Read without ads and support Scribd by becoming a Scribd Premium Reader.
See Premium Plans
 
 Vol. 14 No. 15
 July 19 - August 1, 2010
Php 20.
00
SEEING that many young Fili-pinos are into computer games,the Catholic Bishops’ Conferenceof the Philippines has turned tousing the platform in teachingCatholic social values in a funway.The “Paolo’s Journey,” is a3D video game launched on July 9 by the CBCP through itsEpiscopal Commission on Cat-echesis and Catholic Education(ECCCE).
RH bill won’t solve poverty—Bishops
www.cbcponlineradio.com
Ugnayan
The News Supplement forCouples for Christ
•
A3
•
C1
 ‘Tourism Cannot Relieve Itself of Its Responsibility to DefendBiodiversity’ 
Civil society seeks Church
help in ght vs. humantrafcking
 CIVIL society organizations on Tuesday soughtthe help of the Catholic Church to prevent the
proliferation of human trafcking.
One of the things the Church can do, saidSusan Ople of the Blas F. Ople Policy Center,a non-government organization that helps
distressed overseas workers, is issue a pastoral
letter warning people against it.Other groups echoing the same appeal in-
Bishops hope closure to
‘Hello Garci’ scandal
CATHOLIC bishops want a proper closure tounresolved questions over the legitimacy ofthen President Arroyo’s administration.
Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo
said that if there is no closure, the issues will
 just keep coming back.
Pabillo made the statement recently as thegovernment is considering the full disclosure ofthe 4-year old report of an inquiry into claims
some top military ofcials were involved in
the alleged stealing of the 2004 elections for
Civil / A6Garci / A6RH bill / A6Aquino / A63D Game / A6
Pope’s 2011 World PeaceDay message to focus onreligious freedom
www.cbcphealthcare.org www.cbcpmedia.com
By Pinky Barrientos, FSP
KEEPING a close watch on the policies of the newgovernment, the Catholic bishops urged President
Benigno Aquino III to scrap indefnitely the repro
-
ductive health program as a means to solve povertyand contain the country’s population.
   ©   R  o  y   L  a  g  a  r   d  e   /   C   B   C   P   M  e   d   i  a   ©   R  o  y   L  a  g  a  r   d  e   /   C   B   C   P   M  e   d   i  a
New ecozoneencroaches onirrigated, IP lands
THE widely-publicized Aurora Pacic Eco
-nomic Zone (APECO) which sits on some12,400 hectares of land has remained contro-
versial in the eyes of farmers, shermen and
indigenous peoples as the property sits onrich irrigated rice lands and hunting groundsfor the Agtas and Dumagatas in the area.This was how Fr. Edu Gariguez, executivesecretary of the National Secretariat of SocialAction, Justice and Peace, described theproject and the local inhabitants’ perceptionof the multi-million peso investment in thewindswept area of northeastern Luzon.
Dubbed as the “Gateway to the Pacic,”the project is said to be the country’s rst
economic zone strategically located in the
Pacic Coast and the only transshipment
port facing the eastern seaboard.Said to be a “custom-designed seaport and
airport driven economic center which seeks
to promote tourism” and attract investmentsin aquamarine, agro-industrial, commercial
trading, banking, outsourcing and nancial
industries, the ecozone is located in Casigu-ran town and is expected to boost social,economic and industrial developments inAurora and nearby provinces with jobs forlocal residents, improve their living condi-tions and advocate eco-friendly approach toindustrialization and productivity.
“We spent the weekend in the area andtalked to local government officials and
residents,” Gariguez said.He added Casiguran Mayor ReynaldoBitong disclosed there was no prior consul-tation about the law (RA 9490) enacted inFebruary 19, 2007 which created the specialeconomic zone and (RA 10083) passed lastApril 22, 2010 which amended RA 9490.He said Mayor Bitong added the localgovernment unit and residents were neverconsulted with plans and programs relativeto the economic zone. The mayor was evenquoted saying had he been told of the planshe would have surely opposed it becausea great number of his constituents will beaffected.
“Ang napakalaking problema dito aynapakalaking lupain ang may patubig atmaraming magsasaka sa loob na maapek
-
tuhan at maganda ang kanilang anis a mga
palayang ito,” Gariguez added.
In Pampanga, juetengoperators use STL asfront– bishop
THE government’s small-town lottery hasmade jueteng operations stronger in Pam-panga because it is used as front for the ille-
gal numbers racket, a Catholic bishop said.
San Fernando Auxiliary Bishop Pablo
David said it’s a public knowledge in Pam
-panga that jueteng operators are collectingbets “using the STL” as a cover.Technically, David said over CatholicChurch-run Radyo Veritas, STL failed to stop jueteng and “worsened” the problem instead.Anti-gambling crusader Archbishop OscarCruz earlier said jueteng gained strengthduring the Arroyo administration. He saidits operators have even increased, whichmeans, a big increase in the payolas for itsprotectors in the government.The archbishop earlier said that for gover-
nors on the take alone, they are getting between
P5 million to P10 million monthly from the 3million to P5 million in the previous years.David said it is “shameful” that Pampanga
Pampanga / A6
CBCP-ECCCE chairman Archbishop Socrates Villegas plays “Paolo’s Journey”, a 3D computer game based on church teachingswhich Fr. Jun Villanueva created for Catholic children, July 9, 2010.
THE Catholic bishops’ lead-ership called on PresidentBenigno Aquino III to changethe management of the naturalresources.The purpose, the head of theCatholic Bishops’ Conference ofthe Philippines said, is so thatwhen they are exploited for live-lihood it is not at the expense ofthe physical environment.
This is the rst formal ap
-peal made by the bishops’collegial body in a letter sentto Aquino on Friday since heassumes the country’s posi-
CBCP urges Aquino to change mindset on natural resources
Church reaches out to youth with 3D video game
tion on June 30.In a letter to Aquino, CBCPPresident and Tandag BishopNereo Odchimar said they arehoping that the new adminis-tration “will usher in neededchanges in our country.”“The CBCP calls for chang-ing the way we manage anddevelop our natural resources.Our bias for the use of ourresources should be for Fili-pinos and not for foreigners,”Odchimar said.
The Church ofcials partic
-ularly reiterated its long-timedemand for the governmentto stop large-scale mining andthe abolition of the Mining Actof 1995.As bishops in dioceses allover the country, they said,“we are privy to many thingsthat happen among or people,especially among the poor andthe voiceless.”The current policy on mining,
they pointed out, only makessmall farmers, sher folks and
indigenous peoples suffer.“We question the neo-liber-al pitch that there is no otherpath to development exceptthrough further economicliberalization, especially inthe mining industry,” saidOdchimar.“We are calling for the ab-rogation of the Mining Act of1995 that do not adequatelyprotect the interest of ourpeople and the country’s natu-ral resources.” 
Revoke EO 270
The CBCP also urged Presi-dent Aquino to repeal theNational Policy Agenda onRevitalizing Mining in thePhilippines which formerPresident Gloria Arroyo is-sued in 2004.
Also known as the EO 270,
the law opens up revival of the
mining industry on the rm
belief that the developmentof mineral resources could
signicantly contribute to the
country’s economic growthand reduce poverty, particu-larly in the countryside.“It is within your capac-
ity, Mr. President, to revoke
Archbishop Socrates Villegas, EC-CCE chairman, said there is need forsuch a game today because “there
is a great thirst, but there is lack ofworkers.”
“There is great interest in our youngpeople, they are searching for meaning
but we don’t have enough workers to
teach them, that is the bigger prob-lem,” Villegas said.New media will be increasingly im-portant for the church and the bishophimself has said the computer game isa tool to lure disenchanted youthinto the church’s fold.“With the passing of time,there is a need to remind thepeople on the Church’s teach-ings by using a new method,”said Villegas who is archbishopof Lingayen-Dagupan.The CBCP hopes to attractgamers who are at least 9 yearsold or grade three pupils to col-lege students.
Ecozone / A6
   I   l   l  u  s   t  r  a   t   i  o  n    b   y    B   l  a  d   i  m  e  r    U  s   i
 
•
B1
The country’s poor cannotbe helped by promoting animmoral program such as re-productive health (RH) bill, thebishops said.In a press statement issued atthe conclusion of the CatholicBishops’ 101st plenary assem-bly, Catholic Bishops’ Confer-ence of the Philippines (CBCP)president and Tandag BishopNereo Odchimar reiterated theChurch’s solid position on vari-ous social issues affecting thepoor, especially the RH bill andsex education in schools.“Poverty cannot be solved bypromoting contraceptive educa-tion and programs,” Odchimarsaid.The situation of society’s mar-ginalized sectors was among thevarious issues discussed by thebishops during their two-day’smeeting leading to the July 10-11plenary assembly.Other significant concerns
tackled during the two-day
caucuses were issues on cli-mate change, large-scale miningand reproductive health bills,the situation of education inthe country in general and sexeducation, including those “thatstrictly concern governance inthe Church.”Reminding the president ofhis inaugural promise to listenmore to the people, Odchimarsaid Aquino should now listento the call of the PhilippineChurch to abandon the RH billprogram and its sex educationcomponents.“We, Bishops from all overthe country, call on PresidentAquino to listen to the call ofthe Philippine Church that theformer program of the govern-ment to promote a contraceptivementality through education andmedical practices is immoral andwill not bring about a people thatis God-fearing, holding on tothe sacredness of sexuality, lifeand the family,” the statementpartly read.Odchimar said the Churchwill never renege on its teaching
CBCP President and Tandag Bishop Nereo P. Odchimar presided over the blessing and inauguration of the CBCP Online Radio last July 15, 2010. Under the watch
of the CBCP President, the Online Radio is one of the latest projects of the CBCP Media Ofce that harnesses the new forms of digital media for a new evangeliza
-tion. The CBCP Online Radio is broadcast globally especially for Filipinos abroad at www.cbcponlineradio.com.
 
A2
 Vol. 14 No. 15
July 19 - August 1, 2010 
CBCP Monitor
Soccer star thanks Our Lady of MountCarmel for Spain’s World Cup victory
 World News
  w  w  w .  r  n  w .  n   l  w  w  w .   d  a   i   l  y  r  a   d  a  r .  c  o  m
  w  w  w .   t  e  c   h   b  u   d   d   h  a .   f   l  e  s .  w  o  r   d  p  r  e  s  s .  c  o  m
VATICAN CITY, July 16, 2010—An an-nual meeting of the Populorum Progres-sio Foundation dedicated to allottingfunds to projects for vulnerable peopleacross Latin America and the Caribbean
will take place later this month. During
the meeting, a substantial donation willbe made in the Pope’s name for the re-building of a Haitian school damaged
in January’s earthquake.
The administrative council of thePopulorum Progressio Foundation,formed of Catholic prelates from acrossLatin America and representatives ofthe Pontifical Council “Cor Unum,”will meet this year in Santo Domingo,Dominican Republic from July 20-23.During what is their first annualmeeting in a Caribbean nation, theywill be discussing the allocation of
funds destined to nance projects that
aid indigenous, mestizo and African-American laborers in the Caribbean andthroughout Latin America.According to the communiqué re-leased by “Cor Unum” regarding theevent, this year’s encounter carries onthe tradition of meeting in areas thatpermit “direct contact with the concretereality of the various areas of the con-
tinent and, at the same time, make the
activities of the Foundation in particular
churches known.”
At the meeting, 230 projects from20 different countries from Mexico toBolivia, Brazil and the Antilles will
be presented. Besides paperwork, the
group will visit Church-run aid campsin Haiti and will celebrate Mass withthe local Church community.Also on that day, they will meet withrepresentatives from humanitarian aidorganizations and visit Caritas’ nationalheadquarters, where the president of“Cor Unum,” Cardinal Paul Josef Cordes,
will make a $250,000 donation on behalf of
Pope Benedict XVI towards rebuilding St.Francis de Sales school in Port-au-Prince.The school was destroyed in the devastat-
ing earthquake last January.
The statement also announced that
a second donation of an unspecied
amount will be delivered in the HolyFather’s name to the local chapter ofCaritas that same evening.Since its creation in 1992, the Populorum
Progressio Foundation has worked to aid
“integral development” in the poorest ofareas through projects in the areas of pro-duction, communal infrastructure, educa-tion, health and construction.
(CNA)
 
SAM PHRAN, Thailand, July 19,2010—The Vatican wants to un-derstand interfaith relations inAsia better so it can collaboratewith Churches here for more ef-fective dialogue, says a Vatican-based Thai priest.“Asia is an important continentas it is the birthplace of the majorreligions. The Vatican wantsto listen to and learn from theChurch in Asia,” said MonsignorAndrew Vissanu Thanya-anan,
undersecretary of the Pontical
Council for Interreligious Dia-
logue’s Buddhism desk.The priest was speaking to
ucanews.com after a July 12-18closed-door meeting betweenthe council and its Asian mem-bers and consulters.Thirty-six Church officialsfrom the Vatican and 17 Asiancountries and territories partici-pated in the meeting held in Sam
Phran, outside Bangkok.
The Asian Church officials,mostly bishops, reported onChristian dialogue in their areaswith Buddhists, Confucians,Hindus, Jains, Muslims, Shinto-
ists and Sikhs.
CANARY ISLANDS, July 16,2010—Spanish soccer star DavidSilva, who played on the nation’swinning World Cup team isspending the feast of Our Lady
of Mount Carmel thanking her
for the victory last Sunday inSouth Africa.The midfielder,who is from the Canary Islands,promised he would participatein the celebrations honoringOur Lady of Mount Carmel, thepatroness of his hometown ofArguineguin.Silva’s grandmother toldreporters the family has a greatdevotion to Our Lady andthat they were very “nervous”during the World Cup final.So much so, she said, that shecould not watch the end. “I justheld on to Our Lady of MountCarmel … Who would havethought that when this 14 year-old boy who I raised left myhome he would achieve this? Iam so proud,” she added.Upon arriving in his hometown, Silva told reporters hewanted to join the Marian fes-tivities, as has always been hiscustom.
(CNA)
Asian interfaith dialoguein Vatican’s sights
VATICAN CITY, July 17, 2010—Archbishop Francis Assisi Chul-
likatt was appointed as the Holy
See’s permanent observer to theUnited Nations on Saturday. Hecomes into the role from yearsof diplomatic corps experience,including his most recent postas Apostolic Nuncio to Iraq and Jordan.
The Indian-born prelate takes
the place of Italian ArchbishopCelestino Migliore who was madeApostolic Nuncio to Poland on June 30 after nearly eight years ofservice as the Vatican’s leadingdiplomat to the UN.
Archbishop Chullikatt has previ
-ously served as a Papal representa-tive to the UN as well as in variousdiplomatic capacities in Honduras,Southern Africa and the Philip-pines, after entering the Holy See’sdiplomatic corps in 1988.
The prelate also served as rst
secretary in the Department forRelations between States in theVatican Secretariat of State beforebeing named Nuncio to both Iraqand Jordan in April 2006.
He speaks English, French, Span
-ish and Italian.
(CNA)
Nuncio to Iraq named Holy See’s UN observer
ROME, Italy, July 16, 2010—FollowingThursday’s announcement from theVatican updating the procedures of in-vestigation and punishment of the mostserious sins, including sexual abuse ofminors and attempted women’s ordina-tion, several European bishops’ confer-ences welcomed the changes.The revised norms set in concretewhat has been general practice withinthe Congregation for the Doctrine ofthe Faith (CDF) for the last nine yearsfor “delicta graviora,” or the most seri-ous sins within the Church. Among the
modications was the extension of the
statute of limitations from 10 to 20 yearsfrom the alleged victim’s 18th birthday,the condemnation of pedophile pornag-raphy as a serious sin and the consid-eration of the mentally disadvantagedas on a par with the abuse of minorsby clergy.In a statement to Italy’s SIR news,Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, presidentof the German bishops, said he was“grateful” for the updated norms, es-pecially for the fact that through themthe Congregation for the Doctrine of theFaith (CDF) delivered a “clear signal”for greater information and punishmentin cases of sexual abuse of minors.“The Congregation’s new documentrepresents an unambiguous witness infavor of the victims of faults and crimesin the ecclesiastic ambit,” he said.
The spokesman for the Bishops ofBelgium said that they nd the new
norms “’adequate’ to respond evenmore effectively” to sexual abuses that
take place within the Church.
In a statement released by the Catho-lic Bishops’ Conference of England
and Wales, a spokesman said that the
bishops “welcome” the publication ofthe norms, noting that they “clearlydemonstrate the Church’s concern forthe safeguarding of children and allvulnerable people.”
Also making a statement was Swiss
bishops’ secretary general Msgr. FelixGmur, who welcomed the norms sayingthat the conference feels “supported inits efforts to combat all forms of sexualaggression decisively.”Calling the norms “adequate andmore stringent,” he said that “sexualviolence is a delict (sin) and sexual vio-lence against children is a particularlyabominable delict. In the Church therecannot be a place for these things.”
(CNA)
Europeanbishops’
conferences backmodications to
norms on abuse
Monsignor Vissanu said theVatican will evaluate all thereports and discussions andplan better support strategiesfor interfaith dialogue throughepiscopal conferences.He noted that the last suchmeeting was held eight years agoin South Korea.A Philippine Church leadersaid the recent meeting was the
rst to be held on such a scale.
In the past, meetings orga-nized by the Pontifical Coun-cil for Interreligious Dialoguefocused on Christian dialogue
with a specic religion and saw
participation from only a fewcountries, said Archbishop Fer-nando Capalla of Davao.The prelate is chairperson ofthe Office of Ecumenical andInterreligious Affairs under theFederation of Asian Bishops’Conferences.
In his opening address, ponti
-cal council president Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran told participants thathis organization aimed to “listen,understand and share” with itsAsian members and consultersduring the meeting.
(UCAN)
Pope to donate $250,000to rebuild Haitian school
ROME, Italy, July 14, 2010—The newBishop of Taichow, Antonio Xu Jiwei, wasconsecrated last Saturday at the age of 75.With joint Church and State approval of his
ordination, he lls an ofce that was vacant
for nearly 50 years.The Holy See’s Press Office released astatement on Wednesday recognizing the or-dination of Msgr. Xu who had been acting asthe diocesan administrator for the Taichow
diocese, also known as the Diocese of Linhai.The position had remained unlled since the
death of Bishop John Hou Joshan in 1962.Bishop Xu’s story is a rather turbulent one,according to a brief biography included inthe Vatican message announcing his ordi-nation.Born in 1935, he attended seminaries from1948 -1958. He was not yet ordained when
in 1960 he was condemned to ve years in
prison. From 1960 until 1985 he was sen-tenced to forced labor, which included sixyears as a school teacher.The Vatican reported that he “remembers
that period as a difcult time but also as a
time of grace, that reinforced his faith andduring which in prayer he experienced thatGod loves deeply and (that) He is with himevery day.”In 1985, he returned to the seminary inShanghai and was ordained for the Dioceseof Ningbo, where he served in a parish untilhis appointment as the diocesan administra-tor of Taichow.His ordination as a bishop last Saturdaywas presided over by Bishop of Tsingtao, Joseph Li Mingsu, and three other bishops,all of whom are in communion with the HolySee and approved by the Chinese govern-ment. According to the Holy See’s statement,Bishop Xu is “optimistic” about evangeliza-tion efforts and growth in the diocese, whichserves 6,000 faithful.Those bishops unapproved by the Chinesegovernment-sanctioned Church are consid-ered to be members of the “underground”Catholic Church.One member of the “underground”Church, Bishop Julius Jia Zhiguo, made newswhen he was released on July 7 after morethan a year in prison. On Tuesday, CardinalIvan Dias, prefect of the Congregation forthe Evangelization of Peoples, expressedhis “great joy” that the bishop had returnedto the Diocese of Chengting. Cardinal Dias’short message was published by Fides, thecongregation’s news agency.
(CNA)
Chinese diocese, vacant since 1962, receives new bishop
 
A3
 Vol. 14 No. 15
July 19 - August 1, 2010 
CBCP Monitor
News Features
  w  w  w   2 .  p   i  c   t  u  r  e  s .  z   i  m   b   i  o .  c  o  m
  w  w  w .  c  a   t   h  o   l   i  c  n  e  w  s  a  g  e  n  c  y .  c  o  m  w  w  w .  c  a   t   h  o   l   i  c  n  e  w  s .  c  o  m
VATICAN, July 13, 2010—PopeBenedict XVI will focus on reli-gious freedom’s contribution topeace in his World Peace Daymessage for 2011, the Vaticansaid.The theme the pope has cho-sen for the Jan. 1 celebration is“Religious Freedom, the Path toPeace,” the Vatican announced July 13.The Vatican said the popeintends to discuss how the fun-damental human right to believein God is a prerequisite for fullhuman development and “a con-dition for the realization of thecommon good and the promo-tion of peace in the world.”“In many parts of the worldthere exist various forms of re-strictions or denials of religiousfreedom, from discriminationand marginalization based on re-ligion to acts of violence againstreligious minorities,” the state-ment said.The papal message will ex-pand on comments the popemade in his address to the U.N.General Assembly in 2008 whenhe said it was “inconceivablethat believers should have tosuppress a part of themselves—their faith—in order to be activecitizens” and to enjoy their hu-man rights.In that speech, the pope said,“The rights associated with reli-gion are all the more in need ofprotection if they are consideredto clash with a prevailing secularideology or with majority reli-gious positions of an exclusivenature.”Pope Benedict also will distin-guish between authentic religiousfreedom, “which broadens the ho-rizons of humanity and freedomof man” as well as respects humandignity and life, and religious fun-damentalism, in which the truth ismanipulated or exploited to thedetriment of people, the Vaticanstatement said.People cannot be divorcedfrom their beliefs, because thosebeliefs affect their lives andthemselves, it said.Authentic religious beliefsunite people and can have apositive impact on society, itsaid.
(CNS)
Pope’s 2011 World Peace Day message
to focus on religious freedom
VATICAN, July 15, 2010—A leadingVatican official said Pope BenedictXVI’s approval of revised norms onclerical sex abuse sent a clear signalthat the church is serious about protect-ing children and punishing abusivepriests.
At the same time, the ofcial said,
the Vatican norms alone cannot resolvethe problem of sexual abuse, which willrequire a continued and coordinatedeffort at every level of the church.Msgr. Charles Scicluna, the promoterof justice at the Congregation for theDoctrine of the Faith, made the com-
ments July 15 at a brieng for reporterson the revised norms, which simplied
and streamlined many of the church’sprocedures in dealing with priests ac-cused of sexual abuse of minors.Msgr. Scicluna said the doctrinalcongregation was grateful to the popefor transforming into universal churchlaw a number of practices aimed at
dealing more quickly and efciently
with priest abusers.
“I think it gives a signal that we are
very, very serious about our commit-ment to promote safe environmentsand to offer an adequate response toabuse,” he said.“This is a very important step fromthe technical viewpoint of canon law.But a document is always a docu-ment—it does not solve all the prob-lems. It’s a very important instrument,but it’s the way you use the instrumentthat’s going to have the real effect onthe life of the church,” he said.
Msgr. Scicluna was asked why therevised norms, like the previous edi
-
tion, impose “pontical secret” on the
church’s judicial handling of priestlysex abuse.
He said a better term was “conden
-tiality,” and that it was designed aboveall to protect the dignity of everyoneinvolved, including the victim, theaccused, their families and their com-munities.He also noted that in some cases—forexample, a priest’s dismissal from thepriesthood –bishops are authorized todivulge the decision and the reasonsbehind it if this is seen as necessary forthe common good of the church.
“So the value of condentiality is im
-portant, but it is not absolute. The goodof the church sometimes requires not
condentiality but publicity of a process
that has been completed, either with a
sentence of condemnation or a nding
of innocence,” he said.
Likewise, Msgr. Scicluna said, the
church’s insistence on confidential-ity has limits in the relationship withcivil authorities. Bishops are required tocomply with civil law that requires re-
Revised norms send clear signal on sex abuse, Vatican ofcial says
ANTIPOLO City, July 9, 2010—For humanitarian consider-ations, colleagues of the arrested
43 health workers, now incarcer
-ated in Camp Bagong Diwa in
Taguig, asked Malacañang to re
-lease the two pregnant women,one is about to give birth this July 27 while the other one is dueto deliver in October. Judielyn Carina Oliveros,26, is due to give birth to her
child within two weeks and
Mercy Castro, 27, in about threemonths.In an e-mail sent to CBCP-News, Dr. Julie Caguiat of the
Free the 43 Health Workers
Alliance said that prison is nota conducive place for a womanto give birth.“At this point, medical andhealth issues should outweighall the legalities of the custodialdetention, they must be releasedunder humanitarian consider-ations to show that the state atleast have respect for humanrights,” she said.
Fr. Lombardi counters study reporting negative effects of  Vatican Radio towers
VATICAN, July 16, 2010—OnWednesday, Vatican Radio directorFr. Federico Lombardi countereda seemingly incriminating studythat reports emission towers fromthe Holy See’s radio station havedamaged nearby residents’ health.
The Vatican spokesman said that a
second study addressing the matterwill soon be presented to the court.Fr. Lombardi’s message came afterlocal Italian media published the re-sults of a report presented in an ongo-ing court case addressing a higher inci-
dence of leukemia in children in areas
close to a Vatican Radio transmission
center, just kilometers from Rome.
Noting his surprise that the asyet unreleased court document had
been picked up in the press, he said
that Vatican Radio would soon bepresenting the “considerations andcounter-deductions” of their ownexpert counselors in the case.Fr. Lombardi said that, as far as
they know, no causal connectionsuch as that shown in the leaked
report has ever been published in
international scientic literature, so
the hypothesis in the report shouldnot be regarded as proven.Turning to its historical record,he said that the Holy See’s radiostation has “always observed theinternational regulations on electro-magnetic emissions” and, since 2001,has exceeded Italian norms in termsof restrictions.Vatican Radio shares the space atthe area in question, just northwestof Rome, with Italian Navy Radarinstallations, which are also be-ing examined in the investigation.
(CNA/EWTN News)
Free pregnant womenmembers of Morong 43,Aquino urged
Dr. Caguiat said that the pres-ent detention of the female de-tainees is cramped and damp
making the pregnant women
and the rest of the detainees sus-ceptible to infectious diseases.“It would be of best consider-ation to have pregnant and ailingdetainees released,” she said.Not so long ago, Jane Balleta, one
of the 43 health workers had been
suffering from epileptic seizures,allegedly caused by the unhealthyenvironment inside prison.On the other hand, the doctoralso calls for medical attentionto some of the detainees whoare also suffering from varioushealth concerns exacerbated bypitiful conditions of the prisonfacilities.The woman physician alsoreiterated that the state is obligedto accord all detainees decentconditions and just welfare whilein prison.“Unfortunately, that is not thecase,” Caguiat lamented.
(NoelSales Barcelona)
MANILA, July 8, 2010—Thirteen
international NGO workers, in
-cluding a Filipina were arrestedby the Indonesian police whileholding a press conference onthe harmful effects of coal plantsto the environment and localcommunities.Ms. Jean Ferraris, team leader
of the Davao Regional Ofce of
the Legal Rights and NaturalResources Center Kasama sa
Kalikasan Friends of the Earth
Philippines (LRC-KsK/FOEI-Phils.) was among other par-ticipants from Thailand, Chinaand Indonesia arrested by police
Pinoy NGO worker, 12 others arrested by Indo police
on the last day of their trainingseminar in Cirebon, West Java,Indonesia.
The NGO workers were par
-ticipating in a Coal Campaign
Skillshare organized by an anti-
coal community in Cirebon,West Java.Participants who came fromdifferent parts of Asia sharedtheir experiences in their respec-tive countries particularly on theharmful impact of coal in the
environment and the knowledge
they have acquired from theirrespective anti-coal campaigns.The Cirebon community who
SC asked to include conversion ban on Luisita, Bacan haciendas
ANTIPOLO City, July 9, 2010— A militant
fishermen’s organization has asked the
Supreme Court to include on its ruling, ban-ning the conversion of agricultural lands,the disputed 6,453-hectare Hacienda Luisitaowned by the family of President BenignoAquino III and the 157-hectare Hacienda Ba-can in Negros Occidental, owned by formerPresident and now Pampanga Rep. GloriaMacapagal-Arroyo.
Fernando Hicap, Pamalakaya national
chairperson, said in a statement that asidefrom the said haciendas, the Supreme Courtmust also include on its ban on land-use con-version other big cases of land-use conver-
sions like the 8,650 hectare Hacienda Looc in
Nasugbu, Batangas and the the 7,100 hectareHacienda Yulo in Canlubang, Laguna.Because of the High Tribunal’s ruling,Hicap said, the Agrarian Reform departmentshould now stop and scrap the planned landuse conversions in the said haciendas.
The sher-folk leader also stressed that
there should be no special treatment toAquino and Arroyo and the landed feudalaristocracies in the country.“Their lands should be subjected to imme-diate, unconditional and free distribution to
farmer beneciaries,” Hicap says.
Agro lands “shrinking” because of conversions
Citing the Sentro para sa Tunay na Re-porting of abuse accusations, he said.“Confidentiality of canonical pro-ceedings is never an impediment to theduty to denounce (crimes), and is neverto the detriment of obedience to civillaw,” he said.Msgr. Scicluna made it clear that PopeBenedict had made the changes in thenorms, and in doing so the pope respect-ed his area of competence, he said.
“It is not the task of the pope to give
indications about civil law. The indica-tion to obey the law of the state wasalready stated by St. Paul” and it was
unnecessary to reafrm this principle ina technical text like this, he said.
The revised norms extended the stat-ute of limitations on sex abuse cases,
included child pornography in the de
-nition of sex abuse against minors andsaid sexual abuse of mentally disabledadults will be considered equivalent toabuse of minors.
Msgr. Scicluna was asked if he expect
-ed the revisions to prompt a new waveof sex abuse allegations or revelations.
“No, we’re not expecting the ood
-gates to open. That happened in 2003,with the historical cases from the UnitedStates,” he said. “This is an importantextension of the law, but it’s not a ques-tion about numbers, it’s a question of as-suring the respect of the dignity and thesafeguarding of these people.”
(CNS)
hosted the activity has beencampaigning against a coalcompany in the area, which theyclaim has brought damage to theenvironment and caused loss oflivelihood among locals.Around 100 Indonesian policeconducted the raid, accusingthe participants of “engaging inactivities that caused ‘instabil-ity’.”But the police found noth-ing they can charge the NGO
workers about, so they turned
them over to the Immigrationauthorities who subjected themto “monitored deportation”.Local activists have denouncedthe arrest, saying the action ofthe police was reminiscent ofthe Indonesian government’sautocratic past.
“This latest episode evokes the
time of Suharto when the coercivepower of the state, through thepolice and the military were used
to sow terror and choke demo
-cratic space. This abusive behav-ior has no place in a supposedlydemocratic country,” said JudyPasimio of the Legal Rights andNatural Resources Center, a legaland policy research NGO.
(PinkyBarrientos, FSP)
pormang Agraryo’s (Center for the Genu-ine Land Reform or Sentra) report, Hicapexplained that agricultural lands or landsintended for food production, had been
“shrinking” due to massive conversion of
these lands in commercial, residential, in-dustrial and even recreational use.From six million hectares, rice lands hadnow been reduced to four million due toland-use conversion, Hicap said.In the province of Cavite alone, irrigatedrice land fell from 14,710 hectares to 12,800hectares due to land use conversions; that isbetween the years 1989 to 1993, or during ad-ministration of late President Ma. CorazonC. Aquino.
(Noel Sales Barcelona)
 
Msgr. Charles Scicluna
Search
Search History:
Searching...
Result 00 of 00
00 results for result for
  • p.
    • Notes
    Load more