Bulatlat is publishing a series of reports, featuring human rights defenders under siege.
‘Serving the least,’ an Aglipayan priest’s commitment
Two weeks ago, Fr. Wilfredo Ruazol of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente received a rather bittersweet news.
The perjury case against him and other human rights defenders filed by National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. before a Quezon City court was dismissed. All except for Sr. Elenita Belardo, former national coordinator of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines.
The case supposedly stemmed from the protection order that human rights defenders and church workers asked from the Supreme Court, following the rampant red-tagging by state security forces. This, Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay said, was a retaliation designed to harass these organizations.
Ruazol found himself pushed to the fore for “finding meaning in the work we have doing for the realization of human dignity and living out the imperative of Christian life as an Aglipayan priest that has a strong tradition of ministry for the poor, the deprived, and oppressed.” (Click here to read the rest of the story)
How service to the poor filled the void in Sr. Elen’s heart
At 80 years old, there seems to be no slowing down for Sr. Elenita Belardo of the Religious of Good Shepherd.
Sr. Elen grew up in a comfortable life – with their family owning a big land estate in Silang, Cavite, a province south of Manila. In fact, her first taste on the issue of social justice was when her family faced an agrarian dispute with their tenants.
Their family, after several failed negotiations, decided in the end to sell the estate to rid themselves of the proverbial headache – her father had told them that the tenants have “taken advantages” of their leniency in handling their agrarian affairs.Little did she know that she will have more encounters with agrarian disputes later in life.
Years later, however, Sr. Ellen as a nun would be active in helping farmers in their campaign for their right to land. Her tireless support for farmers has led her to several challenges in her life. But her resolve has never faltered. (Click here to read the rest of the story)
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