Written Sep 28, 2007
UCC News, http://www.ucc.org/news/ucc-seminary-establishes-new.html
A new endowment fund to honor the Rev. Teruo "Terry" Kawata, former Hawaii Conference Minister, has been established by UCC-related Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, Calif. The primary beneficiaries of the endowment will be Pacific Islander and Asian American communities.
Kawata, who received his Doctor of Ministry degree from PSR in 1981, initiated the development of a theological education program in Hawaii to serve Hawaiian pastors who wanted a formal theological education.
He also helped to launch a similar program at PSR for Samoan pastors from Hawaii and on the U.S. mainland.
Among the program's graduates are the Rev. To'o'o lefua Paogofie of Nuu Lotu Congregational UCC, who was one of the first to complete the degree program.
Kawata also helped to restart the Micronesia Pastors School that had been inactive for 20 years.
As a trustee and adjunct faculty member at PSR, Kawata also served as pastor of Silliman University in the Philippines as well as in churches in Hawaii including Nuuanu Congregational UCC; Waiokeola Congregational UCC; Community Church of Honolulu, UCC; and Iao Congregational UCC on Maui.
PSR's Institute of Leadership Development and Study of Pacific and Asian North American Religion (PANA) will administer the fund.
For more information, contact the Rev. Wallace Fukunaga at sunrisewtf@aol.com.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Monday, September 17, 2007
Akiko Miyake-Stoner on Women's Voices from the Philippines
"Voices from the Philippines" was a public event of the WGS Sixth Annual International Meeting, "Women Resisting Militarism and Creating a Culture of Life," sponsored by Women for Genuine Security and PANA Institute’s Civil Liberty and Faith Project. This meeting brought together internationally recognized women activists from South Korea, Japan, Okinawa, the Philippines, Guam, Puerto Rico, Hawai'i and the US to build and sustain a network of women, and to promote, model, and protect genuine security in the face of militarism.
PSR student Akiko Miyake-Stoner reflects:
Looking back to my journal entry written after the program with the Filipino women against US militarism, I remember how affected I was by the power of these women. The journey through poverty, humiliation, disrespect, and loss that they have experienced was a powerful testament to the resilience of the human spirit for me. To have such spirited dedication and empowered commitment in the looming presence of the US military inspires me.
One thing I was really struck by was the plight of Amerasians in the Philippines. One woman shared her story of falling in love with an US serviceman who led her to believe he was in love with her, too. While he was stationed in the Philippines, they developed a relationship, writing love letters and seeing each other periodically. Soon after she discovered she was pregnant, he confessed to her that he was married.
This woman shared the bittersweet pain she had when she gave birth to a girl, her Amerasian child. She told us how she struggled to provide for her daughter, but her earnings were not enough. Wanting the best for her daughter, her last resort was to send her girl to live with her father, the US serviceman; she hoped that by giving her up that her daughter would be given adequate food, shelter, and education. It turns out that the US serviceman’s wife was verbally and psychologically abusive to the girl and would not allow her to be in touch with her mother. Ultimately, this Amerasian daughter did not have a home in either the United States or the Philippines because of the stigma attached to her situation. This struck a personal chord for me, coming from a Japanese and German American background. Although I have experienced the bewilderment and confusion of not fitting in with either the Japanese or Euro-American communities, I cannot imagine the pain and self-identity crises of the children of Asian women working in prostitution and US servicemen.
When I left that evening, I felt both very disheartened and complacent, but also so uplifted by the open spirits of the women. There was a powerful gift in the embrace that happened with the sharing of stories; we engaged each others’ humanity as we were present in telling and receiving tales of our pain and empowerment. They implanted in me a subtle sense of freedom: freedom to see beyond my limited ideas of what I think is possible (for me and for the world) as well as a freedom to grow and learn as a fellow world citizen. Ultimately, the memory of this strong group of educators and leaders I encountered that night continues to invite me to be more human as I keep learning about US militarism and other issues that affect people around the world, as well as grow into the potential with which God has created me.
I was struck by the women’s willingness to share their stories, inviting me to be more human as I learned about their stories. To make a change where they can. To meet people one at a time and build relationships with people.
Akiko Miyake-Stoner began her Master of Divinity studies at Pacific School of Religion in the fall of 2007.
PSR student Akiko Miyake-Stoner reflects:
Looking back to my journal entry written after the program with the Filipino women against US militarism, I remember how affected I was by the power of these women. The journey through poverty, humiliation, disrespect, and loss that they have experienced was a powerful testament to the resilience of the human spirit for me. To have such spirited dedication and empowered commitment in the looming presence of the US military inspires me.One thing I was really struck by was the plight of Amerasians in the Philippines. One woman shared her story of falling in love with an US serviceman who led her to believe he was in love with her, too. While he was stationed in the Philippines, they developed a relationship, writing love letters and seeing each other periodically. Soon after she discovered she was pregnant, he confessed to her that he was married.
This woman shared the bittersweet pain she had when she gave birth to a girl, her Amerasian child. She told us how she struggled to provide for her daughter, but her earnings were not enough. Wanting the best for her daughter, her last resort was to send her girl to live with her father, the US serviceman; she hoped that by giving her up that her daughter would be given adequate food, shelter, and education. It turns out that the US serviceman’s wife was verbally and psychologically abusive to the girl and would not allow her to be in touch with her mother. Ultimately, this Amerasian daughter did not have a home in either the United States or the Philippines because of the stigma attached to her situation. This struck a personal chord for me, coming from a Japanese and German American background. Although I have experienced the bewilderment and confusion of not fitting in with either the Japanese or Euro-American communities, I cannot imagine the pain and self-identity crises of the children of Asian women working in prostitution and US servicemen.
When I left that evening, I felt both very disheartened and complacent, but also so uplifted by the open spirits of the women. There was a powerful gift in the embrace that happened with the sharing of stories; we engaged each others’ humanity as we were present in telling and receiving tales of our pain and empowerment. They implanted in me a subtle sense of freedom: freedom to see beyond my limited ideas of what I think is possible (for me and for the world) as well as a freedom to grow and learn as a fellow world citizen. Ultimately, the memory of this strong group of educators and leaders I encountered that night continues to invite me to be more human as I keep learning about US militarism and other issues that affect people around the world, as well as grow into the potential with which God has created me.
I was struck by the women’s willingness to share their stories, inviting me to be more human as I learned about their stories. To make a change where they can. To meet people one at a time and build relationships with people.
Akiko Miyake-Stoner began her Master of Divinity studies at Pacific School of Religion in the fall of 2007.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Sister Song
By Colleen “Coke” Tani Nakamoto, September 15, 2007. Dedicated to the WGS women of the 6th International Gathering, “Women Resisting Militarism and Creating a Culture of Life,” San Francisco, CA.
My Dear Sisters—
Your stories, information, creativity and actions have blessed me in places I didn’t know I could feel blessed.
Where in my body can I hold such fierce love?
How can I possibly respond?
The American in me says, By Stepping Back.
My Okinawan and Japanese blood says, By Stepping Forth.
So I step forward, and I step back.
It’s often an invisible and clumsy dance, but one I am determined to learn.
Inside my body, puzzle pieces collide & repel—
You are this. No, you are this. No, you are this!
Say I have two roots. Say my left foot is rooted in Okinawa. Say my left foot is what I inherited from my mother, and from hers, and hers.
Say my right foot is rooted in Japan. Say my right foot is what I inherited from my father, and from his, and his.
Say from the outset, born in America, my left and my right were planted in hopeful but stolen soil, watered from a poisoned well.
Say the sky-birds came and stole my tongue when I was sleeping.
How I ache to be able to talk with you.
Step forward.
Step back.
Say my left foot became fractured when my Okinawan grandparents became plantation workers in Pu’ukolii, Maui. Say my left leg became weak when Pioneer Sugar Mill displaced Kanaka Maoli and overran the land. Say my left arm became crooked when the plantation paid wages scaled by skin and race, Portuguese and other Europeans at the top, followed by Japanese, then Okinawan, then Filipino then Hawaiian. Say my left arm broke when my grandpa beat my grandma, confused by his own dislocation. Say one day, thirty years later, I was born, simply, “Sansei.” Say “Japanese-American.” Say, What’s missing? Say, “Grandma?” My left side buckles.
Say my right leg became deformed when Pearl Harbor was bombed by Japan, and fed the pre-existing hatred toward Japanese-Americans. Say my right foot grew infected even before this, when Pearl Harbor was claimed as a base. Say my right leg cried, when the fish and flora died. Say my right leg still cries for the baby shark met, saved by Summer & Auntie Terry—the baby shark who can no longer thrive there. Say its wide open mouth is like my own, desperate, derailed and displaced by a desecrated Pearl Harbor, and the bomb that blew up the dreams of my people. Say Poston Internment Camp. Say countless places on earth are shattered, villages burned, men believing they are gods.
Step forward.
Step back.
Step forward—
Now say Shellmound, ancestors, recognition. Say ‘ike.
Say Waikiki, Ala Moana, Mokapu.
Now Say Richmond, Say military-industrial complex. Say oil. Say fenceline.
Say Chevron, Say Hanjin, Say Halleburton.
Say asthma, cancer, Say Down’s Syndrome,
Say my granddaughter has a hole in her heart.
Now Say Bayview. Say it’s safe to eat ¼ of ¼ of ¼ of 1 fish.
Say Parcel B, Say Parcel E1, E2,
Say mercury, asbestos, say arsenic.
Now Say Nicole. Say VFA. Say Subic Bay. Say “Commercial Gateway.” Say Extra-
Judicial Killings. Say Military Sexual Terrorism.
Say poverty, say child labor, say exported labor, say trafficking.
Say, They come back “dead or mentally broken.”
Say Where Is Smith?
Now Say Pyeoungtaek Village. Say 3rd expulsion.
Say National Flag Act. Say Military Culture, and Military Camptowns.
Say with Dohee Lee—I had a dream there was a woman standing still, she was trying
to say something but I couldn’t understand…
Say, “Feminist activism is not based on spectacle.”
Say, “My Sister’s Place.”
Say, “onni.”
Step forward—
Now Say, “DMZ Hawai’i.- Say Aloha ‘Aina.” Say Clean Up, Not Build Up.
Say Land Grab. Say Stryker.
Say 1898. Say Makua. Say Pohakuloa. Say UARC.
Say Kumulipo. Say Sovereignty.
Now Say Baguanamay—Say Doña Maria.
Say Aldonza Angoleña, Luisa Capetillo, Antonia Martinez Lagares
Say Zaida, Say Liza, Say Mitzie.
Say Vieques.
Say non-war toys for Luisito!
Say Centro Mujer y Nueva Familia.
Say ilé! Consciousness-in-Action!
Step forward.
Now Say Guahan. Say matrilineal society!
Say hydrogen and atomic bomb testing.
Say downwind. Say air and water currents. Say radiation off the Geiger counter.
Say decontamination and Marine relocation.
Say Chamorro Self-Determination.
Now Say, Keystone of the Pacific. Say 62 years. Say Henoko Bay, Say Dugong.
Say deployment.
Say sexual violence and supposed readiness for military combat.
Say war crimes.
Say coral.
Step forward.
Say, We must recover what was inside of us.
Say, It must be about Resistance PLUS Healing.
Say, Ancestors, Say Spirit.
Say, Mentor.
Say, Unai Festival, and Unai Method.
Say Use Hawai’i media.
Say Peace Guides.
Say Prayers.
Say Good Luck Charm.
Say We Define and Love Our Own Ways of Resistance.
Step forward.
Say, Sister. No, Sing it.
Sing Sister-Who-Restores-My-Whole-Body
Left to Right, Root to Crown
Puzzle pieces sewn together with the thread of an insistent, awakened Love—
The map is the map of Sisterhood, and the treasures are Restoration, Self-Deterimination
and Peace.
Sing Okinawan Sister, Ohlone Sister! Sing Puerto Rican Sister, African American Sister! Sing Korean Sister, Chamorro Sister, Shoshone Sister, Kanaka Maoli Sister, Filipina Sister, Mexicana Sister, Xicana Sister, Japanese Sister, Vietnamese Sister, Cambodian Sister, Salvadorean Sister, Chinese Sister, Nicaraguan Sister, American Sister.
Sing Infinite Sisters.
Step forward.
Sing I Come From…
Sing The Gift I Bring Is…
Sing The Gift I Am Is…
Sing The Gift We Are Is…
Sing.
Sister Song
My Dear Sisters—
Your stories, information, creativity and actions have blessed me in places I didn’t know I could feel blessed.
Where in my body can I hold such fierce love?
How can I possibly respond?
The American in me says, By Stepping Back.
My Okinawan and Japanese blood says, By Stepping Forth.
So I step forward, and I step back.
It’s often an invisible and clumsy dance, but one I am determined to learn.
Inside my body, puzzle pieces collide & repel—
You are this. No, you are this. No, you are this!
Say I have two roots. Say my left foot is rooted in Okinawa. Say my left foot is what I inherited from my mother, and from hers, and hers.
Say my right foot is rooted in Japan. Say my right foot is what I inherited from my father, and from his, and his.
Say from the outset, born in America, my left and my right were planted in hopeful but stolen soil, watered from a poisoned well.
Say the sky-birds came and stole my tongue when I was sleeping.
How I ache to be able to talk with you.
Step forward.
Step back.
Say my left foot became fractured when my Okinawan grandparents became plantation workers in Pu’ukolii, Maui. Say my left leg became weak when Pioneer Sugar Mill displaced Kanaka Maoli and overran the land. Say my left arm became crooked when the plantation paid wages scaled by skin and race, Portuguese and other Europeans at the top, followed by Japanese, then Okinawan, then Filipino then Hawaiian. Say my left arm broke when my grandpa beat my grandma, confused by his own dislocation. Say one day, thirty years later, I was born, simply, “Sansei.” Say “Japanese-American.” Say, What’s missing? Say, “Grandma?” My left side buckles.
Say my right leg became deformed when Pearl Harbor was bombed by Japan, and fed the pre-existing hatred toward Japanese-Americans. Say my right foot grew infected even before this, when Pearl Harbor was claimed as a base. Say my right leg cried, when the fish and flora died. Say my right leg still cries for the baby shark met, saved by Summer & Auntie Terry—the baby shark who can no longer thrive there. Say its wide open mouth is like my own, desperate, derailed and displaced by a desecrated Pearl Harbor, and the bomb that blew up the dreams of my people. Say Poston Internment Camp. Say countless places on earth are shattered, villages burned, men believing they are gods.
Step forward.
Step back.
Step forward—
Now say Shellmound, ancestors, recognition. Say ‘ike.
Say Waikiki, Ala Moana, Mokapu.
Now Say Richmond, Say military-industrial complex. Say oil. Say fenceline.
Say Chevron, Say Hanjin, Say Halleburton.
Say asthma, cancer, Say Down’s Syndrome,
Say my granddaughter has a hole in her heart.
Now Say Bayview. Say it’s safe to eat ¼ of ¼ of ¼ of 1 fish.
Say Parcel B, Say Parcel E1, E2,
Say mercury, asbestos, say arsenic.
Now Say Nicole. Say VFA. Say Subic Bay. Say “Commercial Gateway.” Say Extra-
Judicial Killings. Say Military Sexual Terrorism.
Say poverty, say child labor, say exported labor, say trafficking.
Say, They come back “dead or mentally broken.”
Say Where Is Smith?
Now Say Pyeoungtaek Village. Say 3rd expulsion.
Say National Flag Act. Say Military Culture, and Military Camptowns.
Say with Dohee Lee—I had a dream there was a woman standing still, she was trying
to say something but I couldn’t understand…
Say, “Feminist activism is not based on spectacle.”
Say, “My Sister’s Place.”
Say, “onni.”
Step forward—
Now Say, “DMZ Hawai’i.- Say Aloha ‘Aina.” Say Clean Up, Not Build Up.
Say Land Grab. Say Stryker.
Say 1898. Say Makua. Say Pohakuloa. Say UARC.
Say Kumulipo. Say Sovereignty.
Now Say Baguanamay—Say Doña Maria.
Say Aldonza Angoleña, Luisa Capetillo, Antonia Martinez Lagares
Say Zaida, Say Liza, Say Mitzie.
Say Vieques.
Say non-war toys for Luisito!
Say Centro Mujer y Nueva Familia.
Say ilé! Consciousness-in-Action!
Step forward.
Now Say Guahan. Say matrilineal society!
Say hydrogen and atomic bomb testing.
Say downwind. Say air and water currents. Say radiation off the Geiger counter.
Say decontamination and Marine relocation.
Say Chamorro Self-Determination.
Now Say, Keystone of the Pacific. Say 62 years. Say Henoko Bay, Say Dugong.
Say deployment.
Say sexual violence and supposed readiness for military combat.
Say war crimes.
Say coral.
Step forward.
Say, We must recover what was inside of us.
Say, It must be about Resistance PLUS Healing.
Say, Ancestors, Say Spirit.
Say, Mentor.
Say, Unai Festival, and Unai Method.
Say Use Hawai’i media.
Say Peace Guides.
Say Prayers.
Say Good Luck Charm.
Say We Define and Love Our Own Ways of Resistance.
Step forward.
Say, Sister. No, Sing it.
Sing Sister-Who-Restores-My-Whole-Body
Left to Right, Root to Crown
Puzzle pieces sewn together with the thread of an insistent, awakened Love—
The map is the map of Sisterhood, and the treasures are Restoration, Self-Deterimination
and Peace.
Sing Okinawan Sister, Ohlone Sister! Sing Puerto Rican Sister, African American Sister! Sing Korean Sister, Chamorro Sister, Shoshone Sister, Kanaka Maoli Sister, Filipina Sister, Mexicana Sister, Xicana Sister, Japanese Sister, Vietnamese Sister, Cambodian Sister, Salvadorean Sister, Chinese Sister, Nicaraguan Sister, American Sister.
Sing Infinite Sisters.
Step forward.
Sing I Come From…
Sing The Gift I Bring Is…
Sing The Gift I Am Is…
Sing The Gift We Are Is…
Sing.
Saturday, September 1, 2007
PANA Takes on Human Rights Abuses in the Philippines
By Richard Lindsay. Article first appeared in PSR Bulletin, Fall 2007.
PSR’s Institute for Leadership Development and Study of Pacific and Asian North American Religion (PANA Institute) has taken an international role in raising awareness about recent human rights abuses in the Philippines.
In the last five years, Philippines human rights groups have reported that hundreds of unarmed citizens have been killed or have disappeared under the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. This level of killing and kidnapping of political enemies is higher than at any point during the Marcos era. Twenty-seven Christian clergy and church workers of the United Church of Christ Philippines, United Methodist Church, and Philippine Independent Church (IFI) have been killed. Most notably, IFI Bishop Alberto Ramento was stabbed to death in his rectory in October 2006. Human Rights Watch has issued a report accusing Philippines armed forces of carrying out some of the killings in response to left-wing challenges to the Arroyo government’s authority. A U.N. investigator has echoed this conclusion.
Numerous American church bodies, including the General Synod of the United Church of Christ, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A., the Northern California- Nevada Conference of the United Methodist Church, and the National Council of Churches USA, have issued resolutions or statements condemning the killings and calling for investigations.
PANA’s involvement in speaking out against these acts of violence and repression began with co-sponsorship of a Pagsambang Bayan, or “People's Worship,” a “Service and Candlelight Vigil for the Disappeared and Killed Religious and Community Leaders in the Philippines.” The service was held at Daly City United Methodist Church on December 10, 2006 in conjunction with International Human Rights Day. (Daly City is home to the largest concentration of Filipinos in the United States.)
The effort is part of PANA Institute’s Civil Liberty and Faith Project, now in its second year, sponsored by the Luce Foundation. The goal of the project is to amplify the voices of progressive Asian American and Pacific Islander (API) religious leaders and communities engaged in the work of increasing civil liberties and bringing about greater inter-ethnic and inter-religious understanding. According to PANA Program Director Deborah Lee, “One of the important objectives of this project has been to experiment and create authentic forms of API public witness and model a new way of doing faith-based political expression that is rooted in API culture and spirituality.” Speaking of the People’s Worship, Lee said, “These and other liturgical forms have created sacred containers for people to gather, to advocate and to be spiritually renewed.”
On February 13, 2007, PANA Institute hosted an event at PSR with Bishop Eliezer Pascua, General Secretary of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP), who reported on political killings of clergy, journalists, human rights workers, and activists. The UCCP has been the hardest hit denomination in the purge; Bishop Pascua told personal stories of 16 clergy and religious workers killed as a consequence of their ministries.
On March 2, 2007, PANA co-sponsored ecumenical vigils on World Day of Prayer, in Sacramento and at the Philippine Consulate in Washington, D.C., focusing on the human rights abuses in the Philippines.
Efforts of PANA and other organizations led California Senator Barbara Boxer to hold a Senate hearing on human rights and “extrajudicial killings” in the Philippines, which took place on March 14th, 2007. Moved by the testimony of human rights organizations about the murdered and “disappeared” individuals, Senator Boxer stated the need for the U.S. government to act. “We don’t want another El Salvador here,” Boxer said. “We don’t want blood on our hands.”
On June 10th, 2007, PANA co-sponsored another Pagsambang Bayan at Pinole United Methodist Church in commemoration of Philippines Independence Day called, “Narratives of Betrayal, Suffering, Faith and Voice.” The service featured testimony by a 17 member fact-finding team from the California-Nevada Conference of the United Methodist Church, which investigated the current rash of killings and abductions in the Philippines.
“This repression and abuse dates back to the Marcos era, and when the Philippines were dominated by U.S. colonial and military rule,” Lee said. “Today the U.S. war on terror is having a chilling effect on our Christian counterparts in the Philippines.” (The U.S. State Department has resisted efforts to hold the Arroyo administration accountable because it is considered an ally in the “war on terror.”)
PANA’s prophetic voice on this issue has received international attention, with mention in several Asian language newspapers in the United States and abroad, including the Manila-based Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Lee said the work of organizations like PANA has made a critical difference. “Our efforts to raise awareness have shown the Philippine military and government that the international community is watching them,” Lee said. “Since March, two pastors have been arrested and are being held on false charges; a year ago, they might have been killed outright.”
-----
For more information, visit PANA's Focus on the Philippines website.
PSR’s Institute for Leadership Development and Study of Pacific and Asian North American Religion (PANA Institute) has taken an international role in raising awareness about recent human rights abuses in the Philippines.
In the last five years, Philippines human rights groups have reported that hundreds of unarmed citizens have been killed or have disappeared under the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. This level of killing and kidnapping of political enemies is higher than at any point during the Marcos era. Twenty-seven Christian clergy and church workers of the United Church of Christ Philippines, United Methodist Church, and Philippine Independent Church (IFI) have been killed. Most notably, IFI Bishop Alberto Ramento was stabbed to death in his rectory in October 2006. Human Rights Watch has issued a report accusing Philippines armed forces of carrying out some of the killings in response to left-wing challenges to the Arroyo government’s authority. A U.N. investigator has echoed this conclusion.
Numerous American church bodies, including the General Synod of the United Church of Christ, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A., the Northern California- Nevada Conference of the United Methodist Church, and the National Council of Churches USA, have issued resolutions or statements condemning the killings and calling for investigations.
PANA’s involvement in speaking out against these acts of violence and repression began with co-sponsorship of a Pagsambang Bayan, or “People's Worship,” a “Service and Candlelight Vigil for the Disappeared and Killed Religious and Community Leaders in the Philippines.” The service was held at Daly City United Methodist Church on December 10, 2006 in conjunction with International Human Rights Day. (Daly City is home to the largest concentration of Filipinos in the United States.)
The effort is part of PANA Institute’s Civil Liberty and Faith Project, now in its second year, sponsored by the Luce Foundation. The goal of the project is to amplify the voices of progressive Asian American and Pacific Islander (API) religious leaders and communities engaged in the work of increasing civil liberties and bringing about greater inter-ethnic and inter-religious understanding. According to PANA Program Director Deborah Lee, “One of the important objectives of this project has been to experiment and create authentic forms of API public witness and model a new way of doing faith-based political expression that is rooted in API culture and spirituality.” Speaking of the People’s Worship, Lee said, “These and other liturgical forms have created sacred containers for people to gather, to advocate and to be spiritually renewed.”
On February 13, 2007, PANA Institute hosted an event at PSR with Bishop Eliezer Pascua, General Secretary of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP), who reported on political killings of clergy, journalists, human rights workers, and activists. The UCCP has been the hardest hit denomination in the purge; Bishop Pascua told personal stories of 16 clergy and religious workers killed as a consequence of their ministries.
On March 2, 2007, PANA co-sponsored ecumenical vigils on World Day of Prayer, in Sacramento and at the Philippine Consulate in Washington, D.C., focusing on the human rights abuses in the Philippines.
Efforts of PANA and other organizations led California Senator Barbara Boxer to hold a Senate hearing on human rights and “extrajudicial killings” in the Philippines, which took place on March 14th, 2007. Moved by the testimony of human rights organizations about the murdered and “disappeared” individuals, Senator Boxer stated the need for the U.S. government to act. “We don’t want another El Salvador here,” Boxer said. “We don’t want blood on our hands.”
On June 10th, 2007, PANA co-sponsored another Pagsambang Bayan at Pinole United Methodist Church in commemoration of Philippines Independence Day called, “Narratives of Betrayal, Suffering, Faith and Voice.” The service featured testimony by a 17 member fact-finding team from the California-Nevada Conference of the United Methodist Church, which investigated the current rash of killings and abductions in the Philippines.
“This repression and abuse dates back to the Marcos era, and when the Philippines were dominated by U.S. colonial and military rule,” Lee said. “Today the U.S. war on terror is having a chilling effect on our Christian counterparts in the Philippines.” (The U.S. State Department has resisted efforts to hold the Arroyo administration accountable because it is considered an ally in the “war on terror.”)
PANA’s prophetic voice on this issue has received international attention, with mention in several Asian language newspapers in the United States and abroad, including the Manila-based Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Lee said the work of organizations like PANA has made a critical difference. “Our efforts to raise awareness have shown the Philippine military and government that the international community is watching them,” Lee said. “Since March, two pastors have been arrested and are being held on false charges; a year ago, they might have been killed outright.”
-----
For more information, visit PANA's Focus on the Philippines website.
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