Filipino bishops on ‘boat people’‎ and 'modern slavery'

Even though it is not a legal obligation for any country to grant asylum to migrants, Filipino bishops ‎have said it is a moral obligation to protect them from the harm they flee from, that will be good for the ‎country.  In a pastoral letter, Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan, the president of the ‎Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, evoked the nation’s traditional hospitality, praising the ‎government's decision to welcome 3,000 boat people, AsiaNews reported.  Hundreds of Rohingya ‎Muslims from Myanmar escaping persecution and Bangladeshis have been undertaking dangerous ‎journeys to make it to Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand over the past months.   Many are stranded at ‎sea abandoned by their traffickers.  About 3,000 refugees are seeking asylum on Filipino shores.‎   "God ‎gives us this chance once more to bind the wounds of body and spirit,” Arch. Villegas said.  He ‎explained, “There is a legal obligation not to forcibly repatriate them. And by all precepts of morality ‎and decency, there is an obligation not to leave them to the mercilessness of the elements on the high ‎seas.”  ‎

According to the archbishop, the attitude of the countries of Southeast Asia that refused asylum to ‎refugees is deplorable. He lamented that in often coast guard and naval patrol vessels tow these boats, ‎brimming over with hungry, sick and desperate people back to the high seas, where they often perish. ‎On the other hand, Conversely, Archbishop Villegas praised the attitude of the Filipino government, which has indicated its the ‎willingness to host the refugees. While admitting the country’s economic resources may not allow it to ‎welcome every migrant as permanent resident, Archbishop Villegas stressed there is always room for ‎the weary and downtrodden to rest on Filipino shores before they continue on their journey.‎

In a separate development, Filipino bishops have called for concrete action from their parishes and the laypeople to fight “modern-day slavery”.  Archbishop Socrates Villegas said the people must not be indifferent to the tragedy of exploitation.  He noted that a May 13 blaze at a footwear factory in Valenzuela City that killed 72 people “has roused the nation to the reality of modern-day slavery”.  We therefore ask our parish priests and our laity to constitute themselves into guardians of our brothers and sisters against modern-day slavery,” Archbishop Villegas said.  The Valenzuela tragedy, he said, has indicated there are many more sites of exploitation where Filipinos “are worked to death” under the “most appalling circumstances”.  The archbishop added that warehouses and factories with poor safety standards must be shut down to avoid a repeat of the Valenzuela fire incident.  He said that “The warehouses and factories that are in fact sweat-shops for our countrymen eager to eke out a living should be subject to relentless inspection and monitoring and where it is found that they are in fact sites of exploitation, these should be closed.”   “There is hardly anything more repugnant to the Gospel’s law of love than the heartless exploitation of the poor and to make capital from their want,” Archbishop Villegas added. (Source: AsiaNews/CBCPNews)