Sr. Crescencia Lucero, SFIC visits FI

Franciscan Sister Crescencia Lucero, SFIC deputy Executive Director for the National Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP) came to visit the Franciscan International (FI) office in Geneva to explain the responsibilities of the task force and her hopes for the collaboration efforts between FI and the TFDP in the Philippines.

Q: Why was the TFDP established?

A: The TFDP was established in 1974 by the Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines in response to the fact that at that time thousands of people were being arrested, tortured, and killed. They were subject to all kinds of human rights violations, and therefore the church, came together for a conference to understand what could be done. Thus several task forces were established including - a task force for the urban poor, a task force for workers for farmers and a task force for the detainees of the Philippines.

Q: Currently, what is the human rights situation in the Philippines?

A: Unfortunately, human rights violations are still eminent in the Philippines, right now there are over 250 political detainees being held in prisons across the country.

When I say political detainees I mean people detained and imprisoned because of their political convictions. They are either members or leaders of peoples ‘s organizations like the farmers, the workers, the urban poor and even professionals, journalists, and teachers that are being held for expressing their ideas, claiming their rights, and questioning the policies of the government.

At the moment, we are witnessing an increasing number of our Muslim brothers that are detained because of continuing war against terror. Thousands have been displaced from their villages because of this war. There are now almost half a million internally displaced people, being held in different evacuation centers. And of course for those alleged terrorists who are arrested they are cruelly tortured and detained in several areas of the Philippines especially in the southern part Mindanao. 

In a repressive country like the Philippines the people are scared, even if somehow they know that they have rights, they are scared. Lately the situation is even more alarming especially because recently there has been an increasing number of paramilitary forces and vigilantism. In one city alone, in Mindanao, already almost 500 are victims of vigilantism, and vigilantism is very strong because the mayor himself sponsors it.

It is very difficult to fight against this culture of impunity simply because you cannot get witnesses, even if you file cases against them, when you have no witnesses, what evidence do you have?

Q:Do you think that training Franciscans as human rights defenders to identify human rights violations is useful for the future of the Philippines?

A: Definitely. The training is very important because it has the aim of developing people’s capacity building. That is why giving seminars and training in terms of documenting violations is so important. Equipping the people, especially the most vulnerable of society, women and children is vital. Through this training they learn their rights, and therefore they can defend themselves and their own communities.

 I will always say that the work for justice and peace, integrity of creation, human rights is central in Franciscan spirituality. You cannot talk about being a Franciscan without addressing these issues and advocating, promoting, defending the rights of peoples, the dignity of peoples.  The work we do together is good work.

Q: What are the direct effects of teaching people in the Philippines about their rights?

A: We help the people to become organized, and therefore it creates a network. Networking is very important in the Philippines, because not only are they able to create an organization, but networks form between each group.

 When people are organized as human rights defenders, as groups of farmers or workers or urban poor or youth, they can come together as one and they can voice out.

Q: What kind of collaboration between FI and your Organization do you foresee for the future?

A: I definitely foresee a very strong collaboration between FI and the Franciscan movement for justice and peace in the Philippines.

A memorandum of agreement was signed between our organizations so that FI could help us in terms of advocacy and training for our people. In Bangkok, we attended the advocacy training, and there we designed a two-year plan that aims to address the rights of Indigenous people’s in areas where mining corporations are destroying their land.

 Part of this work would be the monitoring and documenting of what is happening, as well as, training and human rights education.

This program is very important to us. This is why I am here. It is always a privilege to be able to travel to Geneva and discuss with FI the new opportunities of training and support for the people of Philippines.