why is it treated so cheaply among us?  Why is it not given the value and the respect that we say we put on it as a people?

This anguishing question leads to another.   We are basically a people of peace.  We put a high price on friendship and hospitality.  But why the easy eruption into acts of violence?  Why is the maiming and killing at the least, so it seems, an act of provocation?

There are, we see, many unsettling contradictions in our collective psyche as a people.  Possibly we harbor in its darkest depths devils that so far have defied the exorcising force of our Christian faith.  Possibly there still remains in our way of life, our culture, forms of thinking, modes of behaving, that hark back strongly to our pre-Christian past.  Possibly we have failed to fully understand what the faith demands of us for the total living of the Gospel that we proudly profess.

Whatever the source or reason of those painful contradictions, we must go back to the fullness of that same Gospel and in its light, with its help, try resolving them in the way Christ would.

Christ’s Way

Let us begin with some very simple ideas — Gospel ideas.

Firstly, Jesus the Lord became man to save all men — all without exception, without distinction as to race or color, social class or personal worth.  This means that every human being, born with the sin of Adam and hence prone to evil, is eminently redeemable, no matter how depraved, how oppressive or sinful.  And he is redeemable because he is made to the image of God Himself.  To Christ then, as to us now, the human person was the measure of His work because he imaged for the Father. If Christ could say, “The Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath” (Mk 2, 27), it was because of man’s unique dignity stemming from his creation in God’s image.

Secondly, by becoming incarnate, Christ further ennobled man.  This ennobling is such that He identifies Himself with the very least among men–the poor, the powerless, the outcast:  “If you did it to the least of my brethren, you did it to me” (Mt. 25, 40).  And He shows His love for them, for everyone else, to the extreme point of giving His own life for them in order precisely for them “to have life and to have it to the full” (Jn. 10, 10).

Thirdly, everyone of us, by baptism, in baptism, takes upon himself the burden of furthering Christ’s redemptive task, in the doing of which he is himself redeemed.  In carrying out his share in the great work of redemption, he–man–must act in the same spirit and with the same outlook as Christ had in redeeming him.  It is a spirit and outlook of being totally men and women for others –even to the giving of life itself for them.  “Greater love than this no man has than that one who lay down his life for his friends” (Jn. 15, 13).

Fourthly, Christ’s and our redemptive task is unto life, not death.  Hence it is inconceivable for us–as it was for Christ–to destroy people in any way, to violate their dignity, to deny them life and the means of life in the pursuit of human fulfillment and redemption.  Thus Christ himself  refused to condemn to death the woman caught in adultery even if by law she was deemed worthy of death (cf. Jn. 8, 1-11).  This is the pattern Christ has set for us, and it is only in faith that we can fathom its meaning, accept it and attempt living its implications to the full.

Fifthly, from all this we conclude, as Vatican II has concluded, that God has given man the obligation of regarding his neighbor “as another self, bearing in mind above all his life and the means necessary for living it in a dignified way”  (GS, 27).  Our concern thus is not only for physical life, pure and simple, but for life as human.  It is a concern that extends beyond the mere act of killing to all other acts of violence that degrade man as man whether in the political or economic order, in his personal or social relationships, and looks to the protection of all rights that we call human.

In summation we quote the words of the Holy Father himself, Pope John Paul II:  “Do not kill!  Do not prepare destruction and extermination for men!  Think of your brothers and sisters who are suffering hunger and misery!  Respect each one’s dignity and freedom ! (Redemptor Hominis, no. 16).

The points we made above do not by any means exhaust what our Gospel faith tells us should be our perspective on human life and our task in its regard, on Christ’s redeeming work and our part in it.  But we highlight them here because they point in directions that we feel must begin to go as a people if we are to work out our salvation as a nation in these troubled times.

Applications for Today

In the light of the points just made, we turn to current developments in the Philippines today which we see have much to do with the further eroding of the sanctity of life and of our valuation of it.  We select only three:  the Secret Marshalls, Amendment 6, and the Economic Crisis.

1. Secret Marshalls.  We cannot but be disturbed and apprehensive at the idea of appointing officers of law, unrecognizable as such to the general public, with full authorization –if they indeed have such authorization–to hunt people down and summarily dispose of them.  This goes against our Christian concept of man and the value we put on human life.  “Criminals,” no matter how base, do not become by the fact of their crime (unproven in any case) brute animals, losing all claims to rights, to bodily integrity, due process and the like.

   Last year we had occasion to deplore military “salvagings” and NPA “liquidations” in a pastoral letter on “A Dialogue for Peace” (Feb. 1983).  These acts of murder still go on.  Citizens are being “salvaged” or “liquidated”, in the first instances because they are suspected of being “subversives”; in the second, because they are considered “enemies of the people”.  In both instances, as in the killings by secret marshalls, people are deprived of life without a chance to justify themselves.  This is a sign against life, but even more so, a sin against human dignity.

2. Amendment 6.  This peculiar provision of the 1973 Constitution is causing great anxiety among a growing majority of our people.  We share their anxiety.  For, like them, we fear that the power granted by the Amendment, in the troubled situation of our country, is all too open to gross abuses, even to the destructions of life, simply for the fact that there are no adequate guarantees against its misuse.  The experience of the recent past amply supports the anxiety of our people.  Their opposition is not just a political ploy but a real fear of a real threat to their well-being and life.  For it is Amendment 6 which makes possible the PCO — now the PDA — and the “salvaging” operations we have already frequently referred to above.
3. The Economic Crisis.  For most of us the bad economic situation we are in now means hunger, widespread hunger, promising and  ushering in all kinds of social ills and civil disturbances.  These dire results, we know with a certainty that admits of no doubt, will not be conducive to respect for life, to the preservation of life.  A sure way out of the crisis is for the return of confidence in the government, and towards this return of confidence, the repeal of Amendment 6, and the restoration of a more just system of government are obviously necessary conditions.  Equally necessary is the pushing of economic development that will be just in its execution and just in its effects.  An upright political system, needless to say,  is a prerequisite for this kind of development.  Failing these, we will have to look for other ways, other means, of meeting the immediate threat that they present.

Christian Response

Great acts of self-sacrifice are called for in today’s crisis.  And evil as the times are, they may well be, in God’s Providence, the moment of grace for us as a Church and as a nation, precisely because they require steadfast and heroic consistency in the living of our faith, in our responding to its pressing demands, at this particular juncture of our history.

The  problems we have been considering here are quite mundane in nature — the exercise of political power, the use of economic wealth, two problems that will not go away nor be resolved overnight, no matter what we do about them today.  They are problems that will continue to test our faith because they are problems that are intimately bound up with life itself and the dignity that gives its meaning.  So we make another start towards the response in faith that we talk of here.

Our response will certainly differ according to the variant readings of the problem as it manifests itself in our particular region of the country.  But whatever form the problem assumes, we ask that our responses take into careful consideration these last three points with which we now conclude this letter.

1. We need to revamp our entire economic and political structure to make it more responsive than it presently is to the ends of life.  The  revamping  is admittedly a long term process–one that will entail great pain and sacrifice from all of us.  But we have  to  take  a  first step now.  If a bloody revolution is unacceptable–and it is–another  way of bringing about drastic change  must  be  sought  for.   The  non-violence  of   Christ presents itself to us as the only acceptable answer.  It is a way of   working  constantly,  strenously  for  justice  that  refuses adamantly to destroy life for the cause of justice itself.  It is a mode of striving persistently for peace that at the same time will not compromise essential principles of our Christian faith for the sake of peace.  It is a manner of striving for revolutionary  change  which  is  patterned  after  Christ’s  own way of redeeming people from death unto life.
2. We also need to evince a greater and more effective Christian self-sacrifice.   All  around  us  people are feeling hunger, are beginning  to  suffer  the  first  diminishings  of physical life.  Could we in every barrio and parish, in every province and diocese,  mobilize  ourselves  in  the  spirit of self-sacrifice to succor those of our people who need help most?  Would  we all begin to give not only of our surplus but of our very need, the well-off simplifying their needs  for the sake of the poor, the poor sharing with other poor, all concerned with the life and  the  dignity  of  the other in imitation of Him who gave His all for us?  How is this to be done — on a grand scale? in little ways?  –we  leave to the measure of  imagination  each person, each community has, and to  the faith and love  that brings that imagination into play.
3. Lastly,  we  call  for  a  national  day of prayer and fasting on September  14,  the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy  Cross.  The day  is of  great  symbolic  significance;  for through  the Cross, through the death of Christ, we were redeemed.  And our prayerful fasting will itself be a symbolic act of love that is meant to appeal to the hearts of those who inflict violence — an act therefore that we hope will help break  the  cycle  of hate.  Our fast — which is different from hunger strikes  that aim to embarass others — is a declaration of our renunciation, in the spirit of  the Cross, of all  death-dealing violence.   We are  ready  to  suffer  pain  ourselves  rather than inflict it on others.  But let us make our gesture  be  more  than  merely  a symbolic act.  We propose that the money we would ordinarily be spending for food on that day be given to feed the hungry poor.  Through this token act of sacrifice, made in deep faith and hope in Jesus Christ, we express our continuing intent to be for life, to work strongly for its deliverance from present evils, always through the non-violence of the Cross.

We end this letter recalling another symbol — this time of Philippine Christianity — Blessed Lorenzo Ruiz.  He made the ultimate act of self-sacrifice for the faith through martyrdom (the very antithesis of the violence we have been talking of here) and he is an example to us of strength in the faith.  We are all in need of that strength in these trying times as we strive mightily to bring about a tremendous miracle of grace — the overcoming of the many violences in our society today.  We hope for that miracle by the interceding of Blessed Lorenzo Ruiz.

May Mary, Mother of Life, be with us in our commitment to the task of keeping life ever sacred.

For the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines:

(Sgd.)+ANTONIO Ll. MABUTAS, D.D.
Archbishop of Davao
CBCP President

Tagaytay City
July 11, 1984

The 1984 Plebiscite and Elections

A Statement of the Administrative Council
of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines

To the People of God:

1. Very soon we will be faced once again with political exercises in the form of a Plebiscite on January 27, 1984 and the Batasan elections in May 1984.  Knowing that these political exercises will take place at a time of national crisis, we deem it our duty as your Pastors to write these few words by way of guiding you in the moral choices you will have to make.
2. We are not unaware of the fact that there are those who advocate boycott of both the Plebiscite and the Batasan elections.  They argue that participating is another implicit ratification of the 1973 Constitution whose validity they question.  They object that the idea of a Vice Presidency is a mere amendment of that same Constitution.  They would refuse to participate as long as the present President is in office.  They perceive a foreign government intervention in both the succession issue and the Batasan elections.  In a word, they consider these political exercises as useless, ineffective, diversionary, and even immoral.
3. However, there are also those who see a more favorable climate through an aroused citizenry in the aftermath of the Aquino assasination.  They believe that radical changes must indeed take place in our society, but that these changes must be achieved through non-violent means.  They point to the de facto effectivity of the 1973 Constitution and desire to change what needs to be changed through the use of this de facto situation.  Thus with the greatest seriousness and urgency, they believe that participation in the electoral processes in these most critical of times may be the last viable hope for the peaceful alternative to any violent approach for change.  They think that non-participation may be playing into the hands of those who advocate change through violent revolution.  Some have volunteered their services in a nationwide campaign to ensure free and honest elections.  Among their hopes are a more independent COMELEC,  a new voters’ list, and a massive citizens’ action policing the polls.
4. As Bishops we have in the past emphasized the moral duty to vote in an election.  This is a general norm operative under normal conditions.  Still, it is not for us to tell you concretely whom to vote for or indeed whether or not to vote in these undoubtedly far from normal times.  That decision is reserved to the individual conscience.
5. But we do want to express certain concerns from the viewpoint of personal and social responsibility.  Therefore, in part reiterating some ideas we have issued in the past (e.g. Statement of the CBCP on the Referendum of February 27, 1975), we now offer the following guidelines.
1. In the light of the unusual circumstances in our country today, the right of citizens not to participate in political exercises they consider contrary to the dictates of conscience has to be respected.  Any penalty on those who fail to vote or who abstain from voting and openly express their stand should be suspended.
2. All those involved in the electoral process (COMELEC, poll officers and watchers, and others) are accountable both to God and to our people in preserving the sanctity of the ballot.
3. There must be free public discussion of the vital issues involved for a sufficient period of time.
4. Every citizen should be afforded the opportunity freely to express his views, know the views of others and discuss them with an assurance from the government that no man shall be imprisoned or subjected to threats of imprisonment or other forms of reprisal for exercising his right to free speech or peaceful assembly.
5. Civil government and the military establishment, especially in rural areas, must heed the clamor of our people by ensuring the proper climate of freedom and fair play.  They must desist from any action that would frighten the citizenry and deprive them effectively of their basic freedom.
6. The power to supervise voting, canvassing, publishing of results should be entrusted to a reputable and acceptable body, manned by persons of competence, integrity and impartiality.
7. A new, clean and honest list of voters must be prepared with the help of concerned citizens, and genuine citizen participation in the conduct of the plebiscite and election must be organized.
8. In these hard times the temptation is great to let money determine the outcome of the polls.  It is always immoral to sell one’s vote or to buy votes.
9. Our country is a sovereign nation.  Its history of freedom is marked by struggles against foreign domination.  No foreign power is to meddle with out political sovereignty by attempting to determine in any way the conduct of our electoral processes.
6. We appeal to the citizenry as a whole to act responsibly and vigilantly, having foremost in mind the common good rather than their individual selfish interest.  Let this be the norm in all decisions whether they are participating in the elections or not.
7. Finally, we suggest that both before the plebiscite and the elections a day be set aside as a day of prayer.  We end by invoking the Holy Spirit for guidance that everyone concerned will rise to the challenge that is before us in a spirit of genuine patriotism and social responsibility.

God bless you all.

For the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines:

(SGD)+ANTONIO Ll. MABUTAS, D.D.
Archbishop of Davao
President, Administrative Council

January 8, 1984, Manila