MANILA (UCAN): Orlando Cardinal Quevedo of Cotabato, called on Christians to support the proposed creation of an autonomous Muslim region in the southern Philippines, saying it will address “historical injustices” committed against the people of Mindanao.
 
He said it was unfortunate that many Christians in the region want to reject the the Bangsamoro Organic Law which aims to facilitate the creation of a new political entity for the Moro people.
 

MANILA (UCAN): The challenge is “for everyone to be on guard and always to maintain peace,” Father Lucio Rosaroso Jr., vicar-general for the police from the Military Ordinariate, said, as an estimated 6,000 of people, from religious leaders, policemen, soldiers, students and poll candidates turned out for a unity walk whih culminated in interfaith prayer rally at the Quezon City Memorial Circle, Quezon City, the Philippines, on January 13. 
 

MANILA (UCAN): Failure of the Philippine government and communist rebels into enter into peace talks risks an escalation of violence and rights’ abuses, the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform, an ecumenical group of Churches, has warned.
 

Manila (UCAN): In a New Year message framed as an open letter to his godson, Seth, Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan, former head of the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of the Philippines, called on people to ignore repeated rants against the Church by the country’s president, Rodrigo Duterte.
 
“Do not listen to him who tells you it is useless to go to church and attend Mass. Whoever teaches you that is an anti-Christ and there are many of them, including those who look at it is a joke,” the archbishop.

MANILA (UCAN): Philippine Church officials are expecting at least 21 million devotees to attend this year’s observance of the Traslacion (solemn transfer) of the Black Nazarene in Manila on January 9.
 
At least five million were expected to join the Traslacion, the procession in which image of the Nazarene is transferred from the Quirino Grandstand to the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene—also called Quiapo Church—about three kilometres away.
 

MANILA (UCAN): It was a test of will and determination to be witnesses of the gospel in the face of the attacks, and even threats to the lives, of both Catholic and Protestant Church leaders in the Philippines.
 
The year 2018 saw members of the clergy being vilified for being corrupt, for being child abusers, and even for having alleged links with drug syndicates and communists.
 

KORONADAL CITY (UCAN): Rene Pamplona, a former Church worker and advocate from province of South Cotabato in Mindanao, the Philippines, is the recipient of this year’s Alexander Soros Foundation Award for Environmental and Human Rights Activism.
 
Pamplona garnered the award for his years of work with tribal communities opposing large-scale mining operations, said he was “surprised and humbled by the recognition. The award is a validation of the issues that we’ve been fighting for on the ground for a long time.” 

MANILA (UCAN): Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte, warned that he will place tribal people in “hamlets” to keep them from being influenced by communist rebels in a speech on December 18. 
 
“I will hamlet them. Why? Because if they remain scattered, they are really in danger,” Duterte said during a summit of village leaders in the southern region of Mindanao.
“I cannot get their loyalty if they are scattered because they are afraid to be far from each other,” the president said.