CBCP issues pastoral statements on national concerns
after 94th plenary assembly

The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) ended their 94th plenary assembly by issuing pastoral statements touching on the issues of the coming elections, the plight of the Rural Poor and the homeless. The bishops also paid tribute to the first Filipino bishop, Bishop Jorge Barlin.

The plenary assembly held on January 26 to 28 at the Pope Pius XII Catholic Center in Paco, Manila, was preceded by a seminar from January 23 to 25 on the theme: "Collaboration of Priests, Religious and Lay in Addressing Crises in Governance".

The bishops released the pastoral statements in a press conference on January 28 with CBCP President Archbishop Angel Lagdameo of the Archdiocese of Jaro leading the panelists. The other panelists were Cagayan de Oro Archbishop Antonio Ledesma, S.J., Balanga Bishop Socrates Villegas, and Masbate Bishop Jose Baylon.

In the pastoral statements the bishops called on the faithful to exercise greater responsibility and vigilance in exercising their right of suffrage. They also called on the faithful and the government to do more to bring about genuine emancipation of the rural poor through the implementation of an effective agrarian reform program that addresses their needs and promotes their dignity and human rights. The bishops also condemned the "extra-judicial killings perpetrated by groups form both the right and the left, of farmers whose only ‘crime’ is their continuing struggle for agrarian reform or their ability to pay the ‘revolutionary tax’ demanded of them by the NPA. The bishops also condemned the unabated killing of unarmed men and women on the mere charge or suspicion that they support or belong to the leftist political groups.

The other concerns raised by the bishops involved the plight of those left homeless and the inadequate response by government to the urban informal dwellers who have been displaced and relocated to other sites.

• CBCP PASTORAL LETTER ON ELECTIONS, Read
• CBCP PASTORAL STATEMENT ON THE NATION'S HOUSING PROBLEMS, Read
• CBCP PASTORAL LETTER ON THE DIGNITY OF THE RURAL POOR—
  A GOSPEL CONCERN, Read
• BONUS MILES CHRISTI - CBCP Pastoral Letter on the Commemoration of the Centenary Of the Episcopal Consecration of Bishop Jorge Barlin (1906), Read