Faith-based groups in the Philippines are calling on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to deliver urgent and concrete reforms as he prepares to deliver his fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 28.
The church organizations warned that the country is mired in worsening poverty, ecological destruction, and conflict.
In separate but aligned statements, Caritas Philippines, the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP), and the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform (PEPP) urged the administration to abandon rhetoric in favor of “bold, moral, transformative action.”
A nation on the brink
Caritas Philippines, the social action arm of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, said Filipinos continue to suffer the impact of climate-related disasters while government action remains inadequate.
“In 2024, the President declared the climate crisis a national priority. But one year later, very little has changed,” the group said. “In fact, actions have often contradicted these promises.”
It cited continued mining and reclamation activities, forest degradation, and the displacement of Indigenous communities. “Massive reclamation projects continue. Large-scale mining permits are still being issued. Our forests continue to vanish alarmingly,” it said.
The group condemned entrenched corruption in environmental and infrastructure projects and criticized political elites for prioritizing business over ecological security. “Short-term economic interests continue to override long-term ecological security,” it said.
“The collapse of nature is not inevitable—but inaction will make it so,” Caritas warned. “Our common home is in crisis. May this be the year we choose to save it.”
‘Worsening people’s vulnerabilities’
The NCCP said the worsening living conditions of Filipinos—amid rising prices, stagnant wages, and growing desperation—reflect “the true state of the nation.”
“The people’s increasing vulnerability to disasters is shown in the helplessness and desperation of Filipinos… yet protection and assistance are gravely insufficient,” the council said.
It warned that poverty has deepened, with 55 percent of Filipinos rating themselves as poor and the minimum wage falling far short of daily needs.
“A recent report from the National Authority for Child Care (NACC) states that there is an alarming rise in cases of baby selling online,” the statement noted.
NCCP also criticized the shrinking civic space, citing the weaponization of anti-terror laws against church groups and humanitarian workers. It condemned expanded military agreements with the United States, saying these “expose the country to greater geopolitical danger.”
No peace without justice
The PEPP called on Marcos to resume peace negotiations with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), which have been stalled since 2017 despite a joint statement signed in Oslo in 2023 affirming the need to resolve the roots of armed conflict.
Quoting Scripture, the group said: “‘They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace.’” (Jeremiah 6:14)
It decried rising inequality, the displacement of Indigenous peoples, and ongoing human rights violations.
“Militarized indigenous communities [are] being ejected from their ancestral domains to give way to big ‘development projects’… a handful few get richer, exacerbating the widening inequality between the haves and have nots,” PEPP said.
The group also denounced the continued operation of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), despite calls for its abolition from international bodies and domestic advocates.
“Even the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, Irene Khan, cited the task force as a ‘major culprit and instigator of red-tagging’ and called for its abolition,” it said.
“There can be no peace without justice,” PEPP emphasized. “A peace negotiation that is compassionate, reconciliatory, collaborative, and committed” is necessary to achieve lasting peace.
