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Nagpahayag ng suporta si Sorsogon Bishop Arturo Bastes kay Sr. Patricia Fox ng Notre Dame Sions congregation makaraan itong arestuhin ng Bureu of Immigration dahil sa sinasabing paglabag sa ‘immigration law’ ng Pilipinas.
Ayon kay Bishop Bastes, Chairman ng Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines-Episcopal Commission on Mission, ginampanan lamang ng 71-gulang na madre ang misyon at tungkulin bilang kristiyano na ipagtanggol ang karapatang pantao ng mga mahihirap.
“It is the duty of all Christians of all people of goodwill”, paliwanag ng obispo.
Si Sr. Fox, isang Australian Rural Missionary at volunteer staff ng Unyon ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura na inaresto noong April 16 dahil sa bintang na pakikiisa sa pagkilos at kabilang din sa dumalo sa International Fact Finding and Solidarity Mission sa Mindanao dahil sa umiiral na batas militar sa rehiyon.
Iginiit ng Obispo na ang pagsusulong ng karapatang pantao ay kinikilala ng United Nations na dapat umiral hindi lamang sa Pilipinas kundi maging sa iba’t ibang panig ng mundo.
“So we defend Sr. Fox we defend everybody who criticizes the bad drug – so called drug war of Duterte and we should be open,” saad pa ng Obispo.
Humahanga din si Bishop Bastes sa katapangan at pagpupursige ng madre sa kanyang adbokasiya bagama’t isang dayuhan sa Pilipinas at nanatili sa bansa sa loob ng 27 taon.
Pagpuna sa mga paglabag sa karapatang pantao
Paglilinaw pa ni Bishop Bastes na ang pagpuna ng international community sa mga paglabag sa karapatang pantao ng administrasyong Duterte ay hindi maiiwasan lalut ito ay kinikilala sa buong mundo.
“Any authority will be reprimanded that all human beings whatever nation color or creed have a right to human life. And therefore any authority of any government on earth will be reprimanded if it violates the basic human rights open to all humanity. For example, everybody condemned Hitler not only the Germans, not only the good Germans. Everybody condemned also Ferdinand Marcos then he was a dictator in the Philippines. So it is not limited to the citizens of the country,” ayon sa Obispo.
Dagdag pa ng obispo, mapanganib sa isang pinuno ang hindi marunong tumanggap ng pagpuna dahil ito ay isang palatandaan ng pagiging diktador.
“That is, he does not want to be criticized that is a sign the mark of authoritarianism or dictatorship this is dangerous. If somebody a ruler does not accept criticism especially on important point is a dangerous ruler. If he does not accept that, we hope that he should not be a ruler of the Philippines a ruler should be able accept criticism for the good of the country and for his own good. So for me, if somebody who rules over us would silenced critics or killed critics no this is a sign that he is not fit to be a leader of our country. Human beings are not perfect especially on this issue that is very important he should accept criticism an investigation,” ayon pa kay Bishop Bastes.
Mensahe ng Simbahan sa mga misyonero
Mensahe ni Bishop Bastes sa mga taong simbahan na maging bukas, huwag matakot at patuloy na maging misyonero lalu na sa pagtatanggol ng karapatang pantao.
Sinabi pa ng Obispo na hindi dapat manahimik ang simbahan sa anumang paglabag sa karapatang pantao lalu’t higit ang pagtatanggol ng buhay.
“All priests should open their mouth. If all the priests will open their mouth in the pulpit and elsewhere, something will come out. We cannot simply tolerate somebody whose policy is to kill people. A ruler is not to kill, a ruler is to heal. Jesus came to heal. There were so many sick people and therefore he came to heal and not to kill and even to make people live again. We priests, we bishops, we religious, we good Catholics are joined should imitate this foreign religious sister has done to criticized to condemned to make people realized that this is wrong and must be stop,” ayon kay Bishop Bastes
Tiniyak naman ni CBCP President Davao Archbishop Romulo Valles kay Sister Pat ang buong suporta ng Simbahan.
