Pilgrims for Peace Statement
on the National Day of Mourning                   
June 11, 2005

We in Pilgrims for Peace, an inter-faith and multi-sectoral network of
peace advocates, join the Filipino people in mourning the present
state of our nation.

We mourn for the poor who are overburdened by economic hardships as
endless price hikes, unjust wages and additional taxes push them to
the margins of poverty and despair. Workers continue to suffer slave
wages. Peasants continue to cry out for genuine land reform. Urban
poor families face demolition of their slum dwellings. Rural poor
families are dispossessed as agricultural lands are converted into
luxurious resorts, residential areas and industrial estates.
Indigenous peoples are evicted as logging and mining giants tread on
their ancestral domain.

We mourn for those who have been killed, abducted and harassed with
impunity as they were perceived as 'enemies of the state' in the midst
of their advocacies for basic social, political and economic reforms.
We seek justice for the victims – church people, political activists,
journalists, human rights workers and lawyers – our fellow pilgrims
and advocates  of social justice and genuine reforms that are the
requisites for a lasting peace.

Day by day, massive economic deprivation, foreign domination of our
economy, corruption in the civilian bureaucracy and in the military
and police, massive fraud and elitist governance, political repression
and human rights violations,   continue to pose major obstacles to our
pursuit of just and lasting peace. The root causes of armed conflicts
continue.  The formal talks between the Government of the Republic of
the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the
Philippines (NDFP) are recessed, thus the important negotiations on
social and economic reforms have not continued. The peace negotiations
between the GRP and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) still have to
address the key question of ancestral domain.

It is urgent that the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo government address the
chronic problems that continue to breed and aggravate the armed
conflicts in our country.

As Pilgrims for Peace, we reiterate our calls for the resumption of
formal peace talks and serious implementation of bilateral agreements
which will directly benefit the people, especially the Comprehensive
Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian
Law (CARHRIHL).

We demand immediate end to the killing of justice and peace activists,
the bombings of civilian communities, and rampant and gross violations
of human rights and international humanitarian law. We also seek the
immediate and unconditional freedom of political prisoners especially
the case of 61-year old Angie Ipong, a human rights activist abducted
and detained by the military since March 8, 2005, as well as the
freedom of innocent Muslims wrongly accused as terrorists, and all
victims of unjust imprisonment and torture.

We add our voices to the growing clamor of people from various walks
of life for genuine social change.More than ever, we renew our
commitment to work and pray for peace based on social justice,
national sovereignty, good governance and genuine democracy.

Signed:

Bishop Deogracias Iñiguez, D.D.                 Bishop Elmer Bolocon
Diocese of Kalookan                             United Church of
Christ in the Philippines
Convenor, Pilgrims for Peace                    Convenor, Pilgrims for 
Peace

Ms. Sharon Rose Joy Ruiz Duremdes               Mr. Rey Claro Casambre
National Council of Churches in the Philippines  Philippine Peace 
Center
Convenor, Pilgrims for Peace                    Convenor, Pilgrims for 
Peace